Study On The Impact Of Sloping Land Conversion Program On Rural Economic Development In Jianchang County

Sloping land conversion program is a national ecological protection project adopted by China at the end of last century in order to restore the ecological environment,curb environmental deterioration and deal with natural disasters.Over the past two decades,from2007 to 2020,the Chinese government has invested a total of over 500 billion yuan in 287 prefectures and cities,2435 counties,and 41 million rural households,benefiting 158 million farmers directly.The implementation of the project has great significance and far-reaching influence on the construction of ecological civilization and sustainable economic development.Sloping land conversion program in Jianchang County began in 1999.After more than 20 years of the project,the ecological environment in Jianchang County has been significantly improved,the rural industrial structure has been effectively adjusted,the primary,secondary,and tertiary industries have developed in a coordinated manner,land use patterns have been transformed,farmers’ income level and quality of life have steadily improved,and a win-win situation has been achieved in socio-economic development and ecological civilization construction.Taking Jianchang County,Liaoning Province as the research object,this article first introduces the physical geography,socio-economic situation,and conversion of farmland to forests of Jianchang County from a macro perspective,and analyzes the changes in rural industrial structure,land use structure,farmer employment structure,and farmer economic income of Jianchang County before and after the conversion of farmland to forests project,Then,from the micro level,it analyzes the changes in the livelihood capital of farmers and non farmers in rural areas of Jianchang County before and after the conversion of farmland to forests,and proposes the problems in policy implementation,ecological compensation,and subsequent development of the conversion of farmland to forests in Jianchang County.Finally,through a PSM-DID regression analysis,the article evaluates the net effects of the policy of returning farmland to forests on promoting household income growth,rural labor mobility,and rural poverty alleviation and development.The impact of the policy of returning farmland to forests on rural economic growth was evaluated through a macro growth model.The innovation of this study mainly lies in two aspects: first,the innovation of the research object.At present,scholars’ research on converting farmland to forests mostly focuses on the northwest region,while there are few studies on the northeast region.Moreover,the current research mainly starts from the provincial level,and there are few studies on county-level regions.This article takes Jianchang County as the research object,which can supplement the research on relevant issues at the county level in Northeast China.The second is the innovation of research methods.Currently,scholars mostly study the impact and effectiveness of the project from the perspective of public policy,with more qualitative analysis and less quantitative analysis,and even less empirical analysis.This paper constructs a double difference model and a macro growth model,and studies the impact of returning farmland to forests on rural economic development through empirical analysis.The research results show that after the implementation of the project,the per capita cultivated land area of sample farmers has decreased to varying degrees,and the farming mode of farmers has shifted from extensive cultivation to intensive cultivation.The project has a significant promoting effect on the transfer of rural surplus labor and the growth of farmers’ income.The role of natural resources and labor force in regional agricultural development has been declining,and the intellectual factors in labor force resources have become the dominant factors affecting agricultural development.The growth of regional agricultural output value basically comes from the increase in input of modern agricultural production factors.Based on the existing problems in converting farmland to forests and the actual situation in rural areas of Jianchang County,this article proposes suggestions: First,accelerate the adjustment of rural industrial structure,develop local characteristic agriculture,and promote the integrated development of agriculture and tourism.The second is to optimize the ecological compensation mechanism for returning farmland to forests,establish and improve differential compensation mechanisms,incentive compatibility mechanisms,and principal-agent mechanisms.The third is to adjust the labor supply structure,separate the main body of returning farmland and forests,strengthen vocational skills training,and improve the non agricultural employment ability and wage income of farmers.Fourth,actively guide new business entities to participate in the conversion of farmland to forests,and give full play to the professional and market advantages of new business entities.Fifth,establish and improve the management system and performance evaluation system for the late stage of returning farmland to forests,and consolidate the effectiveness of returning farmland to forests.