Evaluation of efficiency and resilience of agricultural water resources system in the Yellow River Basin, China

Resilience and efficiency are the core concepts of sustainable management of agricultural water resources system. This study constructed an evaluation system of the efficiency and resilience of agricultural water resources system (EAWRS, RAWRS) in the Yellow River Basin by comprehensively applying the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy method (EVM), SBM-DEA model, and the development coordination model. The results showed that: (1) From 2005–2019, the EAWRS and RAWRS showed a fluctuating upward trend. The EAWRS increased significantly, especially the Baihe, Heihe, Luohe and Wudinghe river basins grew at a faster rate. However, the overall efficiency levels were still not high, and all the 72 prefecture-level administrative units were inefficient areas. The RAWRS was at a relatively low level, in which the Huangshui, Taohe and Qingshuihe river basins had rapid growth in resilience. (2) From the perspective of spatial differentiation characteristics, the EAWRS in Sichuan, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong was relatively high, while that in Gansu, Shanxi and Ningxia was relatively low. The prefecture-level administrative units of the upstream river source area, Hetao Irrigation District, Fenwei Plain and Huanghuaihai Plain had a relatively high EAWRS. The RAWRS in the lower reaches was significantly better than that in the upper and middle reaches. (3) The development degree of the agricultural water resources system has gone through a process of rapid rise (2005–2013) - fluctuating growth (2014–2017) - rise (2018–2019), showing an "upstream-midstream-downstream" stepwise increasing pattern. The coordination degree of the agricultural water resources system showed a downward trend, and the decrease showed an "upstream-downstream-midstream" increasing pattern. (4) The three clusters divided by the average value of the development degree and coordination degree of the agricultural water resources system showed the changes from concentration to dispersion, in contrast, the coordination degree was gradually decreased.