*2.3. Construction of Evaluation Index System*

The comprehensive land consolidation mainly includes agricultural land consolidation, construction land consolidation, rural ecological protection and restoration, rural historical and cultural protection, etc., and the consolidation contents of these four aspects all serve the rural revitalization, especially the rural industrial development. Therefore, starting from the above-mentioned four aspects of the consolidation contents and industrial development goals, this paper analyzes the interests of farmers and social investors and then constructs a comprehensive land consolidation project decision-making evaluation index system.

#### 2.3.1. Evaluation Index System from the Perspective of Farmers

Through the investigation, it was found that the majority of farmers are eager to change the backward production and living conditions in rural areas through comprehensive land consolidation. The worse the production and living conditions are, the higher the farmers' expectations of the comprehensive land consolidation project will be. Therefore, this paper constructs the comprehensive land consolidation projects decision-making evaluation index system from the perspective of farmers from the following five aspects.

The urgency for agricultural land consolidation. In the process of agricultural land consolidation, the interests of farmers mainly include: improvement of the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields, transformation of dry land into paddy fields, improvement of the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land. This paper subdivides the urgency for agricultural land consolidation into the following three indicators: the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields, the urgency for transforming dry land into paddy fields, and the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land. Among them, the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields includes four indicators: the completeness of paddy field irrigation facilities, the completeness of paddy field drainage and waterlogging facilities, the completeness of field road facilities, and the degree of paddy field fragmentation. The first three indicators are negative indicators, and the last one is a positive index. The urgency to transform dry land into paddy fields is represented by the difficulty of transforming dry land into paddy fields, which is a negative index. The urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land includes the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of garden land, the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of economic forest land, and the urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of the pond. The urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of the garden land is measured by the completeness of the irrigation facilities of the garden land and the degree of transportation convenience of the garden land. The urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of the economic forest land is measured by the completeness of the irrigation facilities of the economic forest land and the degree of transportation convenience of the economic forest land. The urgency to improve the comprehensive quality of the ponds is measured by the degree of siltation, the degree of leakage, the degree of irrigation convenience, and the degree of transportation convenience, all of which are negative indicators.

The urgency for construction land consolidation. In the process of construction land consolidation, the interests of farmers mainly include: improvement of rural infrastructure and public service facilities and efficient use of rural construction land. This paper subdivides the urgency for construction land consolidation into the following two indicators: the urgency to improve rural infrastructure and public service facilities and the urgency to achieve efficient use of rural construction land. Among them, the urgency to improve rural infrastructure and public service facilities is characterized by the completeness of rural infrastructure and the completeness of rural public service facilities. The urgency to achieve efficient use of rural construction land is characterized by the intensive utilization of rural construction land, all of which are negative indicators.

The urgency for rural ecological protection and restoration. In the process of rural ecological protection and restoration, the interests of farmers mainly include: ecological environment restoration and human settlements improvement. This paper subdivides the urgency for rural ecological protection and restoration into two indicators: the urgency to achieve ecological environment restoration and the urgency for human settlements improvement. Among them, the urgency for ecological environment restoration is represented by the degree of water pollution, soil pollution, soil erosion, mine environment damage, and vegetation degradation, all of which are positive indicators. The urgency for human settlements improvement is represented by the satisfaction degree of sanitary toilet renovation, domestic waste treatment, domestic sewage treatment, and village appearance, all of which are negative indicators.

The urgency for rural historical and cultural protection. Through the investigation, it was found that the majority of farmers are eager to protect and restore local rural historical and cultural resources through comprehensive land consolidation in order to develop rural leisure tourism. This paper subdivides the urgency for rural historical and cultural protection into the following four indicators: the richness of historical and cultural resources, the popularity of historical and cultural resources, the degree of destruction of historical and cultural relics, and the willingness to build village historiographers, all of which are positive indicators.

