Study On The Impact Of Sloping Land Conversion Program On Labor Supply And Income Of Farmers

In 1999,the central government implemented the project of returning farmland to forests with the largest investment,the wide coverage and the most afforestation since the founding of the People's Republic of China.In order to compensate for the welfare losses caused by returning farmland to farmers,the government has established a corresponding ecological compensation system.In the past 20 years,the project has completed 500 million mu of land for returning farmland to forests,and the total ecological value has exceeded 1trillion yuan.However,during the period of returning farmland to forests,there are still two major problems that need to be solved,First,after many years of project implementation.Most of the area of returning farmland has entered the extension period of ecological compensation,and it is urgent to establish a long-term mechanism for ecological compensation for returning farmland to forests.Second,due to the failure to achieve the goal of conversion of income structure of farmers,and some farmers are already in the extended period of subsidies,then how It is urgent to solve the livelihood problems of this part(and other)of the farmers who have returned farmland and to ensure the sustainability of their income growth.The latter is the basis of the former.To solve the livelihood problem of the farmers who return farmland,it is necessary to evaluate the impact of returning farmland to forests on the economic behavior of farmers,especially the impact of returning farmland to forests on labor supply and human capital investment to ensure the income growth of farmers.This paper uses national survey data to assess the impact of returning farmland to forests on labor supply and income of farmers,and the role of labor supply in returning farmland to forests affecting farmers' income.Returning farmland to forests not only reduces the farmland area of farmers,but also changes the input of labor factors of farmers,which in turn affects the income of farmers.Based on this logic,this paper focuses on the labor participation and labor time of farmers,adopts the combination of normative and empirical evidence,theoretical analysis and quantitative analysis to study the impact of returning farmland to forests on the labor supply and income of farmers.It is of great practical significance to return farmland to forests to affect farmers' income and its mechanism,to adjust agricultural industrial policies in returning farmland and to construct a long-term mechanism for ecological compensation for returning farmland to forests.The main research contents of this paper are,using national survey data,the effects of returning farmland to forests on labor supply and income offarmers were studied from three aspects: farmer labor participation,labor time and household income.The first is the impact of returning farmland to forests on the labor participation of farmers.Does this effect differ between agricultural labor participation and non-agricultural labor participation,and whether non-agricultural labor participation has differences in labor location choices;What is the impact of farmer labor time allocation,whether this impact is related to the choice of labor location;the third is the impact of returning farmland to forests on the income of farmers,and whether there is regional difference in this impact;the fourth is the return of farmland to forests through labor participation and labor time The mechanism of action affecting the income of farmers.The main conclusions are,Returning farmland to forests in the short term will increase farmers' agricultural labor participation and non-agricultural labor participation.Among them,the promotion of non-agricultural labor participation is mainly reflected in the increase of non-agricultural labor participation in the field,but in the long-term will reduce the agricultural labor participation of farmers;Reforestation will increase farmers' agricultural labor time,reduce non-agricultural labor time,and fail to fully realize the goal of non-agricultural labor transfer.The impact on non-agricultural labor time is to increase non-agricultural employment time in the field and reduce local non-agricultural employment time.The non-agricultural industry in the non-agricultural sector has limited effect on the absorption of surplus labor;returning farmland to forests will reduce the income of farmers and show obvious spatial characteristics;agricultural labor participation promotes the adverse impact of returning farmland to forests on the income of farmers,rather than agricultural labor participation and Labor time alleviated this adverse effect.On the one hand,returning farmland to forests has not yet established an endogenous mechanism for the income growth of farmers,and it is necessary to further improve the ecological compensation system for returning farmland to forests and construct a long-term mechanism for returning farmland to forests;on the other hand,further improve the follow-up policies for returning farmland to forests.Improve the labor transfer system,reduce the conversion cost of non-agricultural employment of farmers,and improve the non-agricultural employment opportunities and labor time of farmers.First,the SLCP will increase farmers' agricultural labor participation and non-agricultural labor participation,but the impact of non-agricultural labor participation is small.From the perspective of the heterogeneity of farmer labor non-agricultural employment,the farmland retreat will significantly increase the farmer's local non-agricultural labor