Rural off-farm employment,rapid loss of agricultural land,and advanced technology popularization had led agricultural production in Chinese typical rural areas come at a critical transformation and upgrade stage.Based...Rural off-farm employment,rapid loss of agricultural land,and advanced technology popularization had led agricultural production in Chinese typical rural areas come at a critical transformation and upgrade stage.Based on sample survey data gathered from 401 households in Yucheng City,Shandong Province,this paper focuses on the characteristics and mechanism of agricultural transformation in typical rural areas of the eastern China.It was found that 74.3% of households surveyed kept at least one member engaging in off-farm employment,and 57.1% looked forward to expanding the operational scale of arable land,while just 13.7% had actually transferred their agricultural land.Since growing off-farm employment does not result in the collapse of traditional subsistence agriculture,therefore,agricultural production in Yucheng City is at an incomplete transformation phase from traditional small-holder farming to modern scale economy.It is caused by both macro environments and family characteristics,while urban-rural dual structure,imperfect rural development policy and agricultural technology popularization make peasant economy strengthen upon maintenance,and small-holder farming becomes peasant's natural response owing to pluriactivity,local off-farm employment,reverse elimination,etc.In order to achieve smooth agricultural transformation of typical rural areas in the eastern China,it needs to promote professional differentiation among peasants,under clear policies adopted by central government.Providing comprehensive services for agricultural production and improving production skills and knowledge of farmers who are still living in the countryside will effectively stimulate the process of agricultural transformation.展开更多
Both the labor shortage that began in 2000 and the wave of migrant workers returning to the countryside in 2009 sparked intense debates among scholars about whether China had reached the Lewis turning point. Based on ...Both the labor shortage that began in 2000 and the wave of migrant workers returning to the countryside in 2009 sparked intense debates among scholars about whether China had reached the Lewis turning point. Based on agricultural economics and the dual-sector model the author conducted an empirical analysis and arrived at the followingfive conclusions. First, the dual economy is structured differently among agricultural industrial sectors and regions. Second, surplus labor still exists in the backyard stockbreeding sector （hogs, beef cattle, sheep, and dairy cattle）, implying that it has still not passed the first turning point. Third, the sector of production of staple food grains and minor cereals has passed the shortage point, but is still far from the commercialization point. Fourth, cash crop production has passed out of the subsistence sector into the capitalist sector. Fifth, regional differences are stark. the majority of China＇s eastern region is either approaching or has surpassed the commercialization point, whereas the central and western regions have not.展开更多
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 40635029, 40771014)National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (No 2006BAB15B05)
文摘Rural off-farm employment,rapid loss of agricultural land,and advanced technology popularization had led agricultural production in Chinese typical rural areas come at a critical transformation and upgrade stage.Based on sample survey data gathered from 401 households in Yucheng City,Shandong Province,this paper focuses on the characteristics and mechanism of agricultural transformation in typical rural areas of the eastern China.It was found that 74.3% of households surveyed kept at least one member engaging in off-farm employment,and 57.1% looked forward to expanding the operational scale of arable land,while just 13.7% had actually transferred their agricultural land.Since growing off-farm employment does not result in the collapse of traditional subsistence agriculture,therefore,agricultural production in Yucheng City is at an incomplete transformation phase from traditional small-holder farming to modern scale economy.It is caused by both macro environments and family characteristics,while urban-rural dual structure,imperfect rural development policy and agricultural technology popularization make peasant economy strengthen upon maintenance,and small-holder farming becomes peasant's natural response owing to pluriactivity,local off-farm employment,reverse elimination,etc.In order to achieve smooth agricultural transformation of typical rural areas in the eastern China,it needs to promote professional differentiation among peasants,under clear policies adopted by central government.Providing comprehensive services for agricultural production and improving production skills and knowledge of farmers who are still living in the countryside will effectively stimulate the process of agricultural transformation.
文摘Both the labor shortage that began in 2000 and the wave of migrant workers returning to the countryside in 2009 sparked intense debates among scholars about whether China had reached the Lewis turning point. Based on agricultural economics and the dual-sector model the author conducted an empirical analysis and arrived at the followingfive conclusions. First, the dual economy is structured differently among agricultural industrial sectors and regions. Second, surplus labor still exists in the backyard stockbreeding sector （hogs, beef cattle, sheep, and dairy cattle）, implying that it has still not passed the first turning point. Third, the sector of production of staple food grains and minor cereals has passed the shortage point, but is still far from the commercialization point. Fourth, cash crop production has passed out of the subsistence sector into the capitalist sector. Fifth, regional differences are stark. the majority of China＇s eastern region is either approaching or has surpassed the commercialization point, whereas the central and western regions have not.
