Abstract:

Based on the productive value of crop cultivation and agricultural means of production input data per kilo ha of 11 provinces in main food producing area of China,the treated arable land production efficiency was investigated,and production efficiency value of arable land in each province per year was also calculated using stochastic frontier production function method.It is shown that in the current period,labour and material cost's input dominate the production mode in arable land production.Compared with mechanization production mode,fertilizer and labour intensive production mode is more adapted with small scale farmer household production.There are great differences between the actual output of arable land and potential output under present input level.Arable land production efficiency has no obvious relation with economic development level and interprovincials gap reduced continuously.Over the last 15 years,production efficiency of arable land improved,but its speed slowed down gradually,indicating that maintenance of high agricultural yield required plentiful material input.The cost of production is getting higher and higher.Continued increase in material input has little significant effect on the improvement of production efficiency of arable land.So,to make the best use of existing resources and technical conditions,and to rely on biotechnological advancement,that is to depend on crop varietys betterment to improve the output of arable land should be the major path to improve arable land production efficiency and increase farmers，income in our country.

Key words: Chinas main food producing area, arable lands production efficiency, stochastic frontier production function