A Study On The Influence Of Rural Labor Migration On Farmer Household Production Operation

Ours is a populous country in which agriculture plays an important role in national economy. Issues about farmers’ income have always been one of the focuses of the government, and the central government has issued "first document" aiming at agriculture for 11 consecutive years. This policy has important implications for the peasant household operation and grain production.Hubei province, as one of the major grain producing and labor-exporting provinces in China, plays an important role in the strategy of ensuring national food security. Therefore,the research of the effects of labor transfer on the grain production and operation of peasant households in Hubei province is of typical significance. Based on the summary of previous researches, this paper decides to take an on-the-spot investigation of the food crops farmers in Xiantao city and other 3 counties in Hubei province, thus obtaining the first-hand data. Both the micro investigation data and macro data are used in the descriptive analysis of the 357 food crops farmer households, including their family characteristics, labor transfer, household income, agricultural technology adoption and grain production situation based on the differences of workplace. Besides, econometric model is employed in the empirical analysis of the impact of migrant working by two different types of away-from-home workers, which are local workers and non-local workers, on peasant household income, and explored the impact of migrant labor force of different gender on peasant household income. Research results are reached and relevant policy recommendations are made in the end.The results show that:(1) There is an obvious correlation between migrant working by rural labor force and the income of household operation. The increase of the number of migrant workers leads to the remarkable reduction of the agricultural production income,and the significant increase of the non-agricultural production income. But the increase of non-agricultural income exceeds the reduction of the agricultural production income.Therefore, migrant working can significantly increase the income of the farmer households to a certain extent.(2) Labor age has become an important factor for agricultural production, and aging labor force has brought prominent negative impact on agricultural production. There is no necessary connection between householders’ education level and the income from agricultural production, but the former has an obviously positive relation with non-agricultural production and other income.(3)The difference between local workers and non-local workers mainly displays in the following aspects: The more convenient the transportation is, the more likely the family members towork in town, and the harder to work out of town; Non-local workers have less negative impact on agricultural production income and less financial support to their family than that of local workers, but have significant promoting effect on the increase of the income of non-agricultural production.(4) Gender difference does not only exist in the influence factors of the number of migrant workers, it also plays a role in the influence of migrant working activities on the production incomes of farmer households. This mainly displays in these aspects: From the prospect of absolute value, whether it is the positive effect of family population on the number of migrant workers population or the negative influence of labor average age and average land ownership per capita on the number of migrant workers, male migrant workers have more than female migrant workers. In addition, male migrant workers also have shown more promoting effect of the number of migrant workers on the amount of remittance and non-agricultural production income, and more negative impact on agricultural production income, compared to female migrant workers; From the prospect of the gap of impacts, the gap in the influence of the number of male and female migrant workers on remittance and agricultural production income is large, while the gap in the promotion of non-agricultural production is quite small. This suggests that female rural labor force have a comparative advantage in non-agricultural activities.This paper argues that the transfer of rural migrant labor force does not have a negative impact on food production, but have a positive effect on the economic development of the labor export area, especially on the increase of farm household income in Xiantao and other counties in Hubei province. Migrant labor activities have positive effect on the per capita income and welfare of the left-behind family members. In the meanwhile, they improve the efficiency of agricultural production and help the promotion of new technology in the countryside. Difference exists in local workers and non-local workers, and different gender shows different influence. In the surveyed area, rural labor force surplus still exist, so does the ability to transfer labor force. Thus, transfer employment of rural surplus labor force should be encouraged to further increase farmers’ income and improve their living standard.