Have the new round of agricultural land system reform improved farmers' agricultural inputs in China?

Abstract

China's modern socialist system completed the registration and certification of farmland ownership and continued to deepen the "separation of powers" reform at the end of 2020. This facilitated the transfer of land management rights and impacted investment in agricultural production. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the new round of agricultural land system reform on farmers' farm inputs in China's socialist system. The study uses data from the China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) and employs various econometric approaches, including the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) method to approach the objectives of the study. The results indicate that the new round of agricultural land system reform significantly promotes the increase of farmers' inputs in agriculture, including the area of land transferred in and self-owned, income from agriculture, number of agricultural labors, and specialized agricultural production. The study suggests that the reform enhances the positive impact of land transferred-in on farmers' farm inputs. The impact of agricultural land confirmation and "three rights separation" is positive in eastern, central, and western China. The findings suggest that public authorities should continue to improve the efficiency of land allocation and large-scale operation, cultivate new agricultural operation bodies, and improve the level of agricultural production specialization.