Research On Farmland Transfer,Non-Agricultural Employment And Spatial Distribution Of Farmers’ Income

The report of the 20 th Party Congress proposes to "deepen the reform of rural land and give farmers fuller property rights and interests".The land system has always been an important issue of concern to the Party and the State,and it is a matter of national importance,and the transfer of agricultural land is an integral part of the land system reform.With the promotion of the "three rights" reform and the implementation of moderate scale land management,the vitality of land has been greatly released and the efficiency of agricultural production has been improved.It has not only effectively promoted off-farm employment for farmers,but has also played a significant role in stabilising the right to contract land management and expanding employment channels for farmers.In addition,with the rapid development of China’s society and economy,farmers’ incomes have both shown a rapid growth trend,but there has been a large gap in farmers’ incomes under different spaces.Therefore,in the process of comprehensively implementing the rural revitalisation strategy,how to further promote the orderly transfer of agricultural land,liberate the surplus labour on rural land elements,promote the transfer of a large amount of surplus labour from traditional agriculture to other modern industries,and broaden farmers’ employment channels,so as to ensure a sustainable and stable increase in farmers’ income and narrow the gap in farmers’ income between regions,has become an important issue that needs to be studied and resolved urgently.In order to reveal the intrinsic connection between the transfer of agricultural land,non-farm employment and the spatial distribution of farmers’ income,this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework on the influence of agricultural land transfer and non-farm employment on the spatial distribution of farmers’ income,and systematically analyses the spatial distribution of agricultural land transfer,non-farm employment and farmers’ income and their evolution patterns by means of descriptive statistics.Further,based on provincial panel data on agricultural land transfer,non-farm employment and farmers’ income in 30 provinces(excluding Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and Tibet)from 2008 to 2020,a general panel regression model and a spatial Durbin model are constructed to empirically analyse the impact of agricultural land transfer on farmers’ income in China and its spatial spillover effect,the heterogeneity of the impact of agricultural land transfer on farmers’ income in different regions,and the impact of agricultural land transfer on inter-provincial differences in farmers’ income.The impact of agricultural land transfer on inter-provincial differences in farmers’ income.Finally,the mediating variable of non-farm employment was introduced to explore the mediating effect of agricultural land transfer on the spatial distribution of farmers’ income through non-farm employment.The study found that: firstly,the transfer of agricultural land had a significant positive effect on farmers’ per capita income and a spatial spillover effect.Secondly,the impact of agricultural land transfer on farmers’ income was significant and positive in all regions,but the effect of agricultural land transfer on farmers’ income was not consistent across regions.Third,agricultural land transfer has a significant negative impact on the difference in farmers’ income between regions.Fourthly,the transfer of agricultural land has a positive impact on farmers’ non-farm employment and significantly reduces the difference in farmers’ income levels between regions by increasing non-farm employment.Based on the above findings,the following policy recommendations are proposed to give full play to the positive role of agricultural land transfer in increasing farmers’ income: first,the market mechanism of agricultural land transfer should be gradually improved to enhance the efficiency of agricultural land transfer;second,the training system of rural labour force should be improved to enhance the quality of non-farm employment;third,the effect of agricultural land transfer in increasing income should be continuously brought into play to narrow the difference in farmers’ income between regions.