Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation

Efficiency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

Zhonghao Wang, Ni Wang

, Yuan Xiu, Jie Hou, Anfeng Qiang and Haodong Wang

State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydrologic Engineering in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an

710048, China

Keywords: Benefits of soil and water conservation, Efficiency evaluation, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Spatial

distribution pattern

Abstract: Soil and water conservation is an effective measure to ensure the sound operation of ecology, economy and

society. The correct evaluation of the efficiency of soil and water conservation and its regional differences is

an important prerequisite for optimizing soil and water conservation policies and measures. Taking Shaanxi

Province as the research object, after counting and calculating the investment and total income of soil and

water conservation from 2018 to 2019, the efficiency and spatial distribution of soil and water conservation

in Shaanxi Province are analyzed by using the method of data envelopment analysis. The results show that

the comprehensive technical efficiency of 18.2% of administrative regions in the province reached the best

state, among which 82% of pure technical efficiency reached the optimal state and the gap between individuals

was not large. Scale efficiency was the leading factor leading to the low comprehensive technical efficiency.

There were obvious differences among cities (districts), showing the spatial distribution characteristics of

high in the middle and low on both sides, high in the north and low in the south, high in the Yellow River

Basin, and low in the Yangtze River Basin. Tongchuan was a key area to optimize the efficiency of soil and

water conservation.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since the implementation of the western development

strategy, Shaanxi provincial government has paid

more attention to soil and water conservation. The

whole province has thoroughly implemented the

thought and concept of ecological civilization, firmly

established the concept that "green water and green

mountains are golden mountains and silver

mountains", adopted preventive protection,

comprehensive treatment and ecological restoration

measures, and adhered to the comprehensive

treatment of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes

and grasses with small watersheds as a unit.

Significant achievements have been made in water

and soil conservation, and promoted its economic and

social development. Therefore, the corresponding

evaluation work is particularly important.

In recent years, as the government attaches great

importance to ecological construction, the research on

the benefits of soil and water conservation has

attracted extensive attention from the society. The

change of soil organic matter content in different

vegetation after rainfall is used to evaluate the

ecological benefit of soil and water conservation by

Hernandez et al. (2005). According to 11 economic

and social indicators, market price method was used

to evaluate the benefits of soil and water conservation

measures by Balana et al. (2012). The GBAT toolkit

was used to assess the feasibility of water

conservation measures based on five upstream and

downstream indicators of the watershed by Hunink et

al. (2012). Mishra & Rai (2014) quantified the main

costs and benefits of various soil and water

conservation measures implemented in the study area

through six indicators such as economy and

environment. Based on the existing evaluation

indexes and methods, Kang et al. (2002) used analytic

hierarchy process to evaluate and analyze the soil and

water conservation benefits of Typical Small

Watersheds in the Loess Plateau. Yang et al. (2010)

evaluated the benefits of water and soil conservation

of hillside ditch, grass ditch and other technologies in

red soil area. The CCR model and BBC model in data

Envelopment analysis (DEA) are used to analyze and

evaluate the efficiency of soil and water conservation

322

Wang, Z., Wang, N., Xiu, Y., Hou, J., Qiang, A. and Wang, H.

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model.

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2021), pages 322-332

ISBN: 978-989-758-560-9; ISSN: 1755-1315

in Changzhi Project in Sichuan by Wu Detao (2011).

Jin Shilai (2012) analyzed the significance of

monetization of soil and water conservation benefits,

and tried to use the advantages of economics and

ecology to explore a systematic scheme for

monetization evaluation of soil and water

conservation benefits. DEA method was used to

analyze and evaluate the technical efficiency of soil

and water conservation of black land in Heilongjiang

Province from 2003 to 2012, and Tobit model was

used to test and analyze it by Yang et al. (2015).

Based on the accounting of ecological benefits of soil

and water conservation, Qin et al. (2015) used DEA

model to evaluate the efficiency of eleven counties

and districts of San Jiangyuan and put forward the key

points and relevant suggestions for future treatment

work. Zheng et al. (2016) quantitatively evaluated the

ecological, economic, social, flood control and

disaster reduction benefits of small watersheds in

Guangdong Province under water and soil

conservation measures. As a social project, soil and

water conservation is closely related to the

development of social economy. Throughout the past

research, more scholars tend to evaluate the benefits

of soil and water conservation measures through

various indicators, ignore the relevant research on the

evaluation of their efficiency.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of Shaanxi Province.

