Exploring the eco-efficiency of cultivated land utilization and its influencing factors in black soil region of Northeast China under the goal of reducing non-point pollution and net carbon emission

To realize maximum benefits and minimize environment pollution, the eco-efficiency of cultivated land utilization (ECLU) is becoming a vital indicator in weighing the rationality of regional land use. Scientific analysis of spatial–temporal pattern variations, as well as factors influencing the ECLU, is of great significance to cultivated land protection, economic development and ecological environment protection in black soil region of Northeast China, and has become a global strategic issue related to the sustainable development. However, assessments of the indicators are still incomplete, the lack of information may inhibit planning guideline for the sustainable development of cultivated land resources. Thus, this study attempts to fill the gaps by incorporating the net carbon sink and non-point source pollution emissions into the measurement framework of ECLU. The super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model with undesirable output and the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index were used to measure the ECLU and changes in the total factor productivity (TFP) of cultivated land use in the Songnen Plain from 1989 to 2019. Moran index and LISA clustering were used to reveal spatial correlation of ECLU, and Kernel density estimation, and trend surface analysis maps were drawn to analyze variation tendency of the ECLU. Geographical detector model was employed to further analyze the influencing factors of ECLU. The study results revealed that: (1) The ECLU showed an overall development trend of "rising first and then declining", all of which were below the frontier efficiency. (2) The polarization of ECLU is prominent, and the ECLU had a significant heterogeneity and spatial correlation. (3) The TFP showing an increasing trend, technological progress is the main driving force to promote the progress of TFP, while the technological efficiency is the bottleneck for increasing the TFP of the cultivated land use. (4) According to the magnitude of influencing factor, increasing agricultural science and technology investments, lowering carbon emission, and controlling agrochemical investment could significantly enhance the ECLU. These findings have important implications for promoting high-efficient, low-carbon utilization of cultivated land resources and sustainable regional development in black soil region of Northeast China.