An estimation of the extent of cropland abandonment in mountainous regions of China

Abstract

With the wages for migrant workers increasing dramatically in China since 2003, the size of the agricultural labour forces has been shrinking rapidly. Intensively substituting agricultural machinery for the shrinking farm labour force is hardly possible for croplands in the mountainous regions of China where mechanization is difficult to achieve due to small field size and rough terrain. This has eventually led to cropland abandonment in these regions. Considering the high pressure for food security in China, cropland abandonment in the mountainous regions should not be ignored. By employing a novel method, this study estimates the extent of recently abandoned croplands (period 2000–2010) and the changes that can be expected in the future in China's mountainous areas. The results show that the total extent of abandoned croplands in Chinese mountainous counties during the period 2000 to 2010 is estimated at 147 million mu (1 mu = 666.67 m2); in total, about 28% of croplands in mountainous counties was abandoned, including croplands converted in the Grain for Green Programme. With 3 scenario assumptions, a sizeable extent, 114 to 203 million mu, of croplands may be abandoned from 2010 to 2030 with the rapid decrease and ageing of projected farm labour forces. This could exacerbate the future challenges of maintaining China's food security. A substantial increase in agricultural project investments, including land consolidation and agricultural productive fixed assets, especially microtillage machines, could help mitigate the risk of cropland abandonment. Additionally, land‐use and environmental policymaking should take into account the expanding cropland abandonment in mountainous regions.

Status of Farmland Abandonment and Its Determinants in the Transboundary Gandaki River Basin

“…Farmland abandonment in the mountainous regions is expected to increase in the future [24,38]. One study found that a total of 28% farmland was abandoned from 2000 to 2010 in China's mountainous areas, where farmlands were freely abandoned by farmer for the Grain for Green project (1999) to convert farmland to forest or grassland to mitigate soil erosion in the sloping Mountain region of China [19]. China and Nepal have a similar Mountain region topography in the China-Nepal border region, although the percentages of farmland abandonment rates are different due to policy and decision of household level.…”

Power of Agricultural Credit in Farmland Abandonment: Evidence from Rural China

“…However, in recent years, farmland abandonment has also occurred in developing countries [8][9][10]. For example, in China, the world's largest developing country, some 12-15% of rural farmland was abandoned between 2013 and 2015 [11][12][13]. In addition, China is becoming rapidly urbanized, such that the phenomenon of farmland abandonment in rural China may become more common in the future.…”

Spatial Heterogeneity of Farmland Abandonment in the Sichuan Province, China

“…It is lower than that of other studies. The RFA reached 0.29 in Wushan, Chongqing [49], the values were 0.37 and 0.25 in Gansu Province and Tianjin [1] respectively, while an estimation of the national RFA in mountainous counties of China reached 0.28 [50], and the average RFA was 0.29 in Three Gorges Reservoir Area [22]. There might be four reasons for this difference.…”