This paper studies the efficiency of soil and water

conservation management and finds out the

advantages and disadvantages of each region by

scientifically and reasonably evaluating the benefits

of soil and water conservation measures and

comparing and analyzing the benefits of soil and

water conservation among different regions, which

can provide data support for the government to

summarize the experience of soil and water

conservation management in the past. It is also helpful

to rationally adjust the planning and investment

decision of soil and water conservation in the future.

Therefore, taking Shaanxi Province, a key province of

soil and water conservation, as an example, this study

evaluated the efficiency of comprehensive soil and

water loss control and analyzed the spatial

distribution pattern of soil and water conservation

efficiency of each city (district) in Shaanxi Province

with the help of DEA model on the basis of

calculating the benefits generated by soil and water

conservation measures in 2018-2019. The research

results are of significance for improving the quality of

soil and water conservation in Shaanxi Province.

2 STUDY AREA AND DATA

2.1 Overview of the Study Area

Shaanxi Province is mainly divided into three regions:

Northern Shaanxi (Yulin City and Yan'an City),

Guanzhong (Xi'an City, Xianyang City, Baoji City,

Weinan City, Tongchuan City and Yangling District)

and southern Shaanxi (Hanzhong City, Ankang City

and Shangluo City), and spans the Yangtze River and

the Yellow River. As shown in the figure 1. Among

them, Northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong belong to the

Yellow River Basin and southern Shaanxi belongs to

the Yangtze River Basin. At the same time, Shaanxi

Province has complex terrain and various types of soil

erosion, which is one of the most serious areas of soil

and water loss in China. The Yellow River has less

water and more sediment, and 90% of the coarse

sediment deposited in the middle and lower reaches

comes from Shaanxi. This undoubtedly makes soil

and water conservation and ecological restoration in

Shaanxi very important (Xiu et al., 2018). Since the

21st century, Shaanxi Province has comprehensively

promoted the comprehensive control of soil and water

loss, strengthened the ecological restoration of soil

and water conservation, effectively controlled the soil

and water loss in the Loess Plateau, pushed the green

territory of Shaanxi northward by 400km, reduced the

sediment entering the Yellow River by 5.9 billion

tons, and realized the fundamental transformation of

the regional ecological environment from "overall

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

323

deterioration and local improvement" to "overall

improvement and local virtuous circle".

By the end of 2019, the total area of water and soil

loss in 11 cities (districts) in the province had been

reduced to 64747.96 square kilometers, accounting

for 31.49% of the land area of the province. From

2018 to 2019, eleven cities (districts) in the province

completed a total area of 5935.89 square kilometers

of comprehensive control and ecological restoration

of water and soil loss, 54 new water and soil

conservation science and technology demonstration

parks, 126.90 square kilometers of clean small

watershed control area, and 56 water and soil

conservation monitoring stations covering the

province, with a total investment of 3.511 billion

yuan.

2.2 Research Data

Collect and sort out the data related to water and soil

conservation of cities (districts) in Shaanxi Province

from 2018 to 2019.The main sources are the bulletin

of soil and water conservation of Shaanxi Province

(2018-2019) (http://sthjt.shaanxi.gov.cn/) and the

statistical yearbook of Shaanxi Province

(http://tjj.shaanxi.gov.cn/).

3 RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 Benefit Accounting of Water and

Soil Conservation

Soil and water conservation has achieved remarkable

results in Shaanxi Province, and its benefits mainly

include water storage and soil conservation benefits,

economic benefits, ecological benefits and social

benefits. The relationship between the four is as

follows: based on the benefits of water storage and

soil conservation, economic benefits, social benefits

and ecological benefits are generated (General

Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection

and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China &

China National Standardization Administration

Committee., 2009). At the same time, in order to

comprehensively quantify the benefits of soil and

water conservation in Shaanxi Province, nine indexes

are selected according to the principles of objectivity,

independence, hierarchy, operability and

quantification. The detailed indicator system is shown

in Figure 2.

