The impact of soil and water resource conservation on agricultural production- an analysis of the agricultural production performance in Zhejiang, China

Abstract Water and soil resource are fundamental natural resources and one of the determinant factors of the ecological environment. Soil erosion not only affects economic development, but also triggers the occurrence of natural disasters that threaten people's property and lives. Therefore, it is necessary to take various and effective measures and technologies to protect water and soil resources, to promote rapid and stable economic development, and to protect people's livelihood. This paper explores the impact of related policies on soil and water conservation in China in recent years on domestic agricultural development, and analyzes the effects of investment in soil and water conservation and construction on agricultural production in 11 cities in Zhejiang Province, from 2007 to 2016. The empirical results show that the performance of soil and water conservation construction in Zhejiang over the years fell in the range between 0.4 and 0.6, and the overall efficiency value and productivity changes began to decline after the year of 2015. Secondly, mixed cross-sectional data analysis and panel data analysis showed that the performance of soil and water conservation construction had a significantly positive impact on the agricultural outputs (log (Output1)) in each city.