Abstract: 【Objective】The purpose of the study was to evaluate the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in municipalities directly under the central government of China,to analyze the coordination and obstacle degree of its socialized service system,and to provide the reference basis for the present situation of the transformation and development of agriculture from the tradational agriculture to modern agriculture in China.【Method】Based on extensive literature review and interviews with experts in relevant fields,the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution(TOPSIS)-entropy weight method was used to establish an indicator system for evaluating the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in municipalities directly under the central government of China,which included 5 grade one indexes and 22 grade two indexes. In the meantime,its coordination and obstacle degree model was constructed and the coordination and the main restriction factors of the dimensions of the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in the municipalities directly under the central government of China were analyzed from the perspectives of grade one indexes and grade two indexes.【Result】The development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in municipalities directly under the central government of China was basically in the primary stage of development between 2016 and 2020. Among them,the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in Tianjin was the highest,and it was in the later stage of the primary development. From the perspective of probability theory,the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in Shanghai was higher than that in Beijing, while the development level of socialized agricultural machinery services in Chongqing was lower than that in Beijing and Shanghai. The results of the analysis of the coupling coordination degree model showed that in 2016-2020,the development levels of socialized agricultural machinery services in Chongqing and Beijing were at a barely coordinated level. Tianjin was at the primary coordination level or above,and Shanghai was at a barely coordinated or above level. Tianjin was in the first tier,Shanghai was in the second tier,and Beijing and Chongqing were in the third tier. By introducing an obstacle degree model,the main influencing factors of the evaluation system subsystem of socialized agricultural machinery services in various municipalities directly under the central government of China from 2016 to 2020 were analyzed from the perspective of grade one index,it was found that the obstacle degree of the socialized agricultural machinery service operation level index was in the main position,and the obstacle degree of the socialized agricultural machinery service operation hardware information index was in the last position. The main factors that ranked among the top five in terms of obstacle degree in grade two indexes were analyzed. It was found that the low proportion of agricultural machinery technology promotion funds was the main factor. The top five obstacle factors contributed a total of 50.0% or more to the obstacle level in each year.SuggestionThe municipalities directly under the central government of China should further increase the investment strength of the promotion funds of agricultural machaninery technology,and to incline towards the new type,high quality and efficient agricultural machinery. They should complete land consolidation,adopt the scale up and intensification managemental models of land trusteeship,land transfer,land lease and service outsourcing. They should develop vigorously water-saving type,eco-friendly three-dimensional agriculture. Broaden vigorously the route of the socialized services for agricultural machinery,cultivate and strength the kinds of main body of socialized services for agricultural machinery. They should pay attention to the skill training of agricultural machinery technicians and guide agricultural machinery operators into positive developmental track for production and management,so as to achieve the efficient and sustainable development of regional modern agriculture.