Abstract: Based on the panel data of the cities with districts in the southern rice cultivation area from 2001 to 2018, this paper explores the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of fertilizer application intensity in the southern rice cultivation area, and it uses ESDA and SDM to empirically analyze the driving factors on fertilizer application intensity in the southern rice cultivation area. The results show that in terms of time, the fertilizer application intensity in the southern rice cultivation area fluctuates and presents a tendency of first rising then falling. In terms of space, the spatial agglomeration effect of fertilizer application intensity in this region is particularly obvious. Most of the coastal areas are characterized by“high-high”agglomeration, and most inland areas are characterized by“low-low”agglomeration, while the fertilizer application intensity in coastal areas is generally higher than that in inland areas; there exist significant spatial positive autocorrelation and time lag in fertilizer application intensity. The important driving factors on fertilizer application intensity are rural residents'per capita income, per capita arable land, agricultural planting structure, and agricultural technology progress.

Key words: fertilizer application intensity, temporal and spatial evolution, driving factors