The higher grain production, the more social deprivation? A case study of Henan province in traditional agricultural areas of China

This paper examines the spatial-temporal dynamics of inequality from the perspective of social deprivation in the context of continuous growth of grain production using national census data from 2000 and 2010 for Henan province, China. Our analytical results show an overall level of social deprivation that is high and a widening social deprivation gap at the county level. The social deprivation shows great spatiotemporal heterogeneity, the higher deprived counties are mainly distributed in central and eastern Henan province, while counties with lower social deprivation are clustered in northwestern regions, formed a belt-shape spatial differential between the south (higher deprived counties clustered) and northwest (low deprived counties clustered) Henan in 2000, and changed toward a core-periphery semi annular spatial structure in 2010, the low deprived counties surrounded by high deprived counties. The social deprivation shows a “west low and east high” spatial pattern, similar to the grain production in Henan province. Socioeconomic development level was low in most counties in Yudong plain despite of keeping the continuous increase of grain production, meaning the higher grain output did not result in the more social development expected in Chinese traditional agricultural areas, and the regional disparity is expected to increase in the near future if development conditions are not changed, which could inspire more targeted rural governance options.