Outsourcing, as a productive service, has been widely adopted in industrial production and international trade but less applied in agricultural management. With the advancement of agricultural labor division and specialization, outsourcing is becoming one of the most sustained trends in concurrent business. This study used a multiple linear regression and a propensity score matching model to quantify the different effects of participation in production outsourcing on farmers’ apple production efficiency and apple income based on field survey data from 960 apple farmers in the Shandong, Shaanxi, and Gansu Provinces. The results showed that, on average, the outsourcing of apple production increased farmers’ apple production technology efficiency by 5.60%, their labor productivity by 2121.48 kg/person, land productivity by 334.50 kg/mu, capital productivity by 0.05 kg/Yuan, and apple sales revenue by 13,300 Yuan. However, farmers’ net income from apples decreased by an average of 5000 Yuan. The outsourcing of apple production, which is labor-intensive, is constrained by the increase in labor costs, which, in turn, affect the transformation of the apple industry into a service-scale operation driven by the economy of division.

In the context of supply-side structural reform, revealing the characteristics of spatial–temporal dynamics and influencing factors of China’s apple production layout is of great significance to ensure apple supply and demand balance and timely adjustment of industrial policies and regional layout strategies. Based on national and provincial apple production data from 1978 to 2016, this study used the apple production concentration index to analyse the evolution characteristics of regional apple production patterns in China. A theoretical analysis framework was established and a spatial econometric model was used to quantitatively explore the influencing factors of China’s apple production layout. The results showed that, first, since the reform and opening-up policy, a general trend of fluctuating growth was found for apple production in China. The centre of apple production layout moved in the southwest direction, with the shift from the Bohai Bay region to the Loess Plateau region. Second, apple production had a significant spatial correlation, while the degree of spatial agglomeration gradually decreased. Third, these changes were significantly influenced by apple comparative income, infrastructure, policies, and climatic conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to continue optimizing and adjusting the apple spatial layout to enhance the technological progress and economic effect of the apple industry and to ensure the stability and balance of regional supply and demand.

What are the major factors affecting Nigeria’s cocoa export flows? In answering this question, the authors suggest a commodity-specific gravity model with three different analytical approaches, (the Heckman Sample Selection Model, the Generalised Least Square, and the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood), based on a period of 24 years of panel data for Nigeria and it’s 36 importing partners to estimate the models. The results showed that GDP, exchange rate policy, WTO, EU, and colonial link are positively associated with the Nigerian cocoa export flows. Further, the negative impact of the GDP per capita, landlocked, distance, AU, and ECOWAS are observed. The need for the expansion of exports to the trading partners, especially the EU members (Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, etc.), Canada, Malaysia, and the USA is particularly highlighted. These results are important for the formulation of future trade policy that could boost up the Nigerian cocoa exports. This would eventually contribute to the diversification of the Nigerian exports and also enhance the country’s foreign earnings.

This study elucidates the factors impacting China’s apple trade, its efficiency, and opportunities for increased revenue. This study adopts a stochastic frontier gravity model on China’s apple exports data, covering the period from 1997 to 2022 across 38 significant trading partners. The finding demonstrates that the economic growth of China and its trading partners substantially boosts apple export volumes, with a positive correlation between GDP growth and export flows. The research also highlights the deterrent effect of geographical distance on exports and reveals a complex negative relationship between the per capita GDP of importing nations and export efficiency, shedding light on the nuanced nature of trade dynamics. Furthermore, the study finds that the appreciation of China’s currency plays a crucial role in enhancing export efficiency by lowering transaction costs. Meanwhile, increased agricultural land in importing countries presents competitive challenges, impacting export performance negatively. Geographical proximity and infrastructural features, such as shared borders and lack of access to seaport, are identified as significant factors in export efficiency. The analysis unveils considerable untapped export potential in various countries, suggesting a strategic avenue for market expansion. To optimize China’s apple export strategy, policymakers are advised to consider currency management, negotiate trade agreements that mitigate distance and per capita GDP effects, and target markets with high untapped potential, thereby facilitating sustainable growth in China’s apple export sector.

In the context of the Healthy China strategy and the targeted poverty alleviation policy, based on the survey data of 1710 apple planters in Shandong, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, we selected the Probit model and the mediating effect test model to analyze the impact of income inequality on the self-rated health of farmers in this paper. The main results are as follows: First, income inequality within villages and townships had a significant negative impact on self-rated health, with both showing inverted U-shaped relationships, while income inequality within counties had no significant impact on self-rated health. Second, income inequality can impact the health of farmers, in terms of tobacco and alcohol behaviors, social trust, and sense of relative deprivation, where the mediating effect ratio of these three factors combined accounted for 32.4% of the total effect. Furthermore, the effect of income inequality on health was heterogeneous among different income groups, where the negative impact of income inequality on the self-rated health of the high-income group was less than that of the low-income group, indicating that an increase in income inequality serves to aggravate the degree of health inequality. Therefore, the government should adopt differentiated policies to improve the health of farmers. In rural areas with high income inequality, the government should focus on increasing the income of low-income groups, guide them to develop a healthy lifestyle, improve their social trust, and reduce their sense of relative deprivation. In rural areas where incomes are generally low, the government should first guide qualified farmers to become rich, then encourage others to become rich later.