Off-farm employment,agriculture production activities,and household dietary diversity in environmentally and economically vulnerable areas of Asia

Access to off-farm employment has been expected to be a critical approach to ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition,two important targets of achieving Zero Hunger.This study aims to investigate the role of off-farm employment in improving dietary diversity through substitution effect and complementary effect with agricultural production activities and income effect.This study adopts Poisson/Tobit/Probit/OLS regressions and the instrument variable method based on the primary survey data collected among 1,282 households at 12 sites in environmentally and economically vulnerable areas of China,Nepal,Cambodia,Thailand,and Myanmar in 2019.The results show that off-farm employment is positively associated with household dietary diversity and the consumption of flesh meat,fish and other aquatic animals,fruits,and milk and dairy products,which are rich in protein and micronutrients.The results of mechanism analysis show that off-farm employment contributes to household dietary diversity by improving crop diversity,especially for poor households,boosting the probability of livestock raising for households with the middle one-third disposal income,and increasing household income.The positive association between off-farm employment and household dietary diversity is much higher for households with the bottom one-third disposal income,low illiteracy,and from upper-middle income countries.These findings imply that off-farm employment does play a vital role in achieving multiple benefits of poverty alleviation,malnutrition reduction,and agrobiodiversity conservation in environmentally and economically vulnerable areas.However,it may enlarge the gaps in dietary diversity between households with low human capital and from low and lower-middle income countries and those with high human capital and from middle-high countries.

Analysis of the Impact of Off-farm Employment of Agricultural Labor on Grain Production in Shandong Province and Henan Province

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the impact of off-farm employment of agricultural labor on grain production. [Method] Impact of off-farm employment of agricultural labor on grain production was investigated based on path analysis by using data from 200 counties and cities in Shandong Province and Henan Province in 2000 and 2008. [Result] Off-farm employment of agricultural labor affects grain production through agricultural land use patterns, off-farm employment of agricultural labor has negative impacts on grain production through multiple cropping index and positive impacts through the proportion of grain planting area. The positive impacts were greater in 2008. [Conclusion] Prerequisite of the positive impacts of off-farm employment on grain production is the substitution of agricultural mechanization development and agricultural technology advancement for agricultural labor. Orderly land circulation and scale land use should be promoted to avoid the lack of agricultural labor due to off-farm employment.

Off-farm employment and poverty alleviation in rural China

Two phenomena in the history of China's economic growth during the last four decades are the increase in the share of offfarm employment and the progress in poverty alleviation in rural China.Although both of them have been well documented in the literature,less is known about the linkage between the two.To better understand the role that off-farm employment has played in poverty alleviation in rural China is critically important not only for China but also for those countries that are trying to reduce poverty.Here,we examine the impact of off-farm employment on poverty alleviation in rural China.Using the data from two nationally representative household panel surveys(China National Rural Survey and China Rural Development Survey),this paper provides supporting evidence that off-farm employment contributes to poverty alleviation in rural China.Specifically,if household participation in off-farm employment increases by 10 percentage points,the likelihood for a nonpoor household to fall into poverty will decrease by 0.88 percentage point whereas the likelihood for a poor household to climb out of poverty will increase by 3.5 percentage points.In a word,off-employment can not only prevent rural residents to fall into poverty but also help those already in poverty climb out of it.

Maize production under risk:The simultaneous adoption of off-farm income diversification and agricultural credit to manage risk

Farmers in Pakistan continue to produce maize under various types of risks and adopt several strategies to manage those risks. This study is the first attempt to investigate the factors affecting the concurrent adoption of off-farm income diversification and agricultural credit which the farmers use to manage the risk to maize production. We apply bivariate and multinomial probit approaches to the primary data collected from four districts of Punjab Province in Pakistan. The results show that strong correlations exist between the off-farm diversification and agricultural credit which indicates that the use of one risk management strategy leads to another. The findings demonstrate that education, livestock number, maize farming experience, perceptions of biological risks and risk-averse nature of the growers significantly encourage the adoption of diversification as a risk management tool while farm size inversely affects the adoption of diversification. Similarly, in the adoption equation of credit, maize farming experience, farm size, perceptions of price and biological risks and risk attitude of farmers significantly enhance the chances of adopting agricultural credit to manage farm risks. These findings are important for the relevant stakeholders who seek to offer carefully designed risk minimizing options to the maize farmers.

