The impact of new-quality agricultural productivity on green total factor productivity in agriculture

The evolution in the quality of production factors offers the opportunity to improve extensive agricultural production and advance green agricultural development. This study analyses panel data from 30 Chinese provinces to measure the levels of new-quality agricultural productivity (NQAP) and agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). The study then analyses their spatial evolution characteristics and examines the impact of NQAP on AGTFP alongside the underlying mechanisms. Findings indicate that NQAP is unevenly distributed, and is higher in the east and lower in the west, and higher in the south and lower in the north. The AGTFP displays a "high-high, low-low" spatial distribution. NQAP significantly enhances AGTFP, and the promotional effect is regionally heterogeneous. Regionally, the ranking of NQAP's contribution to improved AGTFP is highest in the western region, followed in descending order by the eastern region, central region, and balanced production-consumption regions, major grain-producing regions, and major grain-consuming regions. NQAP enhances AGTFP by improving green efficiency change (GEC); NQAP's overall impact on green technological change (GTC) is not significant but has distinct threshold characteristics. The government agricultural support intensity (GOVS)and government environmental concern (GOVC) can amplify the effectiveness of NQAP. These findings provide quantitative evidence and theoretical support for developing NQAP and enhancing AGTFP.