Exploring the influencing factors of continuous crop residue supply: From the perspective of a sustainable and bioenergy-oriented crop cultivation

Abstract

Background: Crop residues are an important raw material for bioenergy. There is, however, obvious seasonality in crop harvests, and thus, a continuous supply of crop residues and its respective influencing factors should be investigated. Methods: In this paper, the impacts of geographical climatic conditions, characteristics of crops and the macroeconomic status exerted on the continuity of crop residue supply were analysed. Likewise, the effects of various factors on the supply of crop residues were examined. Results: The results indicate that planting scale, crop diversity, climatic conditions, and topography have a significantly positive impact on a continuous crop residue supply, whereas the planting structure, temperature square term, energy pressure, and the economic development level have a significantly negative one. Finally, a regression-based decomposition method was used to measure the contribution rate of each variable onto the inequalities in the continuous supply of crop residues, which confirms that the impact of characteristics of crops on its continuous supply was the highest. The economic development level is the most important factor that affects the inequalities in the continuity of crop residue supply. Conclusions: The above results were achieved by using different measurement methods, and based upon the findings obtained, this paper proposes policies and suggestions for ensuring sustainable and bioenergy-oriented crop cultivation.