Benefits of soil and water

conservation in Shaanxi

Province

Water storage and soil

conservation benefits

Economic benefits

Ecological benefits

Social benefits

Water storage benefits

Conservation benefits

Economic benefits

Soil fertilizer

conservation benefits

Carbon sequestration

benefits

Oxygen release benefits

Air purification benefits

Reduce abandoned land

Reduce sedimentation

Figure 2: Index system of soil and water conservation benefit in Shaanxi Province.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

324

3.1.1 Benefits of Water Storage and Soil

Conservation

There are two main methods to calculate the benefits

of water storage and soil conservation: water

conservation and hydrology. The water conservation

method refers to the comprehensive calculation of soil

and water conservation benefits of the whole basin by

using single measures of soil and water conservation.

Hydrological method is based on rainfall, runoff and

sediment data measured at hydrological stations or

runoff stations, and uses statistical correlation

analysis to calculate the efficiency of water storage

and soil conservation after the implementation of soil

and water conservation measures in the whole basin

(Xu et al., 2018). Based on the characteristics of the

above methods, this paper mainly uses the water

conservation method to calculate.

(1) Water storage benefits

𝐵



∑

𝑊



×𝑃



(1)

Where: 𝐵



is water storage benefit;

∑

𝑊



the total amount of water stored by various treatment

measures; 𝑃



is the price per unit of water storage.

Among them:

𝑊



=𝐹



×∆𝛾



(2)

Where: 𝑊



is the storage capacity of measure 𝑖;

𝐹



is the treatment area of measure 𝑖; ∆𝛾



is the

runoff modulus reduced by measure 𝑖.

(2) Conservation benefits

𝐵



∑

𝑆



×𝑃



(3)

Where: 𝐵



is soil conservation benefit;

∑

𝑆



the total amount of soil preserved by various

treatment measures; 𝑃



is the average income per

unit area. Among them:

𝑆



=𝐹



×∆𝛾



(4)

Where: 𝑆



is the soil conservation amount of

measure 𝑖 ; 𝐹



is the treatment area of

measure 𝑖 ; ∆𝛾



is the runoff modulus reduced by

measure 𝑖.

3.1.2 Economic Benefits

Based on the control area of each measure and

combined with the income per unit area, the economic

benefits of water and soil conservation are calculated

as follows:

𝐶=

∑

𝑆



×𝑃



(5)

Where: 𝐶 is economic benefit;

∑

𝑆



is the

treatment area of measure 𝑖 ; 𝑃



is the average

income per unit area of measure 𝑖.

3.1.3 Ecological Benefits

The ecological benefits of soil and water conservation

refer to the added values of soil fertilizer

conservation, carbon fixation, oxygen release and

atmospheric purification after a period of ecological

construction activities of soil and water conservation.

(1) Soil fertilizer conservation benefits

𝑉



=𝑝×ℎ×𝑆



×𝜌×𝑘 (6)

Where: 𝑉



is the soil fertilizer retention benefit;

𝑆



is the newly added woodland area; 𝜌 is soil bulk

density; ℎ is soil thickness; 𝑝 is the unit price of soil

nutrients and organic matter; 𝑘 stands for soil

organic matter content.

(2) Carbon sequestration benefits

According to the photosynthesis equation, forest

photosynthesis can fix CO

, that is, the system can fix

1.63g CO

per 1.00kg plant dry matter produced.

Namely:

𝑉



=1.63×𝑍



×𝑃



×𝑆



×𝑅



(7)

Where: 𝑉



is carbon sequestration benefit; 𝑍



the productivity of the protected area; 𝑃



is the carbon

tax price; 𝑆



is the newly added woodland area; 𝑅



the carbon content of CO

, which is 27.27%.

(3) Oxygen release benefits

The simultaneous release of 1.20g O

by forest

photosynthetic fixation of CO

adopts the alternative

market value method, and the calculation formula is:

𝑉



=1.19×𝑍



×𝑃



×𝑆



(8)

Where: 𝑉



is the benefit of oxygen release; 𝑍



is the productivity of protected areas; 𝑃



is the price

of producing oxygen; 𝑆



is the newly added

woodland area.

(4) Air purification benefits

The benefits of air purification mainly include the

benefits of SO

absorption by forest and dust retention.

The calculation formula is:

𝑉



∑

𝐾



×𝑆



×𝑃



(9)

Where: 𝑉



is the annual air purification benefit of

the protected area;

∑

𝐾



is the air purification

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

325

capacity of the i-type forest; 𝑆



is the area of the i-

type forest land; 𝑃



is the price of the i-type forest

land to reduce pollutants.

