Storing Grain in the Land: The Gestation, Delineation Framework, and Case of the Two Zones Policy in China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting and meaningful study, especially for countries like China. On the basis of reviewing the evolution of China's cultivated land protection policy, the paper expounds the formation process, connotation and mechanism of the two-zone policy. Then a framework and delineation process are proposed, and the methods of implementing the two-zone policy on the regional scale are discussed. In general, the research design of the paper is reasonable, the research ideas are clear, and the theoretical analysis part is also relatively solid. There are several minor problems to be improved.

1. When calculating the index weight, the author uses the analytic hierarchy process. When using this method, how many experts are selected to score the indicators, and the results of the consistency test need to be explained in the text.

2. What is the meaning of HH, HM, HL, MM, N, ML, and LL in line 244?

3. The hot and cold spots generated by applying Getis-Ord Gi* statistical method should be shown in the text.

4. Does the delineation framework proposed in the paper have enlightenment on the protection of cultivated land in other countries? Can it become the Chinese model of global cultivated land protection? The author can make further discussion.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper first reviews the evolution of China’s CL protection policies and explains the incubation process of the two zones policy and its connotation and mechanism. Then, a framework and delineation processes are proposed, and the approaches of executing the two zones policy on a regional scale are discussed. Furthermore, a real delimitation was conducted in Qianguo County to validate the framework. The evidence shows that customizing CL use according to regional resource potential differentiation and forming a CL protection policy with the three dimensions of quantity, quality, and structure are effective in improving the productive potential of CL and promoting the adjustment of the planting structure. Furthermore, the framework and case study findings of the delimitation provide a theoretical reference and practical foundation to translate macro-policy into micro-management. There are two suggestions below：

1.     The resolution of Fig.1 and Fig.11 is a little low.

2.     Line 302. Why choose AHP？

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper is very interesting and pays attention to the multidimensional requirements of agricultural land, from quantity to quality and cropping structure, which is of great practical importance for agricultural land management. The paper is also well written. However, I would like to suggest some additions to improve it before publication.

1. In the abstract, the research question and objectives are not clear enough and need to be clearly stated.

2. In the introduction section, although the paper claims to provide a framework for the delineation of two zones that combines quantity, quality and structure, the lack of a literature review of existing methods in the introduction calls into question the innovation of the paper. Please add a literature review in the introduction part describing the approach to regional delineation in existing studies

3. In the discussion section, comparisons with the results of relevant foreign studies can be added to the discussion to highlight the innovative aspects of this study. Also, the limitations of the paper are not sufficiently discussed.

4. Please check whether all the reference are related to your article.

5. other minor issues:

Images are not clear enough, while characters are too large or too small, e.g. Figure 2 and Figure 5.

Figure 1 is not labelled in the text.

the full name of the abbreviation should be given such as HH when it first appears, and the author may check whether it is needed because there are a lot of abbreviations in the text which will affect reading.

The hm2 should be changed in line 73.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx