Abstract
Since the year 2000, China has implemented large-scale land consolidation, which was used to reduce land fragmentation, enhance grain yield capability, facilitate land tenure transfer, and promote agricultural operational scale. However, the impacts of land consolidation on agricultural technical efficiency of producers in practice is not yet clear. A field survey was executed at two points of time during July 2010 and July 2016. A total of 900 producers were chosen from 30 land consolidation projects at random in the Jiangsu Province. The agricultural technical efficiency caused by land consolidation was calculated by using a stochastic frontier analysis method. The results of a stochastic frontier production function reveal that land tenure transfer, land fragmentation, non-agricultural income, and crop diversity has undergone significant changes after land consolidation. The overall agricultural technical efficiency of producers had also increased considerably and the average technical efficiency was estimated at 0.924 after land consolidation. Land consolidation directly promotes land tenure transfer while indirectly encouraging non-agricultural employment, which could improve agricultural technical efficiency of producers. Non-agricultural income and crop diversity had a significant correlation with agricultural technical efficiency, but land fragmentation after land consolidation does not significantly improve technical efficiency. These conclusions are helpful in understanding the impacts of land consolidation, which enriches the academic literature in related fields and improves the policy of land consolidation in China and other developing countries.
Highlights
Land consolidation has been extensively employed as a powerful tool for land use management in many countries [1,2,3,4]
China has invested over 300 billion CNY into land consolidation for high-standard farmland [54]; little is known about the actual impacts of land fragmentation, crop diversity, and land tenure transfer caused by land consolidation on agricultural technical efficiency of producers [18,55,56,57,58,59]
These results indicate that land consolidation has a significant impact on land use pattern [15,24]
Summary
Land consolidation has been extensively employed as a powerful tool for land use management in many countries [1,2,3,4]. In some economically developed regions of China, some small plots were abandoned due to little profit and the failure of mechanized planting This is consistent with a previous study [20]. China has invested over 300 billion CNY into land consolidation for high-standard farmland [54]; little is known about the actual impacts of land fragmentation, crop diversity, and land tenure transfer caused by land consolidation on agricultural technical efficiency of producers [18,55,56,57,58,59]. The aims of this study include performing a quantitative survey of the impact of land consolidation on land fragmentation, land tenure transfer and crop diversity, assessing the actual effects of land fragmentation, land tenure transfer, and crop diversity on agricultural technical efficiency of producers, and providing guidance for policy makers on land consolidation measures to promote agricultural sustainability
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