Non-agricultural employment and farmland abandonment of relocated households of poverty alleviation: Employment area or employment quality more important?
Year: 2023
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Coordinating farmland resources in the emigration region and the employment resources in resettlement area in the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) program can contribute to the sustainable development of resettlers' livelihoods. The Heckman model was used to explore the influence of non-agricultural employment areas on farmland abandonment and examines the moderating effect of non-agricultural employment quality by using data from 1258 micro-scale resettlers of the PAR program in Shaanxi province. The results show that: (1) Different employment areas have a significant and positive impact on the behavior and scale of farmland abandonment, but the marginal effect of labor transfer out of the county (LTO) on their farmland abandonment behavior and scale of relocated households is higher than that of labor transfer within the county (LTI). (2) The quality of non-agricultural employment strengthens the impact of LTO and LTI on the scale of farmland abandonment, and non-agricultural employment areas have a stronger effect on farmland abandonment than the quality of non-agricultural employment. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the LTO of male labor members and older generations labor members have a greater effect on the behavior and scale of farmland abandonment. Based on this, targeted suggestions for improving the efficiency of farmland use and curbing farmland abandonment are put forward, including promoting county economic growth, coordinating the follow-up employment support and the re-allocation of farmland resources in the emigration region, implementing land consolidation, and improving agricultural social service system.
Source: 自然资源学报
Authors: Jing-jing SUN, Jie LI
Institution: Xi'an Jiaotong University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4387625581