PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2013, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (8): 1237-1245.doi: 10.11820/dlkxjz.2013.08.007

• Agricultural Geography • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Geographical agglomeration of crops and its evolutionary mechanism in Henan Province during 1989-2009

CHEN Taizheng, LI Erling, LI Wan   

  1. College of Environment and Planning, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China
  • Received:2012-12-01 Revised:2013-05-01 Online:2013-08-25 Published:2013-08-25
  • Contact: 李二玲(1969-),女,河南兰考人,教授,博士生导师,主要从事产业集聚与农区发展研究。E-mail: erlingli@126.com E-mail:erlingli@126.com

Abstract: Taking 17 types of crops in Henan Province as an example, this paper analyses the geographical agglomeration and specialized level of crops from 1989 to 2009. Based on evolutionary economic geography, an analytic framework of "Stability-Variation-Selection-Adaption" was established to explain the crops' spatial agglomeration and its evolutionary mechanism. The results indicate that agglomeration of crops is low and in slow growth, especially for the general crops; rice has the highest level of clustering, which has a great impact on the whole agglomeration level of crops. Levels of agglomeration and specialization of the economic crops are higher than the food crops, and their distribution patterns are relatively stable, still concentrated in the initially favorable areas. Specialized level of vegetable crops is low, and their spatial distributions are dependent on the urbanization level of each city. Fruit crops constantly concentrate in the western mountainous area of Henan Province, especially Sanmenxia City, and some fruit crops, such as grapes and peaches, appear to be in a decentralized trend. The municipal differentiation degree of crops is low, and the pattern of division and specialization has just emerged.

Key words: crop, evolutionary economic geography, geographical agglomeration, Henan Province