The urgency for industrial development. Through the investigation, it was found that the majority of farmers are eager to promote the development of local industries through comprehensive land consolidation in order to achieve the goals of rural beauty, industrial prosperity, and prosperity. This paper subdivides the urgency for industrial development into the following two indicators: the willingness to develop large-scale agriculture and the willingness to develop rural secondary and tertiary industries. These two indicators are both positive indicators, that is, the stronger the farmers' willingness to develop large-scale agriculture and rural secondary and tertiary industries, the stronger the farmers' desire to promote the development of local industries through comprehensive land consolidation, and the higher the urgency for industrial development. The opposite is also true.

To evaluate the decision-making of the comprehensive land consolidation project from the perspective of farmers is to judge the priority of the project by measuring the urgency of farmers' needs for comprehensive land consolidation. The higher the urgency of farmers' needs, the higher the order of project approval. In order to accurately measure the urgency of farmers' needs, this paper adopts the Likert 5-level scale as a tool to measure the urgency. The specific calculation method is shown in Table 1.

**Table 1.** Decision-making evaluation index system of pilot projects of comprehensive land consolidation from farmers' perspective.



**Table 1.** *Cont.*

2.3.2. Evaluation Index System from the Perspective of Social Investors

The core demand of social investors to invest in the comprehensive land consolidation projects is to obtain income. The main sources of income include two aspects. First, the balance index of cultivated land occupation and compensation generated by land consolidation and the balance index linked to the increase and decrease in urban and rural construction land are used for transactions so as to obtain income (hereinafter referred to as "index transaction income"). Second, use local resource endowments to develop industries and obtain income through industrial operations. Therefore, the more favorable the existing resource endowment in the project area is for industrial development, the more balance indicators that can be obtained through consolidation, the stronger the willingness

of social investors to invest in comprehensive land consolidation. The opposite is also true. Based on this, this paper constructs the comprehensive land consolidation projects decision-making evaluation index system from the perspective of social investors from the following five aspects.

The willingness to invest in agricultural land consolidation. In the process of agricultural land consolidation, the interests of social investors mainly include: the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields, the potential of converting dry land to paddy fields, the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land, and the potential of new cultivated land from agricultural land consolidation and unused land development. In this paper, the willingness to invest in agricultural land consolidation is subdivided into the following four indicators: the willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields, the willingness to invest in transforming dry land into paddy fields, the willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land, and the willingness to invest in new cultivated land. Among them, the willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of existing paddy fields includes four indicators: the difficulty of improving paddy field irrigation facilities, the difficulty of improving paddy field drainage and waterlogging facilities, the difficulty of improving field road facilities, and the difficulty of reducing paddy field fragmentation, which are negative indicators. The willingness to invest in transforming dry land into paddy fields is represented by the difficulty of transforming dry land into paddy field, which is a negative index. The willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of other agricultural land includes the willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of garden land, economic forest land, and the pond. The willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of garden land is measured by the difficulty of improving the irrigation facilities of the garden land and the degree of transportation convenience of the garden land. The willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of economic forest land is measured by the difficulty of improving the irrigation facilities of economic forest land and the degree of transportation convenience of economic forest land. The willingness to invest in improving the comprehensive quality of the pond is measured by the difficulty of cleaning up, the difficulty of repairing leakages, the convenience of irrigation, and the degree of transportation convenience. Except for the difficulty of improving paddy field irrigation facilities, the difficulty of improving paddy field drainage and waterlogging facilities, the difficulty of cleaning up ponds, and the difficulty of repairing leakages of pond, which are negative indicators, all the other indicators are positive indicators. The willingness to invest in new cultivated land is measured by the proposed new cultivated land area of farmland consolidation and unused land development, which is a positive indicator.