ANALYSIS ON POVERTY IN MOUNTAIN AREAS BASED ON OFF-FARM INDUSTRIES

This paper reveals that agricultural growth trend in China is strongly correlated with the growth of off-farm industries-the curve of net income from off-farm industries reflects the general characteristics of net income of households. That means the increase of net income of farm households is chiefly from off-farm industries,more than from agriculture. The authors therefore conclude that the "poverty" in mountain areas or the gap between mountain areas and plain areas lies in the underdevelopment of off-farm industries in mountain areas. Finally,the authors make suggestions of strategic adjustment of economic structure: 1) present situation of mountain areas in China should be fully considered; 2) a full industrial system is not our desire; 3) advantageous industries should be promoted to create famous products; 4) industrialization and urbanization in mountain areas should be promoted and so on.

Does labor off-farm employment inevitably lead to land rent out?Evidence from China

The focus of land economics is on how to decrease the misallocation of resources to achieve an optimal allocation of resources. Both the theories of new economics of labor migration(NELM) and the conclusions of empirical studies reveal that land resources will inevitably be reallocated(e.g., rented out) if the resources of family labor are reallocated(e.g., off-farm employment). However, this study reveals that off-farm employment does not inevitably lead to land rent out. More precisely, this study uses survey data on 8031 peasant households from 27 provinces in China and explores the relationship between off-farm employment and land rent out by describing spatial features and through empirical analysis(e.g., IV-Probit model and IV-Tobit model). The results show the following: 1) There is an indirect relationship between off-farm employment and land rent out regarding spatial area aggregation, i.e., regions with a higher ratio of off-farm employment also have a lower area of land rent out. 2) Off-farm employment is significantly positively correlated with the behavior of land rent out, but its square is significantly negatively correlated with the behavior, i.e., there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between off-farm employment and the behavior of land rent out, with the turning point being 55.55% offfarm employment. 3) Off-farm employment is significantly positively correlated with the area of land rent out, but its square is significantly negatively correlated with the area, i.e., there is an inverted Ushaped relationship between off-farm employment and the area of land rent out, with the turning point being 56.22% off-farm employment. This study helps explain why China has a high ratio of off-farm employment but a lower rate of land rent out.

Childcare,Elderly Caring and Off-farm Employment of Rural Couples in China

Based on the representative sample survey data of more than 1 000 farmers in 101 villages of 25 counties of 5 provinces in China,within the framework of family collective decision-making,this paper studied the effects and heterogeneity of childcare and elderly caring on the off-farm employment mode of rural couples. It found that caring the children younger than 3 years old significantly reduces the possibility of offfarm employment of rural couples;conversely,if there is 60-80 years old member in the family,it will significantly increase the possibility of off-farm employment of rural couples or the wives. Caring the children above 12 years old or the elderly older than 80 years old reduces the possibility of off-farm employment of the husbands. Whether there is preschool education service facility in the village has no effect on the off-farm employment of the couples.

Childbearing or Working?——Impact of Childbirth on Rural Women's Interruption of Off-farm Employment

To assess the work interruption information and examine the correlation between childbirth and the off-farm employment interruption of rural women,this article collected 3 820 women's childbirth and employment information over the past 18 years( 1998-2015),using multivariate regression to explore the impact of female individual,family and employment characteristics on probability of employment interruption and duration of interruption. Results indicated that overall,40% of women got interrupted after childbirth in rural areas and the average duration of interruption was about four years. Human capital factors,such as their work experience,first childbirth age and education experience,influence the probability of employment interruption,but these factors do not extend the duration of interruption for women who got interrupted.It is concluded that increasing the human capital of rural women is helpful to increasing their labor force participation rate after childbirth.

Does Education Still Pay Off in Rural China:Revisit the Impact of Education on Off-farm Employment and Wages

The present study considers how education affects off-farm job participation and wages. We use a nationally representative dataset from a survey conducted in 5 provinces, 101 villages and 808 households by the authors in early 2005. The empirical results show that educational attainment, skill training and years of experience of rural residents have positive, statistically significant effects on off-farm employment. The average return to a year of education is 7percent, which is higher than those observed in previous studies. We also find the return to an additional year of schooling to be higher for post-junior high schooling than for junior high and below schooling： 11.8 versus 3.2 percent. We conclude that not only does education still pays off in rural China, but also the rate of return to education is increasing over time.

Migration and the Right to Social Security:Perceptions of Off-farm Migrants' Rights to Social Insurance in China's Jiangsu Province

In 2001 China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. By so doing the national government became legally bound, ＂to the maximum of its available resources ＂ to achieve ＂progressively ＂full realization of the rights specified in the Covenant. Included amongst these entitlements is the ＂right of everyone to social security, including social insurance ＂ This paper uses data from Jiangsu to examine the extent to which urbanites agree that previously disenfranchised migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population. Many urbanites fear that their existing entitlements to social protection will be diluted if social insurance coverage is extended to include new popalations. Accordingly, state agencies and the media have sought to promote acceptance of a more positive view of migrant workers than has traditionally prevailed within towns and cities. We find that younger urban residents, urban residents who already have social insurance and urban residents working in the state-owned sector are more likely to agree that migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population.

