Abstract
To clarify the impact of non-agricultural employment on rural land circulation in China, we built logit models using the Chinese Household Income Project 2013 dataset, which includes 18,948 household samples over 15 provinces, 126 cities and 234 counties of China in 2013. We use the proportion of non-agricultural income, the proportion of non-agricultural laborers and non-agricultural fixed operating assets to reflect the degree of the households’ dependence on agriculture, the degree of the households’ laborers committed to non-agricultural employment and the stability of non-agricultural employment, respectively. The results show that the stability of non-agricultural employment is an important reason for farmers to transfer out their land, and an increase in non-agricultural income is the fundamental reason. The proportion of non-agricultural assets has the greatest impact on the decision to transfer land, followed by the proportion of non-agricultural income. Per unit increase in the non-agricultural income ratio has a stronger effect on the transfer-out decision than it does on the transfer-in decision, which is a 0.09 increase of the probability of transfer- out the land and a 0.07 decrease of the probability of transfer-in the land. In terms of regional differences, when considering the impact of non-agricultural employment on the land transfer-out decision, the impacts of non-agricultural income and labor force are the greatest in the Central region. The impact of non-agricultural assets is the greatest in the Eastern region. For the Eastern region, the decision to transfer out land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets and the non-agricultural labor force, and the decision to transfer in land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets. In the Central and Western regions, the decision to transfer out land is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets, non-agricultural income and the non-agricultural labor force, in that order. The decision to transfer in land in the Central region is not significantly affected by non-agricultural employment. The decision to transfer in land in the Western region is mainly affected by non-agricultural assets, non-agricultural labor force and non-agricultural income, in that order. We note that non-agricultural assets have a prominent impact on land transfer, which shows that the stability of non-agricultural employment has an important impact on land transfer decision- making. Vocational training for rural labor forces may be an effective means to promote stable non-agricultural employment and simultaneously facilitate rural land circulation, especially in Central and Western China.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bao Z S, Xu Z M, Gao S et al., 2009. Regional differences of land circulation and driving forces: A case study of Jiangsu Province. Chinese Rural Economy, (4): 23–47. (in Chinese)
Cassidy A, Mcgrath B, 2015. Farm, place and identity construction among Irish farm youth who migrate. Journal of Rural Studies, 37: 20–28.
Che Y, 2014. Mismatch: Land reallocations, recovery land rental and land rental market development in rural China. China Agricultural Economic Review, 6(2): 229–247 (219). (in Chinese)
Chen H L, Shi Q H, Gu H Y, 2014. Is land circulation efficient? A case study of Shanxi Province. Chinese Rural Economy, (7): 61–71. (in Chinese)
Chen Y Q, 2010. Agricultural land use responses to the rising labor opportunity cost in Sui county, China. Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment, 8(4): 10–18. (in Chinese)
Chen Y Q, Li X B, Zhu H Y et al., 2010. Agricultural land use responses to increasing labor opportunity cost in Suixian county of Henan province. Progress in Geography, 29(9): 1067–1074. (in Chinese)
Choi Y J, 2001. Rural labor flows in China (review). China Review International, 8(2): 578–580.
Deininger K, Jin S, 2005. The potential of land rental markets in the process of economic development: Evidence from China. Journal of Development Economics, 78(1): 241–270.
Deininger K, Jin S, Berhanu A et al., 2001. Mechanisms for land transfer in Ethiopia: Implications for efficiency, equity and non-farm development. Ethiopian Journal of Economics, 10: 21–54.
Ellis F, 2006. Peasant Economics: Peasant Household Agricultural and Agriculture Development. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.
Egyei R K, Harrison P, Adzovor Y, 2013. Household non-farm income: Any influence on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana? Developing Country Studies, 3(9): 79–91.
Feng S, 2008. Land rental, off-farm employment and technical efficiency of farm households in Jiangxi Province, China. NJAS-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, 55(4): 363–378.
Feng S, Heerink N, Ruben R et al., 2010. Land rental market, off-farm employment and agricultural production in Southeast China: A plot-level case study. China Economic Review, 21(4): 598–606.
Gao L L, Huang J K, 2011. The relationship between different types of circulated agricultural land and household investment. Chinese Rural Economy, (4): 9–17. (in Chinese)
Han H, Zhong F N, 2011. The impacts of remained land after labor outflow on local farmers’s income distribution. Chinese Rural Economy, (4): 18–25. (in Chinese)
Hao H G, Li X B, Xin L J, 2017. Impacts of non-farm employment of rural laborers on agricultural land use: Theoretical analysis and its policy implications. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 8(6): 595–604.
Holden S, Shiferaw B, Pender J, 2004. Non-farm income, household welfare, and sustainable land management in a less-favoured area in the Ethiopian highlands. Food Policy, 29(4): 369–392.
Huang J, Gao L, Rozelle S, 2012. The effect of off-farm employment on the decisions of households to rent out and rent in cultivated land in China. China Agricultural Economic Review, 4(1): 5–17.
Huang J, Wu Y, Rozelle S, 2009. Moving off the farm and intensifying agricultural production in Shandong: A case study of rural labor market linkages in China. Agricultural Economics, 40(2): 203–218.
Huang Z H, Wang P, 2008. Farmland transfer and its impacts on the development of modern agriculture: Status, problems and solutions. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 38(2): 38–47. (in Chinese)
Huy H T, Lyne M, Ratna N et al., 2016. Drivers of transaction costs affecting participation in the rental market for cropland in Vietnam. Australian Journal of Agricultural & Resource Economics, 60(3): 476–492.
