Identification of Limiting Factors and Engineering Selection for Agricultural Development of Barren Grassland: A Systems Engineering Approach

Agricultural land development is a pivotal strategy for addressing the global food security crisis. Barren grassland, especially those in mountainous regions, constitutes critical areas where cultivation can substantially enhance land resources. This study highlights the necessity for a precise correlation between land development initiatives and constraints in order to optimize efficiency and enhance the effectiveness of such projects, with the core being the seamless integration of land development engineering and techniques to eliminate agricultural constraints. This study employs a systems engineering approach to classify improvement factors into mobile and fixed categories, elucidating the integration methods of constraint factors. Adhering to the Wooden Barrel Principle, these constraints were rigorously analyzed based on soil quality, land topography, water availability, and agricultural infrastructure. An innovative method of engineering type combination is proposed, which effectively explains the correlation between natural factors combination, project type combination, and target factors combination. It provides a convenient way for the selection of barren grassland development projects and lays a foundation for land planning, development project establishment, program selection, engineering design, and budget preparation. Taking Tang County of China as an example, it is divided into 19 factor improvement areas, a quick reference table of engineering types is established, and 14 main types of engineering combinations are obtained, which lays a foundation for the application of theoretical framework in practice.