3.1.4 Social Benefits

Social benefits refer to the benefits brought by the

implementation of water and soil conservation

measures, such as reducing drought and flood

disasters, improving agricultural production

conditions, improving disaster prevention and

reduction capacity, reducing siltation on rivers,

reservoirs and ponds, protecting transportation,

industrial and mining, water conservancy, electric

power, tourism facilities, urban and rural

construction, safety of people's lives and property,

and promoting regional economic development.

Therefore, this paper mainly considers the social

benefits from two aspects: reducing abandoned land

and reducing sediment accumulation.

(1) Reduce abandoned land

𝐿



=𝑆



×𝑃



/(𝜌 × ℎ) (10)

Where: 𝐿



is to reduce the value of abandoned

land; 𝑆



is the amount of soil and water conservation;

𝑃



is the average opportunity cost of abandoned land;

𝜌 is soil bulk density; ℎ is soil thickness.

(2) Reduce sedimentation

𝐿



=𝑆



×∅×𝑃



(11)

Where: 𝐿



is the value of reducing sediment

deposition; 𝑆



is the amount of soil and water

conservation; ∅ for sedimentation ratio; 𝑃



i s t h e

cost of manual cleaning of sediment deposition.

3.2 Evaluation of Soil and Water

Conservation Efficiency

DEA model is a nonparametric statistical method

proposed by Charnes et al. in 1978 to evaluate the

relative effectiveness between different decision-

making units (DMU) with the same type of multi-

input and multi-output by using mathematical

programming model (Inverno et al., 2018). It mainly

projects the input-output values of all DUM in the

efficiency space, and finds the efficiency envelope

frontier. DUM located on the frontier (its efficiency

value is 1), and the input-output combination reaches

the optimal state, that is, the minimum input under a

given output or the maximum output under a given

output. At the same time, according to the distance

between each DMU and the effective production

front, determine whether each DMU is DEA

effective, and then use the projection method to point

out the reason of DEA invalid and the direction and

degree of improvement.

DEA method includes many models. In this study,

variable scale Output-DEA-BCC model is adopted,

which takes into account the changes of Output scale

and marginal effect, and is more suitable for analyzing

the benefits of soil and water conservation. In this

model, the comprehensive technical efficiency value

(CTE) is the product of pure technical efficiency (PTE)

and scale efficiency (SE), where PTE represents the

production efficiency of DMU at a certain scale, and

SE represents the gap between the actual scale and the

optimal production scale. The form of the model is as

follows:

𝑚𝑎𝑥𝜃 (12)

∑

𝑥



𝜆



+𝑠



=𝜃𝑥







(13)

∑

𝑦



𝜆



−𝑠



=𝑦







(14)

𝑠



≥0,𝑠



≥0 (15)

∑

𝜆



=1,𝑗 =1,2,⋯𝑛 (16)

Where, 𝜃 is the efficiency value of the JTH

DMU, and it satisfies 0≤𝜃 ≤1; 𝑥



and 𝑦



are

respectively the input and output of DMU; 𝑠



is the

relaxation variable, that is, the quantity of output to be

increased; 𝑠



is the residual variable, that is, the

input amount that needs to be reduced to achieve the

optimal configuration; 𝜆 is the weight coefficient.

Taking formula (12) as the objective function and

formula (13) ~ formula (15) as the constraint function,

the 𝜃 value obtained is CTE; Formula (12) is the

objective function, formula (13) ~ formula (16) is the

constraint function, and the 𝜃 value obtained is PTE.

We can find SE by the ratio of CTE to PTE. Among

them:

When 𝐶𝑇𝐸 = 1 (DEA is valid), it indicates that

the DMU is valid in resource configuration.

When 𝐶𝑇𝐸 < 1 (DEA is invalid), if the PET is 1

and the SE is less than 1, it indicates that the scale of

DMU does not match the input and output, and the

scale needs to be increased or decreased. If the PTE

and SE are less than 1, if there is 𝑆





>0, it indicates

that the j-th input index is redundant; If there is 𝑆





0, the output of the i-th output index is insufficient.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

326

4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Benefits of Soil and Water

Conservation in Shaanxi Province

According to the bulletin of soil and water

conservation of Shaanxi Province (2018-2019) and

the statistical yearbook of Shaanxi Province, the

comprehensive control of soil and water loss in

Shaanxi Province from 2018 to 2019 is shown in

Table 1.

