Migration, remittances, and agricultural productivity in small farming systems in Northwest China

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between migration, remittances and agricultural productivity by applying the new economics of labor migration model in the context of north‐west China. The specific objectives are to examine the impacts of rural out‐migration on agricultural productivity in various farming systems, and whether remittances have been reinvested in agriculture.Design/methodology/approachCross‐sectional household survey data from three townships were analyzed with the three‐stage least squares (3SLS) regression model.FindingsIn multi‐cropping small farming systems, at least in the short run, the loss resulting from losing family labour on lower‐return grain crop production is likely to be offset by the gain from investing in capital‐intensive and profitable cash crop production.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence for the MELM theory. It expands Taylor et al.'s studies by comparing investment behavior and production choices among multiple farm activities, and enriches previous studies by showing that the relation between remittances and agricultural investment depends on the farm activities' profitability.

The effects of labour migration on rural household production in inland China: Do landform conditions matter?

“…Two deficiencies can be found in the modelling process of existing studies and need to be rectified. The first is the inappropriate application of three‐stage least square estimation without considering whether there is heteroscedasticity (Li, ; Rozelle et al, ; Sindi & Kirimi, ; Taylor et al, ). Our test shows heteroscedasticity exists in the model and thus applying three‐stage least square estimation is not appropriate in this case.…”

“…In this study, however, more than 70% of households are engaged in labour migration activities. Hence, the Poisson regression method is not suitable for the estimation of the number of labour migration (Li, ).…”

Analysis Framework of China’s Grain Production System: A Spatial Resilience Perspective

“…During the process of urban-rural transformation, the employment structure and the spatial distribution of the agricultural labor force have changed dramatically. The agricultural labor force has become an important link, connecting the rural and the urban China on different scales, thus profoundly changing the state of grain production in rural China by realizing a switch between urban and rural China (e.g., information, capital, and technology) [63,77]. At the same time, changes in the employment structure of the labor force have also converted relevant policies and measures of the national grain production [30].…”

“…Similarly, upper-hierarchical structural changes are also affected by changes within the grass-roots scale. For example, the improvement of the employment structure of smallholders and their urban-rural migration characteristics [63] impacted the urban-rural structure [7]; the ability of smallholders to cope with natural disasters may affect international agricultural trade negotiations [64,65]. In addition, internal differentiation of farmers also changes the structure of local scales.…”

“…Therefore, the transformation of the agricultural labor force and the land use transition, accompanied by spatio-temporal changes of their internal structure, become the key threshold of the space resilience of the GPS. The key threshold for the transformation of the agricultural labor force is the number and structural change of the agricultural labor force [63,102]. The "Lewis Turning Point", which explains the relationship between agricultural labor transformation and supply of agricultural products under the urban-rural dual structure [103], has also become a key threshold.…”