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Enhancing allocation efficiency is vital for maintaining China’s position as a leading textile producer. The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can improve the efficiency of farmers’ input allocation. Nonetheless, limited evidence exists regarding the impact and extent of farmers’ access to digital agricultural extension through subscribing to agricultural WeChat public accounts (WPAs) on allocation inefficiency costs. Using a 2019 farm household survey of cotton farmers in Xinjiang, this paper employs a primal system model to calculate farmers’ allocation inefficiency costs and a two-stage residual inclusion approach model (2SRI) to estimate the effects of agricultural WPAs subscription on allocation inefficiency costs and allocation inefficiency. The empirical findings indicate that the average allocation inefficiency cost is 3.264 Yuan per kilogram, constituting 45.8% of cotton production cost. Our results demonstrate that subscribing to agricultural WPAs can significantly reduce farmers’ allocation inefficiency costs by 19.5% and decrease allocation inefficiency by 0.079. Consequently, promoting smallholder farmers’ access to digital agricultural extension serves as an effective strategy to enhance allocation efficiency and lower costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An oasis is not only the most concentrated area of human activity in an arid area but also the largest area where artificial disturbances occur at a regional scale. The study of oasis urban expansion and related factors is important to understand the development of cities in arid areas, guide the evolution of rational urban expansion and promote sustainable development of oasis cities. Although there have been several studies on urban expansion in Xinjiang over past decades, a lack of quantitative data and methods impedes further research. In this paper, urban expansion of the studied area in 1990, 2000 and 2007 is evaluated using 39 Landsat satellite images, a geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS). We also analyse the related factors of urban expansion using quantitative and qualitative methods. We found that economic development and the area of the urban administrative region greatly effect urban expansion. Too rapid growth and outward urbanized expansion paradigms should not be applied blindly in arid areas from the point of view of sustainability. Historic-geographic features of oases and urban planning influence oasis urban morphology. Compact urban morphology is relatively better for protecting precious water and arable resources, and reducing ecology damage to the surrounding oasis. The relationship between urban expansion and population growth was not coordinate before 2000, and effectively only improved after that date. City growth should be moderated, with lower elastic coefficients, slower expansion and higher elasticity coefficients. Oasis cities in Xinjiang are expanding under the combined effects of urbanization, economic development, transportation, environment, resources, policy and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil quality is a key environmental factor in developing sustainable agricultural. In the oases located at the southern margin of the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, China, agriculture is the main land use type. However, management intensities differ in the oases and in the process of oasis growth. In 2004, four experimental fields were established in the Cele oasis, representing four typical land-use types according to local farmers tillage practices, namely newly cultivated land (NEF), a field with normal fertilization (NMF), a field with high fertilization (HMF), and a field in the oasis' interior (OIF), in order to analyze the effects of land-use type on soil nutrient content. Additionally, soil from an uncultivated control plot (CTP) was analyzed for comparison. The soil quality index (SQI) and deterioration index (DI) were used to evaluate the effects of different land-use type. Sustainable yield index (SYI) was calculated to evaluate sustainable productivity of these land-use types, based on 4 years of data. Our results indicate (i) statistically significant differences in SOM, total nitrogen N (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and available phosphorus (AP) between the different farmlands; (ii) NEF, in the desert-oasis ecotone, had the lowest soil quality, even lower than CTP, and lowest indicator values; (iii) fertilization of NMF and HMF in the desert-oasis ecotone had a positive effect on soil nutrient content; however, sustainable productivity of these farmlands is low, and much ground water is consumed; and (iv) farmland (OIF) in the oasis interior had the highest values in all assessments. Our study indicates that farmland in the desert-oasis ecotone should be reclaimed prudently, using sustainable development insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]