Measurement and evaluation of agricultural technological innovation efficiency in the Yellow River Basin of China under water resource constraints

Improving the efficiency of agricultural technology innovation is an inevitable requirement for ecological protection and sustainable agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin. Under the background of prominent water resources constraints in the Yellow River Basin, the actual level and regional differences of agricultural technology innovation efficiency in the basin are analyzed, which will provide theoretical basis and data reference for the development plan of agricultural modernization in the Yellow River Basin. The construction of evaluation index system and the choice of method are the main factors that affect the measurement results. Therefore, this paper first selects input indicators such as water-saving technology level and output indicators such as total agricultural output value to construct an innovative evaluation index system of agricultural technology innovation efficiency in the Yellow River Basin under the consideration of water resources constraints. Secondly, the three-stage DEA model was used to eliminate the interference of external environmental variables, and the overall and regional agricultural technology innovation efficiency of the Yellow River Basin during 2011–2020 was measured with the data of prefecture-level cities under the constraint of water resources. Finally, from the perspective of the whole and the region, the spatio-temporal dynamic evolution law is analyzed and evaluated. The results show that: on the whole, the agricultural technology innovation efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is good and rising in a wave trend, the adjusted pure technology efficiency increases, while the scale efficiency decreases. From the regional perspective, although there is regional heterogeneity, the overall development trend is good, and the lower Yellow River has the highest efficiency, followed by the upper reaches and the middle reaches. From the perspective of the change law, the spatio-temporal evolution distribution shows a multi-polarization trend, and the different regions in the upper, middle and lower reaches show great differences. Therefore, promoting the innovation of water-saving technology and the integration of agricultural science and technology, promoting the integration of production, study and research, and strengthening the regional linkage mechanism are helpful to improve the competitiveness of agricultural science and technology and achieve sustainable agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin.