Does land transfer have an impact on land use efficiency? A case study on rural China

Abstract

<abstract> <p>Land use efficiency is one of the core elements for the high-quality development of food production and agricultural industry, and land transfer can optimize the allocation of land resources, adjust the structure of the agricultural industry, and drive the improvement of agricultural labor productivity, thereby promoting land use efficiency and realizing agricultural modernization. Taking 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in Chinese mainland from 2005 to 2019 as the research objects, this paper adopts panel OLS and panel Tobit estimation to study the overall impact of land transfer on land use efficiency. In addition, this paper explores the heterogeneous impact of land transfer on land use efficiency through cluster analysis and panel regression. Finally, this paper further analyzes the influence mechanism of land transfer on land use efficiency through industrial structure and labor productivity. The following conclusions are drawn. Firstly, land transfer significantly promotes the improvement of provincial rural land use efficiency. Secondly, the land use efficiency of various provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in Chinese mainland has the characteristics of periodic changes. From the perspective of time and space, there are large differences in the land use efficiency of various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and there are regional heterogeneity effects of land transfer on provincial rural land use efficiency. Thirdly, the industrial structure can enhance the promotion effect of land transfer on land use efficiency, and land transfer can promote the improvement of land use efficiency by improving agricultural labor productivity.</p> </abstract>