Impacts Of Farmland Transfer On Agricultural Production And Farmers' Income

Farmland transfer refers to the process of rural households'transferring farmland management rights to other households or economic organizations with retaining farmland contracting rights.It is considered as one of the most important policies to solve the problems of rural areas,farmers and agriculture in China,in the new era.A survey of 900 households from eight counties of Gansu province,including Xifeng district,Yuzhong county,Minle county,Gulang county,Lingtai county,Huining county,and Min county was conducted from April to September 2015.Based on theories such as land resource allocation theory,cost and benefit theory etc.,the factors influencing farmland transfer,and the impacts of farmland transfer on grain acreage,agrochemical use in agricultural production,agricultural efficiency,farmers'income and income inequality were quantitatively analyzed with different econometric models,including two-stage ordinary least square model?2SLS?propensity score matching method?PSM?etc.Our main results are as follows:1)Farmland rental in the study area affected by many factors,and the main factors were age and occupation of household head,off-farm income,farmland reallocation times and farmers'perception of farmland transfer policies.For example,off-farm income had a negative impact on farmland renting-in and a positive impact on farmland renting-out;farmland reallocation had negative impacts on farmland transfer.2)Farmland transfer increased the grain acreage in the study area,and different grain crops responded differently to farmland transfer.Farmland renting-in had no significant effect on planted wheat area.However,each percentage point increase in rented-in land ratio caused a 0.774 percentage point increase in planted maize area ratio.3)Farmland transfer significantly reduced the chemical fertilizer and pesticide use in wheat and maize production.Renting-in land significantly reduced the chemical fertilizer and pesticide cost per unit output in maize production by 0.060 yuan·kg^-1 and0.010 yuan·kg^-1,respectively.Meanwhile,renting-out land significantly reduced the pesticide cost per unit output wheat and maize production by 0.017 yuan·kg^-1 and 0.010yuan·kg^-1,respectively.4)Farmland transfer significantly improved agricultural efficiency.Renting-in land significantly reduced total cost per unit output of wheat and maize production by 0.827yuan·kg^-1 and 0.425 yuan·kg^-1,respectively.However,some efficiency lose was observed among households renting out land,since renting-out land significantly increased total cost per unit output of wheat and maize production by 1.241 yuan·kg^-1and 0.901 yuan·kg^-1,respectively.5)Farmland transfer was conducive to the specialization of labors in rural area,which improved the total labor use efficiency of households renting-in land and those renting-out land,while renting-out land significantly reduced farmland use efficiency.Renting-in land significantly increased the total labor use efficiency by 2026.153yuan·labor^-1,but it had no significant effect on farmland use efficiency.Renting-out land significantly increased the total labor use efficiency by 3315.577 yuan·labor^-1,but it significantly decreased the farmland use efficiency by 416.896 yuan·mu^-1.6)Farmland transfer dramatically increased the per capita income of rural households in the study area,while greatly increased the income inequality.Farmland transfer significantly increased the per capita income of households in the study area by77.9%,and it contributed 14.4%of the Gini index.Based on above results,the study proposed the following recommendations:a)Policy makers should be prepared for different changing trends of grain crop acreage across different crops and regions as farmland transfer continues.b)Increasing agricultural productivity of households renting-out land by creating new farmland management methods should be an important aspect to improve the whole agricultural productivity.c)To improve agricultural efficiency and rational use of agrochemical,and to increase the earning power of households with poor off-farm employment capacity and low agricultural productivity,it is necessary to promote new agricultural technologies by supplying technical training and financial support.This study properly solved the endogeneity problems in different analyses with specific econometric models and the study methods provide important references for further studies on farmland transfer and relative fields.Besides,this study comprehensively and systematically analyzed the effects of farmland transfer on agricultural production as well as farmer's income and income equality.The research perspective of this study is novel,and the results can provide scientific supports for making and implementing of policies of farmland transfer,food security and targeted poverty alleviation in rural areas.