How Off-farm Employment Affects Technical Efficiency of China＇s Farms＂ The Case of Jiangsu

Using three-wave survey data for four villages of Jiangsu Province in China, the present paper examines whether and to what extent off-farm employment affects the technical efficiency of agricultural production. The level of technical efficiency is measured using a stochastic frontier production function approach. Based on estimation results from instrumental variable panel quantile regressions we find that there is a positive significant effect of off-farm employment on the level of farm technical efficiency. We also find that fragmentation of farmland is a barrier to the improvement of technical efficiency. In addition, we find a downward trend in the level of agricultural technical efficiency among our sample. Therefore, the Chinese Government should stimulate agricultural mechanization and the development of farming techniques to improve technical efficiency in the context of increasing off-farm employment.

Off-farm income promotes energy transition in the Pan-Third Pole cross-national region

The Pan-Third Pole region comprises multiple nations affected by climate vulnerability and energy inequality,wherein promoting energy transitions in rural households would provide a path to combat climate change.Identifying the factors that drive rural household energy consumption and the transition is important.This study performed a micro-survey of 1060 rural households in five countries in the Pan-Third Pole region and empirically analyzed the relationships between off-farm income,energy consumption,and energy transitions.The off-farm income of rural households was found to have a significantly positive effect(p<0.01)on energy expenditure,indicating that energy expenditure increased with increasing off-farm income.Off-farm income has a significantly positive effect(p<0.01)on the proportion of commercial energy but a significantly negative effect on the proportion of noncommercial energy.These results indicate that increasing off-farm income can adjust the energy consumption structure of rural households.Furthermore,a robustness check by substituting independent variables,instrumental variable method(IV),and propensity score matching method(PSM)provided strong evidence to prove the robustness of the results.The heterogeneity analysis showed that the effects of off-farm income on energy expenditure and transitions differed among countries,off-farm income had no significant impact on energy expenditure in Cambodia and Myanmar,but it worked for China,Nepal,and Thailand.Finally,policy implications are proposed to promote energy transition in the Pan-Third pole region:providing more full-time or part-time off-farm employment opportunities,employment assistance or skill training by local governments;increasing the pace of infrastructure construction to solve energy inaccessibility;multiple measures to promote the education and environmental knowledge.

The Effect of Land Reallocation on Off-Farm Employments in Rural China

Could land reallocation partially explain the decision of off-farm employment of farmers in rural China? Using an individual-level survey data,we find that there is no effect of land reallocation on the individuals' decision on off-farm employments.However,there is a robust negative effect of land reallocation on the amount of time that villagers devote to off-farm work.The first result is attributed to the large earnings difference between farm and nonfarm work;the second result is attributed to the fact that village leaders reallocate land from households short of farm labor to households that farm intensively.

互联网使用对农户优化生产要素配置的影响——基于CFPS数据的实证分析

本文通过建立一个典型农户模型,从理论上推导互联网使用对农户生产要素配置决策的影响机制,并基于2014—2020年中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,使用联立方程模型进一步实证检验互联网使用在农户非农就业、土地流转和风险投资方面的作用。研究结果表明,互联网使用对农户生产要素配置决策的影响是逐步递进的,总体而言能够促进农户参与非农就业、土地流转和风险投资,且该影响主要通过提升农户生产组织水平和增加农户信息获取渠道两条途径得以实现。同时,互联网使用对所在地区、经济状况和土地稳定性不同的农户的生产要素配置表现出差异化影响效果,因此可以根据农户各自特征优化其生产要素配置决策,从而改善农户收入状况。

非农就业对农村居民消费升级的影响——基于社会资本的中介效应检验

基于2022年安徽省五县473户农户调查数据,利用联立方程模型对不同层次的非农就业比例、社会资本与农村居民消费升级的关系进行实证分析。结果表明:(1)在控制其他条件不变的情况下,非农就业比例每增加1%,农村居民消费升级平均提升7%;(2)社会资本在非农就业比例与农村居民消费升级间起中介作用;(3)非农就业比例分位点位于(0.2,0.7)时,非农就业比例对农村居民消费升级的直接效应及社会资本的中介效应变得更加明显。基于此,从增加非农就业培训和教育的机会,强化社会资本的建设和利用,促进农村与城市的经济和社会融合三个方面提出了对策建议,以期为农村居民消费升级注入活力。