According to the calculation formula of the above

benefit indicators and the relevant data found on the

official website of Shaanxi Provincial Department of

ecological environment and Shaanxi Provincial

Bureau of statistics, the water and soil conservation,

economic, ecological and social benefits generated by

soil and water conservation measures in Shaanxi

Province from 2018 to 2019 are 680 million yuan, 894

million yuan, 248 million yuan and 46.004 billion

yuan respectively, with a total benefit of 47.826

billion yuan. Among them, the highest benefit is

17.723 billion yuan in Northern Shaanxi, 14.958

billion yuan in Guanzhong and 15.145 billion yuan in

southern Shaanxi. See Table 2 for detailed calculation

results.

Table 1: Statistics of comprehensive control of soil and water loss in Shaanxi Province (2018~2019).

Administrative

region

Control measures(km

) Input(10

CNY)

terrace

soil and water

conservation

forest

economic

forest

artificial

grass

lantin

closed

treatment

Other

measures

Central and

provincial

Local

Xi'an 8.6 100.72 14.66 1.29 86.41 6.39 406.89 45.11

Baoji 66.62 55.14 38.83 0.14 179.25 20.01 1327.65 137.35

Xianyang 56.96 133.5 61.58 1.69 196.95 2.32 6860.22 573.78

Tongchuan 17.68 81.1 29.46 0 68.18 0.73 1627.36 137.30

Weinan

54.08 146.67 63.25 16.47 173.06 78.11 6742.04 707.96

Yan'an 86.45 479.51 111.02 10.2 349.6 53.66 15176.09 1077.91

Yulin 163.27 640.91 156.89 35.73 296.28 32.8 18692.24 1672.76

Hanzhong 67.78 182.49 138.82 5.01 193.38 25.68 5534.65 518.35

Ankang 45.42 188.06 118.45 0.03 274.04 8.24 6346.19 686.81

Shangluo 43.04 127.41 49.01 0.48 289.09 0.31 5692.24 572.76

Yangling 0 1.8 0 0 1.2 0 159.94 35.06

Table 2: Estimation of soil and water conservation benefits in Shaanxi Province (2018~2019).

Administrative

region

Benefits of soil and water conservation(10

CNY)

Water storage and soil

conservation benefits

Economic benefits Ecological benefits

Social

enefits

Xi'an 2154.04 2240.21 140862.70 203.89

Baoji 3189.81 5002.49 113624.66 516.12

Xianyang 6001.54 8041.00 517572.25 2620.28

Tongchuan 1986.63 3740.39 133485.73 392.55

Weinan 6844.98 8620.14 533334.25 3047.63

Yan'an 12110.32 15181.85 725297.43 4567.08

Yulin 16911.84 25191.68 966370.86 6622.63

Hanzhong 5779.62 5061.86 403985.75 1587.25

Ankang 6639.59 8154.87 570104.16 2665.68

Shangluo 6367.25 8012.58 493582.00 2525.22

Yangling 31.63 103.10 2173.25 50.88

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

327

4.2 Evaluation of Soil and Water

Conservation Efficiency and Spatial

Distribution Pattern

The DMU is the object of efficiency evaluation. Each

DMU transforms a certain number of production

factors into products in the production process and

tries to achieve its own decision-making objectives.

Therefore, they all show certain economic

significance. In the performance evaluation of

benefits of soil and water conservation in Shaanxi

Province, this paper makes a horizontal comparison

of multiple regions, so 11 soil and water conservation

ecological restoration demonstration cities (districts)

in Shaanxi Province during the same period (2018-

2019) are selected as DMU to study its relative

effectiveness.

Based on the above accounting of benefits of

water and soil conservation in Shaanxi province, the

input indexes of this evaluation are determined as:

central and provincial input, local input; Output

indicators include: water storage and soil

conservation benefits, economic benefits, ecological

benefits and social benefits. The specific values of

each index are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Input/output data of soil and water conservation project (unit: 10

CNY).