The willingness to invest in construction land consolidation. In the process of construction land consolidation, the interests of social investors mainly include: the status of rural infrastructure, the status of rural public service facilities, and the potential of rural inefficient construction land reclamation. This paper subdivides the willingness to invest in construction land consolidation into the following two indicators: the willingness to invest in improving rural infrastructure and public service facilities and the willingness to invest in reclamation of rural inefficient construction land. Among them, the willingness to invest in improving rural infrastructure and public service facilities is represented by the difficulty of improving rural infrastructure and rural public service facilities, which are negative indicators. The willingness to invest in reclamation of rural inefficient construction land is represented by the proposed new cultivated land area of rural cultivated land reclamation, which is a positive indicator.

The willingness to invest in rural ecological protection and restoration. In the process of rural ecological protection and restoration, the interests of social investors mainly include: ecological environment and human settlements. In this paper, the willingness to invest in rural ecological protection and restoration is subdivided into two indicators: the willingness to invest in ecological environment restoration and the willingness to invest in human settlements improvement. Among them, the willingness to invest in ecological

environment restoration is represented by the difficulty of water pollution restoration, soil pollution restoration, soil erosion restoration, mine environment restoration, and vegetation degradation restoration, all of which are negative indicators. The willingness to invest in human settlements improvement is represented by the satisfaction degree of sanitary toilet renovation, domestic waste treatment, domestic sewage treatment, and village appearance, all of which are positive indicators.

The willingness to invest in rural historical and cultural protection. The richer and more famous the local historical and cultural resources, the more willing social investors are to invest to develop the rural leisure tourism industry. This paper subdivides the willingness to invest in rural historical and cultural protection into the following three indicators: the richness of historical and cultural resources, the popularity of historical and cultural resources, and the difficulty of restoration of historical and cultural relics. The former two are positive indicators, and the latter is a negative indicator.

The willingness to invest in industrial development. In terms of industrial development, the interests of social investors mainly include: the superiority of tourism resources in the project area and the industrial foundation of the project area. In this paper, the willingness to invest in industrial development is subdivided into the following two indicators: the willingness to invest in tourism development and the willingness to invest in industrial scale expansion and quality improvement. Among them, the willingness to invest in tourism development is represented by the superiority of tourism resources, which is a positive indicator. The willingness to invest in the industrial scale expansion and quality improvement is represented by the popularity of industrial operators, the popularity of characteristic industries, and the inclusion level of characteristic industries in the planning, all of which are positive indicators.

To evaluate the decision-making of the comprehensive land improvement project from the perspective of social investors is to judge the priority of the project by measuring the willingness of social investors to invest in comprehensive land consolidation. The higher the willingness of social investors to invest in projects, the higher the order of project approval. In order to accurately measure the willingness of social investors to invest, this paper adopts the Likert 5-level scale as a tool to measure the willingness. The specific method is shown in Table 2.

#### 2.3.3. Evaluation Index System from the Comprehensive Perspective of Farmers and Social Investors

The decision-making evaluation of comprehensive land consolidation projects from the comprehensive perspectives of farmers and social investors is to combine the previous evaluation of the urgency of farmers' needs for comprehensive land consolidation and the willingness of social investors to invest to comprehensively determine the priority of comprehensive land consolidation, and then determine the priority order of pilot application projects. The higher the urgency of farmers' needs and the willingness of social investors to invest, the higher the priority of comprehensive land consolidation projects, and the higher the order of project approval. See Table 3 for details of the decision-making evaluation index system of comprehensive land consolidation projects from the perspectives of farmers and social investors.




**Table 2.** *Cont.*




**Table 3.** Decision-making evaluation index system of pilot projects of comprehensive land consolidation from the comprehensive perspective of farmers and social investors.

#### **3. Results**

*3.1. Decision-Making Evaluation Results of Comprehensive Land Consolidation Projects from Two Separate Perspectives*

After sorting out the valid sample data and processing it through the simple arithmetic average method, the entropy weight TOPSIS method was used to carry out a quantitative analysis on the urgency of farmers' needs and the willingness of social investors to invest in the seven declared projects and to obtain decision-making evaluation results of comprehensive land consolidation projects from different perspectives. The results are shown in Table 4.

