The Impact On Rice Farmers' Income By Rice-value Chain

Farmers'income is always one of the most preferential issues that draw great attention of policy makers in China, however, the income disparity between urban and rural areas has been expanding and deepening in recent years with a gloomy concern of the ailing state of farmers'income, especially for the farmers in grain production zone in China.This research is mainly focused on the rice production, transaction, transportation and sale along rice value chain from Heilongjiang Province to Beijing. On one hand, based on the data from field survey, it's feasible to investigate the value flow and profits along the value chain. On the other hand, quantitative analysis could be used to estimate the impact on rice farmers'income by rice value chain. To eliminate the bias of selection, effect treatment model is also adopted. It's a two-stage-regression with calculating the inverse mills ratio from the first stage, then using it as an independent variable for the second stage.The main conclusions are as follows,Rice farmers'income is influenced by one's choice of market channel. The farmers who sells paddy to mills obtain a higher level of income than to brokers, specifically, farmers who grow fine variety of paddy gain an average of 0.15 Yuan selling to millers higher than to brokers, and an average of 0.4 Yuan selling to millers higher than to brokers if the farmers grow common variety of paddy. The quality of seeds, mechanization level and scale of rice growing would influence the income of rice farmers. The farm gate represents a vulnerable segment and shares a low level of profits in rice value chain.To some extent, it is prudent to consider developing mill industry in grain production zones for the privilege of farmers'income, besides, the optimized logistics efficiency would also perform positive effects on rice farmers'income.It is also suggested that the government should promote the integration of rice value chain, optimize the structure of agriculture sector, and develop mill industry. Besides, the encouragement of growing fine variety of paddy for farmers, competitive prices and education level for rural residents should be taken into account as well.