Abstract:

This study took the cultivated land area of 181 counties in Sichuan Province from 1999 to 2018 as the research object, based on principal component analysis and spatial analysis, described the spatial-temporal pattern evolution characteristics of cultivated land area in the province and explored the main driving factors. The results showed that from 1999 to 2018, the total cultivated land area in Sichuan had five stages: continuous decrease, slow increase, fluctuating change, rapid increase and stable change. In the whole process of change, the spatial change of cultivated land in the province mainly occurred in northwest Sichuan plateau and Chengdu plain. Among them, the cultivated land area of southwest Sichuan mountainous area and northwest Sichuan plateau increased, while the cultivated land area of central Sichuan hilly area, Chengdu plain area and mountainous area around basin decreased. The gravity center of cultivated land area moved southward obviously. The main driving forces of cultivated land change in Sichuan included agricultural development foundation, economic development level and geographical location. Among them, solid foundation of agricultural development was the main reason for the increase of cultivated land in northwest Sichuan plateau. The level of regional economic development and location characteristics were positively driving the change of cultivated land in the mountainous areas around the basin. The level of regional economic development is the negative driving force of the change of cultivated land in hilly area of central Sichuan. The interaction of the negative effect of economic development level and the positive effect of agricultural development foundation and location advantage resulted in the cultivated land change in Chengdu plain and southwest Sichuan mountainous area. The above conclusions could provide a scientific basis for making reasonable policies on land use and cultivated land protection in Sichuan Province.

Key words: economy, population, cultivated land, driving factors, agricultural science and technology, plain, mountain land