Optimal Mode of Agricultural Moderate Scale Management Based on Measurement of Moderate Scale of Wugang City in Henan Province

The issue of agricultural moderate scale management is always a hot spot. In 2016,the No. 1 document of the central government once again set forth the requirement of bringing into play leading role of moderate scale management in various forms of agriculture. In the economic new normal,the solution to this issue is of great significance to promoting agricultural modernization. However,there are still problems such as unsmooth transfer of rural labor force,fragmentation of rural land management and low benefit of land scale management. Taking Wugang City in Henan Province as an example,this paper attempts to find out the optimal land management scale in accordance with the actual situation in Henan Province. It is concluded that small family farm is the optimal mode for agricultural moderate scale management.

Is Larger Scale Better? Evidence from Rice Farming in Jianghan Plain

Small-scale household agricultural production has been in conflict with China＇s agricultural modernization.In the context of vigorously promoting rural land circulation and moderate scale management nationwide,research on the relationship between farm size and scale efficiency has become increasingly important.In this paper,we use the ＂DEA-OLS＂ two stage method to analyze data from 368 surveys of rice farming households in the Jianghan Plain.The scale efficiency of rice farming was calculated,and the relationship between farm size and scale efficiency investigated.The results indicate that（1） the rice farm size is generally small in Jianghan Plain,with an average of 0.77 ha.The average scale efficiency is 0.88,and it is the main factor limiting an increase in comprehensive technical efficiency.Moreover,88.32% of households are in the stage of increasing returns to scale.（2） There is a stable inverted ＂U＂ type relationship between rice farm size and scale efficiency.Considering characteristics of the householder,the household and land quality,the maximum scale efficiency corresponds to a household with 5 ha of rice farm.（3） Among householder characteristics,age has a significant negative influence on scale efficiency,and scale efficiency is lower for a household whose householder is engaged in non-farm work than for one whose householder is devoted to farming.As for land quality,there was a significant positive effect of irrigation on scale efficiency.Among family characteristics,the application of a machine during the seeding process increased scale efficiency by 3.07%.Therefore,we suggest that local government should actively promote rural land circulation,implement a staged-scale management subsidy,and other forms of support for the purchase of agricultural machinery and technical popularization.Increased investment in irrigation improvements and mechanical facilities and encouragement of farmers to enlarge their farm size could improve scale efficiency and farming profit and lead to the development of moderate scale management.

How farmers’non-agricultural employment affects rural land circulation in China?

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.