4.Water Environment Factor Risk Assessment Laboratory of Agricultural Products Quality and Safety,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Xinxiang,Henan 453002,China
Objective Northwest China is a crucial grain production region in China and bears significant responsibility for ensuring food security. Evaluating the current situation of food security and accurately identifying its main obstacle factors in this region are of great importance for guaranteeing sustainable agricultural development. Methods Based on the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model and the obstacle degree model, a comprehensive evaluation index system for food security was constructed. The current status of food security in northwest China was assessed, the key obstacle factors that hinder its improvement were diagnosed, and key measures for enhancing food security in the region were proposed. Results 1) The grain output in northwest China showed an overall upward trend. The main grain crops were wheat, maize, rice, legumes, potatoes, and highland barley, which together accounted for 97.9% of the region′s total grain output. In 2022, the grain output in northwest China reached 48.595 million tons, accounting for 7.1% of China′s total grain production. 2) Agricultural water use accounted for 85.9% of the total water consumption in the region. The water resource development and utilization rate was 36.6%, which was 76.0% higher than China′s average rate. Notably, the water resource development and utilization rates in Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang exceeded the internationally recognized warning threshold of 40%. 3) Xinjiang exhibited the best food security, followed by Qinghai, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia. The constraint factors for food security differed among the five northwestern provinces. Overall, resource endowment, effective irrigation rate, and agricultural water use efficiency were the main obstacle factors affecting food security in this region. Conclusion Northwest China faces extreme water scarcity and a high water resource development and utilization rate. It is necessary to rationally control cultivated land area, optimize crop planting structure, promote high-efficiency water-saving irrigation technologies (e.g., drip and sprinkler irrigation), increase effective irrigated area and agricultural water use efficiency, broaden water sources for agriculture, and adopt cross-regional ecological compensation to achieve sustainable water resource utilization and food security in this region.
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