生态补偿政策差异对农户就业和收入的影响研究

研究目的:探讨不同类型生态补偿政策对农户就业和收入的影响差异,以期评估和揭示不同类型生态补偿政策实施的效果及有效性,为完善生态补偿政策、提高农户福利提供参考。研究方法:内生转换模型和内生转换Probit模型。研究结果:(1)人力资本水平对农户参与“造血型”生态补偿政策具有显著影响;农户年龄和教育水平、家庭劳动力数量对农户参与“造血型”补偿政策具有正向作用,家庭生产性耐用品数量、耕地面积和质量、距乡镇中心距离对农户参与“造血型”补偿政策具有负向作用。(2)相比“输血型”生态补偿政策,参与“造血型”生态补偿政策的农户总收入减少4.2%,但非农就业概率显著提高26.4%。(3)“造血型”生态补偿政策对中低收入农户的发展机会型收入具有显著正向影响,释放了一定的流动性,但对资源依赖型收入没有显著影响。研究结论:应继续优化“造血型”生态补偿政策,采用多元化措施提升农户的人力资本水平以拓宽就业增收途径,以保障生态补偿政策实施的有效性和可持续性。

节水技术采纳、价值感知对农户收入的影响

农业技术的采纳不仅关乎农户的粮食生产能力,还有可能影响到农户的成本收益乃至家庭收入等方面。基于微观视角,通过对采纳现代农业节水技术并感知技术价值的农户进行分析,利用内生转换模型实证分析农户技术采纳、价值感知对农户收入的影响效应和作用机制。主要结论如下:第一,农户劳动力投入、技术的认知程度对农户采纳节水技术并感知技术的环境与劳动价值有着显著的正向影响;第二,在能否感知到节水技术采纳价值的农户之间,农户自身的特征对家庭农业与非农收入的影响存在差异;第三,农户采纳技术感知环境、劳动价值有利于农户家庭农业与非农收入的增长。据此,提出纳入农业支持政策,加大节水技术的推广并完善后续技术支持服务,增加农村劳动力的人力资本积累,提出差异化节水技术推广措施的政策建议。

数字素养对农户生产要素配置的影响

农户优化生产要素配置是推动乡村转型的重要途径。本文基于2020年中国乡村振兴综合调查(CRRS)数据,利用似不相关方法和多变量概率单位模型分析数字素养对农户生产要素配置行为的影响及机制。基准回归结果显示,数字素养推动农户进行生产要素配置,经过稳健性检验后结论仍成立。机制分析结果表明,数字素养通过降低农户生产要素交易成本,进而推动农户进行生产要素配置行为。异质性分析结果表明,数字素养对无抚养负担家庭和抚幼型家庭离农型生产要素配置有影响,对养老型和抚幼养老型家庭生产要素配置行为无影响。数字素养推动小农户进行离农型生产要素配置,推动规模农户进行经营型生产要素配置。数字素养推动粮食主产区农户进行经营型生产要素配置,推动非粮食主产区农户进行离农型生产要素配置。产出绩效分析结果表明,数字素养通过影响农户家庭生产要素配置行为提高规模户单位产出,并提高规模户农业收入和总收入,提高无抚养负担农户和抚幼型农户非农就业收入和总收入。

社会资本、非农就业与农村居民消费升级关系研究

基于安徽省5县473份农户微观调研数据,深入分析了社会资本和非农就业对农村居民消费升级的影响。研究结果显示:根据社会资本对农村居民消费升级的影响,社会资本每增加1%,农村居民消费升级平均提升29.6%;根据非农就业对农村居民消费升级的影响,非农就业收入比重每提升1%,农村居民消费升级平均增加0.286倍;根据非农就业的中介作用,社会资本通过提升非农就业收入比重而促进农村居民家庭消费升级的中介效应为0.021,约占总效应的7.095%。基于此,从重视农村居民社会资本培育与非农就业机会创造两方面提出建议。

农户兼业、农业生产性服务与农业生产效率——来自全国农村固定观察点的经验证据

农户兼业化是农民分化的重要特征,如何促进小农户与现代农业有机衔接是党的十九大提出的重大命题,探讨农户兼业、农业生产性服务对农业生产效率的影响十分必要。基于全国农村固定观察点数据,利用内生转换Probit模型评估农户兼业对农业生产性服务采用的影响,进一步运用似不相关双变量Probit模型和控制函数法实证分析两者对农业生产效率的联合效应。研究表明:农户兼业有利于提升农业生产性服务的采用;农户兼业和农业生产性服务能够显著提高农业生产效率,相较于专业性农户和自有机械农户而言,兼业农户和外购机械服务的农户拥有更高的生产效率。由此认为:应积极培育新型农业经营主体,拓展服务领域,创新服务方式,引导农户进入现代农业发展轨道;正确认识农户兼业化的发展趋势,引导农户调整农业生产要素投入结构,减轻农户兼业可能对农业产生的负面影响。