DMU

Input index (input) Output index (benefit)

Central and provincial Local

Water storage and soil

conservation benefits

Economic

enefits

Ecological

enefits

Social

enefits

Xi'an 406.89 45.11 2154.04 2240.21 140862.70 203.89

Baoji 1327.65 137.35 3189.81 5002.49 113624.66 516.12

Xianyang 6860.22 573.78 6001.54 8041.00 517572.25 2620.28

Tongchuan 1627.36 137.30 1986.63 3740.39 133485.73 392.55

Weinan 6742.04 707.96 6844.98 8620.14 533334.25 3047.63

Yan'an 15176.09 1077.91 12110.32 15181.85 725297.43 4567.08

Yulin 18692.24 1672.76 16911.84 25191.68 966370.86 6622.63

Hanzhong 5534.65 518.35 5779.62 5061.86 403985.75 1587.25

Ankang 6346.19 686.81 6639.59 8154.87 570104.16 2665.68

Shangluo 5692.24 572.76 6367.25 8012.58 493582.00 2525.22

Yangling 159.94 35.06 31.63 103.10 2173.25 50.88

The special DEA model calculation software

DEAPVersion2.1 was used to solve the problem.

Table 4 and Figure 3 were obtained after sorting out

the results of program operation. In order to

reasonably evaluate the benefit performance of soil

and water conservation in 11 cities (districts), this

paper carries out effectiveness analysis and projection

value analysis in turn.

Table 4: calculation results of effectiveness of benefits of water and soil conservation.

DMU CTE PTE SE

Scale

reward

Remaining variables Slack variable

𝑆





𝑆





𝑆





𝑆





𝑆





𝑆





Xi'an 1.00 1.00 1.00 - 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Baoji 0.83 1.00 0.83 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Xianyang 1.00 1.00 1.00 - 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Tongchuan 0.63 0.88 0.72 drs 214.62 0.00 1050.58 530.52 18933.02 169.02

Weinan 0.95 1.00 0.95 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Yan'an 0.93 1.00 0.93 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Yulin 0.87 1.00 0.87 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Hanzhong 0.67 0.94 0.72 drs 0.00 0.00 382.54 2852.16 26738.65 629.9

Ankang 0.86 1.00 0.86 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Shangluo 0.97 1.00 0.97 drs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Yangling 0.64 1.00 0.64 irs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

328

4.2.1 Pure Technical Efficiency Analysis

Through PTE analysis, the management and technical

input-output level of water and soil conservation

projects in 11 cities (districts) can be analyzed and

evaluated horizontally. It can be seen from table 3 that

except Tongchuan City and Hanzhong City, the other

9 cities (districts) are pure technology effective (is 1),

accounting for 82% of all DMU. This shows that in

the process of soil and water conservation and

ecological protection construction, the input and

output of these areas are at the forefront of production,

and their management level and technical input are

relatively reasonable. For cities (districts) where pure

technology is not effective (less than 1), the minimum

value is 0.88 of Tongchuan City, indicating that the

structure, management and technical level of

investment need to be slightly adjusted in these two

regions.

Figure 3(b) shows the distribution of PTE in

Shaanxi Province. Northern Shaanxi is the key area of

the comprehensive control of soil erosion in Shaanxi

province and even the whole country. The local

management measures and technical methods are

relatively mature, and PTE in Yan'an and Yulin are

both effective; In Guanzhong area, PTE is invalid

only in Tongchuan City; Among the three cities in

southern Shaanxi, only Hanzhong's PTE is invalid. At

the same time, it shows that the Yellow River Basin in

Shaanxi Province is better than the Yangtze River

Basin.

4.2.2 Return to Scale Analysis

As can be seen from Table 4, among the 11 cities

(districts) in Shaanxi Province, only Xi 'an and

Xianyang have effective SE (return to scale remains

unchanged), indicating that the scale of soil and water

conservation matches the comprehensive benefits of

input and output, and the scale is appropriate.

However, only Yangling District has an increasing

return to scale in SE invalid areas, which indicates

that a higher proportion of benefit output can be

brought by appropriately increasing the input on the

basis of the existing input, so the input scale of soil

and water conservation in Yangling District should be

increased. The return to scale in other regions is

regressive, indicating that if the input is appropriately

increased on the basis of the existing input in these

regions, the output of benefits will not increase by a

higher proportion.

As can be seen from the spatial distribution of SE

(Figure 3(c)), the overall distribution pattern of SE

decreases from the central part to both sides, and the

distribution pattern of SE in northern Shaanxi is better

than that in southern Shaanxi.

