Topographic heterogeneity, rural labour transfer and cultivated land use: An empirical study of plain and low‐hill areas in China

Abstract

The relationship between rural labour transfer and cultivated land use has always been a hot topic in academic field and government management. Here, by using the large‐scale survey data of 1,868 farmers from 37 villages in Jianghan Plain and the low‐hill areas in southeastern Hubei province, we investigated the relationship between rural labour force transfer and decision‐making in cultivated land use from the perspective of terrain heterogeneity. The findings indicate that under different terrain conditions, there are significant differences in the decision‐making of farmers concerning cultivated land use, leading to different land use efficiencies in different areas. Specifically, rural labour force transfer enhances land use efficiency in plain areas; however, it does not affect that in the low‐hill areas. In addition, we found that in the plain areas, improving the quality of rural household labour can increase the cultivated land use efficiency, while in low‐hill areas, enhancement of geographical accessibility is the key to improving land use efficiency.

Recessive Transition Mechanism of Arable Land Use Based on the Perspective of Coupling Coordination of Input–Output: A Case Study of 31 Provinces in China

“…However, it is important to deeper analyze the change of mulching film use, because the residues are difficult to degrade and will destroy soil pore structure [28]. Finally, as complementary roles of planting, sowing, and harvesting, observing the change of labor force and agro-machinery is necessary for analyzing arable land use [29,30].…”

Expenditure Fluctuation and Consumption Loss: Rural Spatial Poverty in China

“…The topography of the village/community location is another important factor. The latest research proves that topographical conditions not only affect the income of farmers, but also influence the scale of public expenditure (Dinkelman & Schulhofer-Wohl, 2015;Luo et al, 2019). Besides, the impact of customs on rural poverty cannot be ignored (Bebbington, 1999).…”

“…Hence, the control variables at the village level include Townd it (distance from the village to the nearest market town), Townh it (time taken from the village to the nearest market town), Plain_dum it (whether the village is located in the plain), and Minor_dum it (whether the village is located in minority areas). Generally speaking, the plain area has advantages over other terrains in terms of farmer households' income and the provision of public goods (Gustafsson & Wei, 2000;Luo et al, 2019).…”

“…In most of the hilly-mountainous areas, natural endowment is relatively poor. Taking cultivated land as an example, most cultivated land in hilly areas is highly fragmented slope cultivated land, which not only makes it difficult to realize mechanical substitution, but also hinders the transfer of cultivated land (Luo et al, 2019). This means that the farm households themselves and their social networks have rather limited ability to resist some uncertain external risk shocks, and can only rely on the government's public expenditure.…”

Birth without raising: Impact of labor migration on the medical benefits for migrant children in China

“…Rural‐to‐urban labor migration is an inevitable result of urbanization and economic development, and in essence a continuous migration of population. In China, although large‐scale population migration takes place within a country, due to the long‐standing urban‐rural dual system and regional differences in economic development (Luo, Zhang, Lu, & Zhang, 2019), population migration is a way of resource allocation under the special social and geographical structure, and has many similarities to international labor migration (Solinger, 1999).…”