Abstract:
Agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) is an important indicator for measuring high-quality agricultural development. To explore the impact of rural revitalization on AGTFP, this paper, based on panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2024, used the SBM-DEA model and the entropy method to measure AGTFP and the development level of rural revitalization, respectively. It systematically examined the effects, mechanisms, and heterogeneity characteristics of rural revitalization on AGTFP. The findings showed that rural revitalization had a significant positive promoting effect on AGTFP, and this conclusion remained robust after controlling for endogeneity. There was obvious regional heterogeneity in the impact of rural revitalization on AGTFP, with the effect being more pronounced in regions with lower levels of agricultural mechanization, stronger water resource constraints, and higher levels of economic development. Agricultural new-quality productivity and the adoption of green agricultural technologies played significant positive mediating roles between rural revitalization and AGTFP, while the upgrading of industrial structure played a moderating role, and exhibits a significant threshold effect. Accordingly, in the process of advancing rural revitalization, efforts should be made to enhance agricultural new-quality productivity and the application of green technologies, promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, and implement differentiated policies tailored to regional development differences, so as to foster green and high-quality development of agriculture.