Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak Intensify the Resource Misallocation in China’s Food Production?
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the agricultural sector worldwide, including misallocating resources. This study analyzes the misallocation of resources in food production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in China. This study can be an important reference for policymakers to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on the agricultural sector. This study can also be an important reference in anticipating the impact of various crises that may occur in the future.
General concept comments
· I think the word "deepen" in the title and the manuscript is inappropriate. It is better to replace it with another term.
· The authors have not compared their findings with similar studies' findings. It is hoped that the authors will further explore the results of similar studies. Authors should compare results with existing ones in more detail, demonstrating their novelty, commonality and/or difference. The result and discussion section must contain a theoretical dialogue (i.e., link the results with previous research findings, and compare them).
· The conclusions provided are appropriate and consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. However, the authors have not disclosed theoretical recommendations as well as proposals for future research. The research limitations of the study should be added.
· Tables 2 and 4 are less informative. It is suggested by the author to design and simplify these tables so that they are easy for readers to understand.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have made the following changes.
Opinion1. I think the word "deepen" in the title and the manuscript is inappropriate. It is better to replace it with another term.
Response: The word "deepening" has been corrected to "intensify".
Opinion 2. The authors have not compared their findings with similar studies' findings. It is hoped that the authors will further explore the results of similar studies. Authors should compare results with existing ones in more detail, demonstrating their novelty, commonality and/or difference. The result and discussion section must contain a theoretical dialogue (i.e., link the results with previous research findings, and compare them).
The conclusions provided are appropriate and consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. However, the authors have not disclosed theoretical recommendations as well as proposals for future research. The research limitations of the study should be added.
Response: A discussion section has been added in section 7, which adds a comparison of research results , current research limitations and future research directions.
Opinion 3. Tables 2 and 4 are less informative. It is suggested by the author to design and simplify these tables so that they are easy for readers to understand.
Response: Tables 2 and 4 have been moved to appendix A fo
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have made the following changes.
Opinion1： Don’t repeat the words as keywords that are in the title “the COVID-19” and “ pandemic”.
Response: The full text has been revised to reduce duplication.
Opinion2：Please check the character requirements for abstract and try to provide a compact abstract.
Response: The abstract has been streamlined and the characters in the abstract have been corrected.
Opinion3： Please check the use of all punctuation marks, especially the semicolon in abstract. For example: line 10: it should be “;” or “,”? line 17: “compared with the baseline level before the epidemic; the overall TFP growth of China's food industry chain decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic”. Line 48, citation should be in front of “.”
Response: The full text has been checked and revised in accordance with the opinions of the review experts.
Opinion4： Please change the citation style to meet the journal requirements. “References: References must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including table captions and figure legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript. We recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote, Reference Manager or Zotero to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references. We encourage citations to data, computer code and other citable research material. If available online, you may use reference style 9. below. Citations and References in Supplementary files are permitted provided that they also appear in the main text and in the reference list. In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [1], [1–3] or [1,3]. For embedded citations in the text with pagination, use both parentheses and brackets to indicate the reference number and page numbers; for example [5] (p. 10). or [6] (pp. 101–105). The reference list should include the full title, as recommended by the ACS style guide. Style files for Endnote and Zotero are available.”
Response: Citations have been revised in accordance with journal requirements.
Opinion5： Improve the Figure formation for figure 1. Especially the “Demand Suppres-” is not showing fully.
Response: Figure 1 has been readjusted.
Opinion6： Line 183, line 416, line 431, line 439, line 477: “.” is missing in the end of the sentence.
Response: We have added.
Opinion7：Provide research suggestions for future researcher in the end of context too.
Reviewer 3 Report
Suggestions are attached below.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
General concept comments: As suggested above, please make the sentences short and in flow. The article is excellent for the researchers, development workers, farmers/entrepreneurs and policy makers. But needs to be improved not to take a break while reading the texts.
Response: Thank you very much for your approval. We have carefully checked and corrected the full text.
