| In recent years,Hunan,Jiangxi and other southern regions have implemented large-scale land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion.Driven by policies related to farmland requisition-compensation balance,such as "recovering paddy fields to supplement paddy fields","renovation of quality improvement,combination of compensation and reform",and "cross-regional adjustment of indicators of requisition-compensation balance",the improvement of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion has shown a further expansion trend.Therefore,the original intention of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion in Southern China is to relieve the pressure of requisition-compensation balance.The main purpose is to increase the number of paddy fields and relieve the pressure of requisition-compensation balance,but not to improve the quality of cultivated land,improve land productivity and increase farmers’ income.Land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion affects farmers’ livelihood capital through many ways,causes the change of livelihood strategy,and then affects farmers’ income.Land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion will disturb the livelihood capital of farmers as a starting point,this thesis studies the impact of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion on farmers’ income,and further identifies the income effect on heterogeneous farmers,so as to promote the transformation of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion from "land-oriented" to "human-land coordination".Based on the farmer survey data from July 2021 to March 2022 in Nanxian County of Hunan Province,Hukou County and Zhangshu City of Jiangxi Province,following the research paradigm of "theoretical analysis,effect assessment,mechanism test",this thesis first attempts to analyze the key mechanism of the income effect of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion from the theoretical level.Secondly,this thesis uses PSM-DID model to empirically analyze the impact of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion on the household income（including income level and structure）,and carries out robustness test.Then,this thesis further identifies the heterogeneity of the impact of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion on household income of different income levels and different livelihood types.Next,we use the two-stage method to empirically test the mechanism of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion affecting farmers’ income;Finally,this thesis puts forward corresponding policy suggestions.The main conclusions are as follows:（1）Land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion can significantly improve farmers’ income level and change their income structure.Specifically,land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion increased farmers’ income by 31,660 yuan on average;Labor income and land rent income increased by 33,440 yuan and 890 yuan on average,the agricultural income decreased by 10,318 yuan on average.Land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion had no significant effect on subsidy income.（2）There is heterogeneity in the income increasing effect of land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion.（1）Heterogeneity among farmers with different income levels:land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion can significantly reduce the income of the lowest income group and increase the income of the lower and middle income groups,but has no significant effect on the higher and highest income groups;（2）Heterogeneity among farmers with different livelihood types: land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion significantly reduced the income of traditional farmers,increased the income of professional and part-time farmers,and had no significant impact on the income of non-agricultural farmers.The reason may be that traditional farmers are limited by family structure and have no room for livelihood transformation,leading to the decline of income.While the part-time farmers can realize the non-agricultural transformation of livelihood,improve the income of workers,and thus improve the income level;Professional farmers can gain economies of scale through scale operation and improve the income of planting industry.However,non-agricultural households have basically gotten rid of their dependence on land,and land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion does not change their household livelihood strategies,and has no significant impact on the income level of non-farmers.（3）Land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion mainly affects farmers’ income by promoting “tendency to plant grains”,scale management,land transfer and non-agricultural labor force.On the one hand,the “tendency to plant grains” reduces the income level of farmers’ planting industry;On the other hand,land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion improves farmers’ income level by promoting agricultural scale management,land transfer and labor non-agriculture,and the income increasing effect is far greater than the negative effect of “tendency to plant grains” on farmers’ income.The above results show that land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion has an effect of increasing income,which mainly results from the non-agricultural transfer of labor and thus increases the income of workers.Although the trend of grain planting structure will reduce farmers’ planting income,its negative effect is far less than the increase effect brought by non-agricultural labor force.For farmers with different income levels and types,land consolidation of dryland-to-paddy conversion restricts the income growth of farmers in the lowest income group and traditional farmers.Limited by the family structure,this type of farmers cannot change their livelihood strategies like professional farmers or part-time farmers,so as to realize scale operation or non-agricultural transformation of livelihood.In view of the research conclusions of this thesis,the researchers put forward the following suggestions:（1）Establish and improve the long-term income increase mechanism for farmers,and establish a post-construction paddy field management and protection scheme.The government should extend the free distribution period of agricultural material elements,raise the subsidy standard of land consolidation dryland-to-paddy conversion and the comprehensive subsidy of grain growing.Then,the government should set up reward and punishment measures to ensure the sustainable use of paddy fields after construction.（2）Implement "one type one policy",adopt diversified agricultural assistance policies and labor support policies.For agricultural production as the main business,the government needs to promote the development of agricultural industry planning,improve rural agricultural technology training system;For farmers who can achieve non-agricultural transition,the government should accelerate rural vocational education and training to improve the competitiveness of labor force in non-agricultural employment. |
PDF Full Text Request