As can be seen from Table 4, from the perspective of the urgency of farmers' needs for comprehensive land consolidation, projects A and C should be established first, followed by projects G, F, E, D, and B. However, from the perspective of investment willingness of social investors, the order of project approval is C, E, D, F, A, G, and B. It can be seen that there is a big difference in the evaluation results of project approval from the perspective of farmers and social investors, mainly due to the different interests and concerns of farmers and social investors. Farmers are the masters of the village and the ultimate beneficiaries of comprehensive land consolidation. Compared with the index benefits brought by comprehensive land consolidation, they pay more attention to the consolidation content closely related to their own production and life, such as agricultural land consolidation to improve the quality of cultivated land, rural ecological protection and restoration to improve the quality of human settlements, and development of large-scale agriculture and industrial integration. As an investor, the core appeal of social investors participating in comprehensive land consolidation is to obtain index transaction income and industrial operation income. Therefore, compared with the interests of farmers, social investors pay more attention to the tradable surplus indicators provided by comprehensive land consolidation and the advantageous resources supporting the development of rural industries, such as beautiful ecological environment, rich historical and cultural resources, tourism resources and industrial base, etc.


**Table 4.** Decision-making evaluation results of the comprehensive land consolidation projects from two separate perspectives.

From the above analysis, it can be seen there will be great differences in the evaluation results when the decision-making of comprehensive land consolidation pilot projects is carried out solely from the perspectives of farmers and social investors. Therefore, the decision-making evaluation of comprehensive land consolidation project should comprehensively consider the interests of farmers and social investors in order to make the decision-making evaluation results more scientific and reasonable.

### *3.2. Decision-Making Evaluation Results of Comprehensive Land Consolidation Projects from the Comprehensive Perspective of Farmers and Social Investors*

To combine the evaluation results of the urgency of farmers' needs and the willingness of social investors to invest in the seven declared projects, the entropy weight TOPSIS method was also used to obtain the decision-making evaluation results of comprehensive land consolidation projects from the perspective of farmers and social investors. The results are shown in Table 5.

**Table 5.** Decision-making evaluation results of the comprehensive land consolidation projects from the comprehensive perspective of farmers and social investors.


As can be seen from Table 5, regarding the priority of declared projects for comprehensive land consolidation from the perspective of farmers and social investors, the C project (0.661) should be given priority, followed by the E project (0.454), followed by the F project (0.431), D item (0.427), A item (0.424), G item (0.368), and B item (0.287). The above results comprehensively consider the urgency of farmers' needs and the willingness of social investors to invest in the comprehensive land consolidation, and the evaluation results are basically consistent with the actual project establishment. Among them, projects C, E and F, which are the top three in the priority ranking of the declared projects for comprehensive land consolidation, were identified as the provincial pilot project in the comprehensive land consolidation project decision-making evaluation organized by the Office of the Leading Group for Comprehensive Land Consolidation in Hubei Province in 2020. However, the B project with the lowest priority was identified as a municipal pilot project, while the D project with the fourth priority and the A project with the fifth priority

were not approved. It can be seen that the current comprehensive land consolidation project decision-making evaluation in Hubei Province basically considers the interests of farmers and social investors, which are two important subjects, and generally seems to be reasonable. However, there is still room for further improvement. No matter whether from the perspective of farmers or social investors, project B was ranked last in the order of project approval, but it was listed as a municipal pilot project, which shows that there is a certain deviation in comprehensive land consolidation project decision-making evaluation in Hubei Province. In the future, we should comprehensively consider the urgency of farmers' needs and the willingness of social investors to invest and finally determine the priority of comprehensive land consolidation projects. This will not only safeguard the rights of farmers but also leverage the participation of social capital and, finally, ensure the smooth implementation of comprehensive land consolidation projects.
