Spatio-Temporal Coupling Relationships between Rural Population and Farmland Change in Karst Mountainous Areas of Southwest China

Population and farmland are the key elements in agricultural production and significant components of the rural population-land relationship. Spatial-temporal coupling changes to population and farmland in mountainous Karst areas across Southwest China can reveal the transformation and evolution of this relationship. Such findings provide a scientific basis for agricultural land regulation, ecological restoration, and rural revitalization. Features of the population and farmland change trend in Yinjiang County were analyzed together with spatial- temporal coupling characteristics. The driving forces affecting population data, land data and their relationship with each other were investigated using an elastic coefficient model. The results showed that between 1958-2016, both the rural population and farmland extent in the mountainous karst areas across Yinjiang County rose then fell, while the opposite trend was seen for per capita farmland area; further, the results showed that from 1958-2016, the spatial-temporal coupling relationships between the rural population and farmland change across Yin Jiang County were first non-coordinated but became coordinated over time; finally, the results indicated that factors driving the formation and development of the spatial-temporal coupling relationship were mainly attributable to the combined effects of natural environment, socio- economic conditions, policy, and changes in urban-rural relations. Results revealed that the spatial-temporal coupling relationships between the rural population and farmland had significantly changed over the last 60 years in mountainous karst areas across Southwest China and that there has been a transition in the population-land relationship in rural areas. Furthermore, the results strongly suggest that ecological restoration, farmland planning, and land resource redistribution should be introduced so that rural revitalization and a sustainable population-land relationship can be achieved.