On Farmer’s Participation In Arable Land Protection

Arable land is an essential land resource that plays an irreplaceable role concerning to food security and social stability of a nation. Therefore, it has been a constant focus and hot issue concerned by the governments and academic circles on how to effectively protect arable land. China, as a county with large population and low per capita arable land, has attached great importance to the protection of arable land. However, the effectiveness of arable land protection over the years is not optimistic. Not only the amount of arable land is still declining, the quality and environment of arable land also continues to deteriorate.As a basic participant in utilization and protection of arable land, farmer’s role has always been overlooked during the policy implementation course of arable land protection. Farmers have been in a passive state that affects their initiative and enthusiasm to protect the arable land. Based on situations and tasks of arable land protection in China and actualities of Chinese farmers, this thesis introduces the theory of public participation into the system of arable land protection. By comprehensively utilizing theories and methods in public administration, political science, economics and other related disciplines, and in adopting research methods as integrating theory and practice, micro-analysis and macro-analysis, as well qualitative and quantitative analysis, it takes the behavior of farmer’s participation in arable land protection as the research object, generalizes purposes and characteristics of farmer’s participation in arable land protection through analyzing their behavior, thus explores factors that influences such behavior, finds out the decision making pattern in these behaviors, studies relevant contents of current farmer’s participation in arable land protection in a relatively systematic manner, and proposes feasible countermeasures accordingly. Findings of this research indicate that the willingness of current farmer’s participation in arable land protection is influenced by farmer’s own economic behavior, the behavior of local government, and the existing property rights system of arable land. On this basis, this thesis proposes to promote farmer’s initiative and enthusiasm in participating arable land protection through increasing farmer’s farming income, improving property rights system of arable land, and strengthening agricultural subsidies and system, and thereby, ensure the effectiveness of implementing arable land protection policies in China.