Socio-economic Impact Of Chinese Farmers And Agricultural Workers In Russian Far East On Local Farmers

This thesis presents an analysis of the impacts of Chinese agricultural investments on life quality,land market,labour market and technology adoption in the Russian Far East(RFE).As a result of increasing soybean prices,China-United States trade war and close proximity of China and Russia,Chinese growers provide income,employment,compete for land and are source of technology adoption to Russian farmers in RFE.Chinese migrants fill a labour shortage,help recultivate idle land and contribute positively to local food security,with negative impacts being more socially normative and political than economic.So far,there has been no empirical economic research of the Chinese farmers’ presence in RFE.On the basis of panel data collected in a field survey,four econometric models were used to analyse the impact of Chinese farmers in RFE on life quality,land market,labour market and technology adoption of local farmers.Chinese presence inhibits higher incomes among rural households in RFE,including land renting and basic administrative services,but most of these transactions are undocumented.More Chinese farms in the region lead to higher wages of Russian workers,but more Chinese workers decreases wages of Russian workers.Russian peasants rent the land from the land fund and re-rent it to Chinese,thus speculating on land,increasing land renting prices,competition for renting land and their incomes.Becoming a middle man between Russian land fund and Chinese farmers and after that working for Chinese farmers provides two extra incomes to Russian workers.The Chinese influence land prices indirectly,through soybean prices and through the employment of Chinese workers by Russian farmers.Russian government quotas on migrant(Chinese)workers in agriculture make that Russian farmers are forced to employ Russian workers who are less reliable than Chinese workers.Chinese producers provide employment for Russian workers who can establish an off-farm income.Hypothesis that a technology adoption process between Chinese and Russian farmers takes place was confirmed for wheat only,but this still requires deeper analysis.In order to make Chinese-Russian agricultural cooperation over the border beneficial for both sides,Russian government should come up with incentives for attracting more Chinese farmers to cultivate land in the RFE.Russian authorities should encourage Chinese farmers to rent more land so the renting fees for Russian workers can increase,thus increasing incomes for Russian rural households.Russian authorities should encourage Chinese farmers to create more Chinese farms in the region so fewer family members has to rely on their own farms and they can get higher incomes.Small farms that sell majority of their production to Chinese should specialize in rice and potato and give up corn production.