Temporal and Spatial Evolution Characteristics and Influencing Factors Analysis of Green Production in China’s Dairy Industry: Based on the Perspective of Green Total Factor Productivity
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis study analyses the green total factor productivity of China’s dairy industry located in 29 provinces using EBM Model and GML index return. The results suggest that the green total factor productivity of China’s dairy industry is showing an increasing trend. The study finds that green technical efficiency is the major determinant for green total factor productivity in China.
A discussion on global trends of greenhouse emissions is desirable. Prior literature on factors influencing China’s dairy industry GTFP may be included. Implications of the study can be highlighted.
Author Response
Dear professor :
It is my honor to receive your approval of this research. Your comments on this paper are very valuable. I have revised the paper according to your suggestions, please review it again.
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsReview suggestions
Manuscript ID: sustainability-2655124
Title: Temporal and Spatial Evolution Characteristics and Influencing Factors Analysis of Green Production in China’s Dairy Industry: Based on the Perspective of Green Total Factor Productivity
Summary:
With increasing environmental regulations, promoting eco-friendly concepts in the dairy industry is crucial. This study analyzed China’s dairy industry’s green total factor productivity across 29 regions from 2001 to 2020. Using the EBM model and GML index, it found a “Northeast-East-Central-West” gradient pattern. Green technical efficiency drove productivity, reducing regional gaps. Industry concentration, economic development, and environmental planning positively influenced green productivity, while urbanization had a negative impact.
As a reviewer and reader, I am enthusiastic about sharing this manuscript, but it is essential to acknowledge that there are areas where the paper’s quality could be enhanced.
Suggestions:
(1) References are missing. For example:
1. Lines 30~33: “The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2021 proposed that it is necessary to deepen the supply-side structural reform of agriculture, further promote the green development of agriculture, and mobilize the whole party and society to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.”
2. Lines 44~69
3. Lines 151~154: Data sources include the “China Energy Statistical Yearbook”, “China Environmental Statistical Yearbook”, “China Rural Statistical Yearbook”, “Dairy Technology Yearbook”, “China Agricultural Cost-Benefit and Resource Compilation”, “China Statistical Yearbook”, and other existing studies.
(2) The research’s objective lacks clarity, and the significance of the research problem is not well-defined.
(3) The article employs methodologies such as Kernel density estimation and the Degum Gini coefficient to conduct a systematic analysis of the growth trends and regional disparities within China’s green total factor productivity in the dairy industry. Nevertheless, the authors do not elucidate any benefits or advantages associated with the analytical methodologies employed in their study.
(4) I strongly recommend that the authors restructure the introduction following this paradigm: (i) Present the paper’s aim, (ii) emphasize the importance of the research objective, (iii) highlight the novel contributions, (iv) outline the methods employed, (v) preview expected results, (vi) consider incorporating potential policy implications (as an option within the introduction section), and (vii) provide a brief overview of the paper’s structure.
(5) The authors emphasize that “Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) is a new type of total factor productivity index that considers the impact of energy consumption and pollutant emissions on economic growth in addition to the traditional total factor productivity.” Is the term “new” more suitable? The authors must furnish a compelling rationale for the utilization of this index in their analysis, especially considering that GTFP is prominently featured in the paper’s subtitle.
(6) The authors document that “The time range of the basic data selected in this study is from the Tenth Five-Year Plan period to the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period, spanning a total of 20 years from 2001 to 2020.” It is widely acknowledged that each five-year plan exhibits distinct focal points. The paper’s analysis may incorporate a structural break approach to illuminate these evolving features.
(7) “The main variables include input, expected output, and non-expected output, with the descriptive statistics of each variable shown in Table 1.” Table 1 offers the definitions of the critical variables. Nonetheless, readers expect a clear exposition of the rationale behind these main variables in the model, elucidating their relevance to the issue under analysis.
(8) In subsections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 (Lines 202~247), we can find Eqs. (3)~(11). I am curious whether these equations are your original contributions. If not, it is advisable to provide appropriate references to acknowledge the sources or authors responsible for these modeling equations.
(9) Line 255 references equation (13), but I was unable to locate this particular equation within the context.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Author Response
Dear professor :
First of all, thank you very much for your valuable comments on the paper. I have revised the paper according to your suggestions, and made corresponding explanations for comments (5) and (6). The explanation is as follows:
(5)"Green total factor productivity (GTFP)" is a new factor of environmental impact compared with the traditional "total factor productivity". "Total factor productivity" is the category of economic growth. After incorporating resource and environmental constraints into "green total factor productivity GTFP", the green production level of the industry can be evaluated, which is more in line with the requirements of ecological civilization.
