Causes of Farmland Abandonment and Its Management Strategy——Based on Framework of Labor Transfer-Farmland Endowment-Farmland Abandonment
The relationship between non-agricultural labor transfer and farmland abandonment attracts academic attention,but existing studies have not reached consistent conclusions.This paper brings farmland endowment into the analysis and constructs a research framework of labor transfer-farmland endowment-farmland abandonment.It empirically analyzes the role of farmland endowment in the impact of non-agricultural labor transfer on farmland abandonment based on the data of the China Rural Household Panel Survey(CRHPS)from 2015 to 2017,exploring potential management strategies.The results show that farmland abandonment is situationally dependent on farmland endowment.Although non-agricultural labor transfer has an important impact on abandonment,farmland endowment plays a key role.Mechanism analysis shows that farmland endowment mainly affects farmland abandonment by influencing the possibility of farmers choosing factor substitution and farmland management rights transactions when labor supply is constrained.Furthermore,the farmland transfer market and agricultural machinery service market can prevent farmland abandonment with good endowments.This effect is limited in hilly and mountainous areas with poor endowments.However,if the agricultural factor market and farmland consolidation can be linked,it will help alleviate the abandonment in these areas.Therefore,farmland abandonment is essentially the result of changes in the relationship between farmer and land.Improving the site conditions of farmland through comprehensive land consolidation may be an important issue that needs urgent priority.This paper puts forward the following policy recommendations.First,it is necessary to promote comprehensive farmland consolidation,prioritizing the enhancement of site conditions of farmland.For poor,fragmented,and remote farmland in hilly and mountainous areas,it should enhance the workability of soils through high-standard farmland construction and overall land consolidation,thereby reducing the risk of abandonment.Second,it should improve the agricultural factor market system.Enhancing the farmland transfer market and fostering new types of agricultural operators can promote large-scale operations.Meanwhile,developing the market for agricultural socialized services will facilitate the scaling of agricultural machinery and technical services,thereby enhancing the feasibility of factor substitution.Third,it should strengthen the linkage between the agricultural factor market and farmland consolidation,particularly in hilly and mountainous areas,and focus on policy support and resource integration to form a comprehensive management framework with participation from multiple stakeholders.The possible marginal contributions are twofold.It focuses on the heterogeneity of farmland endowment and seeks a mechanically rational explanation for the inconsistency between the research conclusions of non-agricultural labor transfer and farmland abandonment.Furthermore,it discusses the limitations of agricultural factor market development in managing farmland abandonment,providing new possible strategies for alleviating the problem of farmland abandonment.
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