Jia Q Y, 2012. A study on the relationship between Chinese rural land transfer and non-farm income [D]. Jinan: Shandong University of Finance and Economics. (in Chinese)
Kawasaki K, 2010. The costs and benefits of land fragmentation of rice farms in Japan. Australian Journal of Agricultural & Resource Economics, 54(4): 509–526.
Kawasaki K, 2011. The impact of land fragmentation on rice production cost and input use. Japanese Journal of Rural Economics, 13: 1–14.
Kung J K S, Lee Y F, 2001. So what if there is income inequality? The distributive consequence of nonfarm employment in rural China. Economic Development & Cultural Change, 50(1): 19–46.
Low A, 1986. Agricultural Development in Southern Africa: Farm Household Economics and the Food Crisis. London: James Currey.
Latruffe L, Piet L, 2013. Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? Agricultural Systems, 129: 68–80.
Lin J Y, 1992. Rural reforms and agricultural growth in China. American Economic Review, 82(1): 34–51.
Liu T, Qu F T, Jin J et al., 2008. Impact of land fragmentation and land transfer on farmer’s land use efficiency. Resources Science, 30(10): 1511–1516. (in Chinese)
Liu Y X, Xu H Z, 2016. Influence of farmland right to rural land circulation: Based on the perspective of farmers differentiation. Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, 30(5): 25–29. (in Chinese)
Ma X L, Qiu T W, Qian Z H, 2015. Farmland property and land market participation of rural households: An Empirical Analysis of Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangxi and Heilongjiang provinces, China. Chinese Rural Economy, (2): 22–37. (in Chinese)
Manjunatha A V, Anik A R, Speelman S et al., 2013. Impact of land fragmentation, farm size, land ownership and crop diversity on profit and efficiency of irrigated farms in India. Land Use Policy, 31: 397–405.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 1996–2013. China Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), 2006–2014. Compilation of Cost-Benefit Data of National Agricultural Products. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)
Niroula G S, Thapa G B, 2007. Impacts of land fragmentation on input use, crop yield and production efficiency in the mountains of Nepal. Land Degradation & Development, 18(3): 237–248.
Office for Fixed Rural Observation Villages (OFROV) of Policy Research Department of Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Ministry of Agriculture, 2001. National Rural Social-economic Survey Data Collection, 1986–1999. Beijing: China Agricultural Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Office for Fixed Rural Observation Villages of Policy Research Department of Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Ministry of Agriculture, 2010. National Fixed Rural Observation Villages Data Compilation, 2000–2009. Beijing: China Agricultural Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Penov I, 2004. The use of irrigation water in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv region during transition. Environmental Management, 34(2): 304–313.
Pfeiffer L, Lopez-Feldman A, Taylor J E, 2010. Is off-farm income reforming the farm? Evidence from Mexico. Agricultural Economics, 40(2): 125–138.
Pilgaard S B, Birch T, 2013. Should I stay or should I go? Rural youth employment in Uganda and Zambia. International Development Planning Review, 35(2): 175–201.
Qian Z H, Mou Y, 2012. Regional difference of land marketization in China. Jiangsu Social Sciences, (4): 45–53. (in Chinese)
Singh I, Squire L, Strauss J, 1986. Agricultural Household Models: Extensions, Applications, and Policy. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tan M H, Guy M R, Li X B et al., 2013. Spatial and temporal variability of farm size in China in context of rapid urbanization. Chinese Geographical Science, 23(5): 607–619.
Tan S, Heerink N, Kruseman G et al., 2008. Do fragmented landholdings have higher production costs? Evidence from rice farmers in northeastern Jiangxi province, P.R. China. China Economic Review, 19(3): 347–358.
Tan S H, Qu F T, Heerink N, 2003. Causes of land fragmentation and driving forces. China Rural Survey, (6): 24–30. (in Chinese)
Tian Y J, Li X B, Xin L J et al., 2009. Impacts of the rise of labor opportunity cost on agricultural land use changes: A case study of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Journal of Natural Resources, 24(3): 369–377. (in Chinese)
Todorova S A, Lulcheva D, 2006. Economic and social effects of land fragementation on Bulgarian agriculture. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 6(4): 555–562.
Wang C C, Yang Y S, 2011. Impact of rural households’ nonfarm employment on cropland transfer: Case of Changting county in Fujian Province, China. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 31(11): 1362–1367. (in Chinese)
Xie H L, Lu H, 2017. Impact of land fragmentation and non-agricultural labor supply on circulation of agricultural land management rights. Land Use Policy, 68: 355–364.
Xu H Z, Guo Y Y, 2011. Co-integration test and causality analysis on the relationship between farmers’ Non-agricultural income and farmland transfer. China Population, Resources and Environment, 21(6): 61–66. (in Chinese)
Yan X, Huo X, 2016. Drivers of household entry and intensity in land rental market in rural China: Evidence from North Henan Province. China Agricultural Economic Review, 8(2): 345–364.
Yang Y, 2000. The development of the land lease market in rural China. Land Economics, 76(2): 252–266.
Yin X H, Tian C H, 2016. The impact of land markets on farmers’ income in China. China Real Estate, (5): 29–41. (in Chinese)
Zhang Z, Zhou H C, 2017. Off-farm employment, insurance selection and land transfer. China Land Sciences, 31(10): 42–52. (in Chinese)
Zhu H Y, Li X B, Xin L J, 2007. Intensity change in cultivated land use in China and its policy implications. Journal of Natural Resources, 22(6): 907–915. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41571095; National Key Basic Research Program of China, No.2015CB452702
Author: Wang Jiayue, PhD Candidate, specialized in land use change and its effects.
Xin Liangjie, Associate Professor, specialized in land use change and its effects.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, J., Xin, L. & Wang, Y. How farmers’ non-agricultural employment affects rural land circulation in China?. J. Geogr. Sci. 30, 378–400 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-020-1733-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-020-1733-8