participation rate and the foreign employment labor participation rate,but will reduce the local employment labor participation rate.The impact of the area of returning farmland on the labor participation of farmers is consistent with the impact of returning farmland,that is,it has no significant impact on the overall labor participation of farmers,and has a positive effect on agricultural labor participation and non-agricultural labor participation.At the same time,the area of returning farmland to local non-agricultural labor participation The rate and the rate of employment in the field have a significant positive effect,and have a negative effect on the local employment rate.This shows that the impact of returning farmland to forests on the non-agricultural labor participation of farmers is between foreign employment and local non-agricultural operations and local employment.There is a certain alternative relationship.Second,From the impact of the period of the SLCP on the labor participation of farmers,the SLCP will reduce the agricultural labor participation rate of farmers and increase the non-agricultural labor participation rate of farmers,but the positive effect on non-agricultural labor participation is small.In the long run,the SLCP will reduce the agricultural labor participation of farmers,and will increase non-agricultural labor participation.From the heterogeneity of non-agricultural labor participation,the period of the SLCP will increase the local non-agricultural labor participation rate and the foreign employment labor participation rate,but has no significant impact on the local employment labor participation rate.In the long run,the SLCP makes farmers more inclined to local non-agricultural operations and migrant workers.Third,the SLCP will increase the overall labor supply time of farmers,the supply time of agricultural labor and the supply time of out-of-employment labor,but will significantly reduce local wage labor time.Retired farmers with older people are more inclined to reduce overall labor time,agricultural labor hours and time spent on work,but will increase local employment time.At the same time,minor children have a regulating effect on the labor supply effect of returning farmland to forests.Both the area of the SLCP and the period of the SLCP will significantly increase the total labor time,agricultural labor time and labor time of the farmer,but will reduce the local wage labor time.The labor supply effect of the farmland returning behavior will be reversed by the backward adjustment of the farmland subsidy.Fourth,spatial heterogeneity and family structure can significantly affect the labor supply effect of the SLCP.Compared with the southern farmers,the returning farmer farmers in the north will significantly reduce agricultural labor hours and labor time,but will increase local employment time.Retired farmers with older people will significantly reduceoverall labor time,agricultural labor hours and out-of-work labor hours,but will increase local employment time.The presence or absence of minor children has a significant impact on the labor supply of returning farmer farmers and non-returning farmer households,and the total labor time and agricultural labor time of returning farmer households with minor children will be significantly higher than that of farmer families without minor children,but their local The time of wage labor is significantly lower than that of families without minor children.Fifth,the practice of returning farmland will significantly reduce the income of farmers,that is,there is a negative growth in the income of farmers.The negative growth effect of returning farmland income in the Yangtze River Basin is greater than that of the Yellow River Basin.From the perspective of the whole sample,the income effect of returning farmland to forests in the western region is positive,and the income effect of returning farmland to forests in the central region is negative.From the sample of the Yellow River Basin,the income effect of returning farmland to forests on farmers in the western and eastern regions is positive,and the income effect on farmers in the central regions is negative.However,there is no significant difference in the income effect of the Yangtze River Basin between the eastern and central regions.The area of returning farmland also has a negative impact on the income of farmers,and this effect shows regional differences.The income effect of the subsidy for returning farmland in the northern region is significantly lower than that in the northern part of the country.The impact of the area of returning farmland on the income of farmers in the eastern,central and western regions also shows regional differences.Sixth,the SLCP has an indirect effect on the income of farmers through the labor participation.With the increase of agricultural labor participation rate,the negative impact of returning farmland to forests on farmers' income is also greater,that is,agricultural labor participation mediates the impact of returning farmland to forests on farmers' income.With the increase of non-agricultural labor participation rate,the negative impact of returning farmland to forests on farmers' income is smaller,that is,non-agricultural labor participation inhibits the negative impact of returning farmland to forests on farmers' income.Labor supply time has a significant inhibitory effect on the negative growth of returning farmland to forests,indicating that in the context of farmers' main labor income,the increase in labor supply time of farmers will reduce the negative impact of returning farmland to forests on farmers' income.