Spatial coupling between specialized production of fruits and vegetables and front-end cold-chain logistics

Abstract

The production and supply of fresh agricultural products (APs) vary greatly with seasons and regions. However, there is no seasonality or regionality in consumer demand for such products. The supply-demand contradiction hinders the coordinated development of agriculture and logistics. To solve the contradiction, this paper measures the level of fruit and vegetable (F&V) specialized production, and evaluates the quality of front-end cold-chain (FECC) logistics. Next, the coupling degree model was extended into a coupling coordination model. Taking Xinjiang as the study area, the authors empirically analyzed the coupling coordination between the specialized production level of vegetables and the quality of FECC logistics, and that between the specialized production level of fruits and the quality of FECC logistics. The results show that the spatial coupling coordination between F&V specialized production and FECC logistics is relatively low in Xinjiang; the dynamic coupling coordination between fruit industry and FECC logistics is lower than that between vegetable industry and FECC logistics; the incoordination and slight coordination are attributable to the insufficient supports of FECC logistics, and the low strength of specialized production. Finally, several countermeasures were put forward to improve the coupling coordination between F&V specialized production and FECC logistics in Xinjiang. The research findings shed new light on sustainable development of cold chain logistics for fresh APs.