4.2.3 Comprehensive Efficiency Analysis

CTE reflects the effectiveness of DEA, and PTE and

SE are its influencing factors. For the convenience of

analysis and comparison, the partial running results of

DEAP software are translated here as shown in Figure

4. Among them, The CTE is 1 in Xi'an City and

Xianyang City, indicating that the relative efficiency

of soil and water conservation benefits reached the

best state. The DMU with invalid DEA includes two

types: one is caused by SE is less than 1, which

accounts for about 82% of the whole region, including

Baoji City, Weinan City, Yan'an City, Yulin City,

Ankang City, Shangluo City and Yangling District.

Their PTE is 1, and their low CTE is caused by low

SE. Therefore, it is necessary to take corresponding

measures (see return to scale analysis) to change their

SE in order to improve the CTE. Second, the PTE and

SE are less than 1, including Tongchuan City and

Hanzhong City. It shows that the scale of water and

soil conservation in these urban areas is improper and

the management technology level needs to be

improved. Each urban area can change the input scale

or input-output structure and improve the

management technology level according to its own

specific situation, so as to increase the comprehensive

benefits of soil and water conservation.

The spatial distribution pattern of CTE in Figure

3(a) also shows a gradually decreasing distribution

pattern from central to north and south, but

Tongchuan City and Yangling District with the lowest

CTE are located in Guanzhong Region. The CTE in

the Yangtze River basin of Shaanxi province is high

in the east and low in the west.

4.2.4 Projection Value Analysis

According to the calculation results of DEAP

software and the above effectiveness analysis. The

nine effective DMU of PTE constitute the enveloping

front of comprehensive benefit data of soil and water

conservation. However, the other two regions do not

reach the data envelope frontier. Through the analysis

of projection values, the causes of the problems can

be found out and the improvement methods can be

sought. As can be seen from Table 4, the two regions

with invalid DEA both have the problem of

insufficient output of comprehensive benefits, and

Tongchuan City also has input redundancy. From the

specific data, Hanzhong City needs to take relevant

measures to improve the water storage and soil

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

329

conservation benefits of 3.8254 million yuan,

economic benefits of 28.5216 million yuan,

ecological benefits of 267.3865 million yuan and

social benefits of 6.299 million yuan, respectively, in

order to achieve the effective DEA. In order for

Tongchuan, which has diminishing returns to scale, to

achieve a relatively effective state, its central and

provincial investment needs to be reduced by RMB

2.1462 million, and its water storage and soil

conservation benefits, economic benefits, ecological

benefits and social benefits should be improved on the

basis of strengthening management and introducing

new technologies. It should increase by 10.5058

million yuan, 5.3052 million yuan, 189.3302 million

yuan and 1.6902 million yuan respectively.

Figure 3: Spatial distribution of water and soil conservation efficiency in Shaanxi Province.

Figure 4: Analysis and comparison of comprehensive efficiency of water and soil conservation in 11 cities (districts) of

Shaanxi Province.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

330

5 CONCLUSIONS

(1) From 2018 to 2019, the benefits of water and soil

conservation investment in Shaanxi Province were

divided into four categories: water and soil

conservation, economy, society and ecology, which

were 680 million yuan, 894 million yuan, 248 million

yuan and 46.004 billion yuan respectively, with a total

benefit of 47.826 billion yuan.

(2) In 11 cities (districts) of Shaanxi Province, the

effective ratio of comprehensive technical efficiency

of input and output benefits of soil and water

conservation was only 18.2%;The cities (districts)

with pure technical efficiency accounted for 82%, and

the overall technical and management level of the

whole province was relatively high; Cities (districts)

with effective scale accounted for 18.2%.Based on the

analysis of three kinds of efficiency and projection

value, optimizing the investment scale and investment

structure was the focus of soil and water conservation

in the province in the future. Tongchuan City should

not only optimize the investment scale and structure,

but also improve the management means and

technical level of soil and water conservation.

(3) The comprehensive technical efficiency and

scale efficiency of soil and water conservation in

Shaanxi Province showed the spatial distribution

characteristics of high in the middle and low on both

sides, high in the north and low in the south, high in

the Yellow River Basin and low in the Yangtze River

Basin; There was little difference in pure technical

efficiency among cities (districts), and the level of the

Yellow River Basin was slightly higher than that of

the Yangtze River Basin.

(4) This paper tried to analyze the situation of soil

and water conservation management in Shaanxi

Province by means of efficiency evaluation.

Compared with the previous evaluation methods, the

evaluation results of this method were more intuitive

and more adaptable to the changes of governance

factors.