(6)The Five-Year Plan is the Outline of the Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China. It is mainly to make plans for major national construction projects, the distribution of productive forces and the important proportion of the national economy, etc., and set goals and directions for the national economic development vision. This paper studies the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of GTFP in China's dairy industry. By dividing the time according to the five-year plan, we can not only analyze the temporal evolution of GTFP in China's dairy industry within each "five-year plan", but also make a comparative analysis of the temporal evolution of GTFP in China's dairy industry between different "five-year plans". (4.1Analysis of the Temporal Evolution Characteristics of GTFP in the Chinese Dairy Industry) And different five-year plans have different policy priorities. By analyzing the temporal evolution of GTFP in China's dairy industry, we can observe the influence of policies on it.
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1 The introduction briefly presents the importance of this study and its innovations.
2 The conclusion of the introduction needs to be stated with attention to the coherence of the logic of the statements.
3 The first paragraph of the introduction needs to be cohesive in its background.
4 At the end of the second paragraph of the introduction, it is pointed out that this study is of great practical significance to the realisation of the high quality development of China's dairy industry, but what is the significance of the practical significance here?
5 The importance and significance of this study is not well represented in the introduction.
6 The title of part 3 is the same as 3.1, is it reasonable?
7 Is part 3.2 about the models involved in this study or the process of selecting the models needed for the study? This part needs attention to the accuracy of the title.
8 Part 4 of the article analyses the characteristics of the temporal and spatial evolution of GTFP in China's dairy industry, and some of the expressions and sentences are cumbersome, so streamlining is recommended.
9 The conclusion part briefly summarises the content of this article and should mention the direction of future research, meanwhile, is there something that can be improved in this study?
10 The author did not reflect the research significance of this study well, and it needs to be added in the corresponding part.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe grammar of the article needs to be checked and improved.
Author Response
Dear professor :
Thank you very much for your valuable comments on the paper. I have revised the paper according to your suggestions, and the tenth point is added to the last paragraph of the sixth part of the paper (6 conclusions).
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsOverall article is well written and has some interesting thoughts. For example use of Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) is a new type of total factor productivity index.
Table 1 can be better presented for clarity
Abstract: With the continuous tightening of environmental policies, it is of great significance to pro- 7 mote the development of the dairy industry with ecological concepts. Based on the input-output 8 system, the study measured and analyzed the green total factor productivity of China's dairy indus- 9 try in 29 provinces (cities, autonomous regions, and municipalities) since the 10th Five-Year Plan 10 period, using the super-efficiency EBM model and the GML index based on non-directional and 11 variable scale returns.
Above two sentences are not flowing logically. Some link is missing that explains the rationale for the objective of the study. Separate out the objective with as to how you are achieving it statistically. It will make it easier to read. Also, directly link the objective to help in reduction of pollutants from the dairy industry.
(4) Pollution efficiency has a negative impact on dairy industry GTFP, which has 658 passed the significance test at the 1% level. The estimation results show that in the process 659 of pursuing high output or low pollution, it is likely to lead to phenomena such as unsus- 660 tainable extensive operations or high costs, resulting in environmental overload and low 661 level of green production
How will the above results impact the objective of creating more eco friendly dairy industry? What will be the implications of the result in terms of implementation of improving pollution efficiency?
minor editing
and the East isthe largest, while the difference between the Central and the North- 21
evolutioncharacteristics through the Dagum Gini coeffi- 137
(1)Expected inputs: Referring to Chen Yao [7] et al., assets, energy, and agricultural 158 res
(1)During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period (2001-2005), the GTFP of the Chinese 289
Table 3 & 5 header
(2)Level of economic development. The level of economic development reflects the 577
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageNo major issues. Some minor editing is needed.
Author Response
Dear professor :
It is my honor to receive your approval of this research. Your comments on this paper are very valuable. I have revised the paper according to your suggestions, please review it again.
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAll suggestions have been addressed.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageAll typos must be corrected if this paper is decided to be published.
Author Response
Dear professor :
It is my honor to receive your approval of this paper. Your comments on this paper are very valuable. I have made targeted modifications according to your suggestions, please review it again.
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsGood job.
Author Response
Dear professor :
It is my honor to receive your approval of this paper. Your comments on this paper are very valuable. I have made targeted modifications according to your suggestions, please review it again.
Thank you again for your valuable advice, I wish you a smooth work and happy life!
Sincerely
Yashuo Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