(5) In this paper, DEA model was used to construct

the evaluation system of soil and water conservation

efficiency in Shaanxi Province. The research

conclusion was basically consistent with the

monitoring situation of soil and water conservation in

shaanxi province, which had certain theoretical and

practical significance. The evaluation results not only

confirmed the achievements of soil and water

conservation management in Shaanxi Province, but

also pointed out the direction for the allocation and

management of governance factors in the future.

However, there are also shortcomings in this study.

Due to the lack of existing market price and

monitoring data related to soil and water conservation,

there may be some errors in the calculation method

and results. At the same time, this study only focuses

on the efficiency of the input and output ends, without

considering the interference of process factors such as

rainfall. In the next step, a complex "input-process-

output" multi-link evaluation system will be

constructed, and the mutual influence relationship

among them will be clarified, so as to provide

reference for soil and water conservation

management in Shaanxi Province.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by National Natural Science

Foundation of China (Grant No. 51979221) and

Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi

(Program No. 2021JLM-45, 2019JLZ-15s). The

authors thank the editor for their comments and

suggestions.

REFERENCES

Balana, B., Muys, B., & Haregeweyn, N. (2012). Cost－

benefit analysis of soil and water conservation measure:

The case of exclosures in northern Ethiopia. Forest

Policy & Economics, 15(2), 27-36.

General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection

and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, &

China National Standardization Administration

Committee. (2009). Comprehensive Control of Soil and

Water Conservation-Method of Benefit Calculation:

GB/T15774-2008. Beijing: Standards Press of China.

Hernandez, A. J, Laeasta, C., & Pastor, J. (2005). Effects of

different management practices on soil conservation

and soil water in a rainfed olive orchard. Agricultural

Water Management, 77, 232-248.

Hunink, J. E., Droogers, P., & Kauffman, S. (2012).

Quantitative simulation tools to analyze up － and

downstream interactions of soil and water conservation

measures: supporting policy making in the green water

credits program of Kenya. Journal of Environmental

Management, 111(11), 187-194.

Inverno, G., Carosi, L., & Romano, G. (2018). Water

pollution in wastewater treatment plants: an efficiency

analysis with undesirable output. European Journal of

Operational Research, 269(1), 24-34.

Jin, S. L. (2012). Overview of monetization evaluation

system of soil and water conservation benefits.

Subtropical Soil and Water Conservation, 24(1), 51-53.

Kang, L. L., Wang, Y. Z., & Wang, X. (2002).

Comprehensive harnessing indicator system and benefit

estimation for soil and water conservation in small

watershed. Soil and Environment, (3), 274-278.

Evaluation and Spatial Distribution of Soil and Water Conservation Efﬁciency in Shaanxi Province based on DEA Model

331

Mishra, P. K., & Rai, S. C. (2014). A cost–benefit analysis

of indigenous soil and water conservation measures in

Sikkim Himalaya India. Mountain Research and

Development, 34(1), 27-35.

Qin, J. L., Yin, X. Y., & Zeng, Y. L. (2015). Research on

the Evaluation of Soil and Water Conservation

Ecological Benefit in Sanjiangyuan Region. Ecological

Economy, 31(1), 180-184.

Wu, D. T. (2011). Research on DEA Approach Based Water

& Soil Conservation Benefit. Chongqing: Chongqing

Normal University.

Yang, G., Yin, X. Y., & Yu, F. W. (2015). Technical

Efficiency of Black Soil Water Conservation and Its

Influencing Factors-A Case Study of Heilongjiang

Province. Forestry Economy, 37(12), 115-119.

Yang, J., Fang, S. W., & Li, X. Q. (2010). Application and

Benefit of Plant-Growth Engineering Techniques to

Sloped Lands with Red Soil. China Soil and Water

Conservation, 9, 41-43.

Xiu, Y., Wang, N., Ji, C. T., & Ke, X. Y. (2018). The

research of eco-compensation for basin water resources

based on new regulatory economics. IOP Conference

Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 191(1),

012100.

Xu, L., Ba, L. M., & Xiao, Y. (2018). Soil and water

conservation benefits calculation and evaluation

methods. Hydraulic Science and Cold Region

Engineering, 1(1),39-42.

Zheng, G. Q., Wen, M. L., & Yang, X. J. (2016).

Theoretical Construction of Indicator System of Benefit

Assessment for Comprehensive Management in Small

Watersheds of Guangdong Province. China Rural

Water Resources and Hydropower, 7, 86-91.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

332