The spatial distribution of farmland abandonment and its influential factors at the township level: A case study in the mountainous area of China

Abstract

Chongqing municipality experienced massive rural population migration to cities and towns in recent years. This study extracted abandoned farmland parcels from 1:10,000 scale farmland distribution maps of 2002 and 2011, calculated the abandonment rates for each township in three selected countries, analyzed the variations of abandonment rates across these townships and investigated the influential factors using the township-level data. Results from the multiple linear regression analysis show that the township forestland area ratio is the primary influential factor on abandonment rate, followed by distance between townships and Chongqing’s main urban zone, average net income per farmer, and farmland area per farmer. Township average elevation, distance between townships and county seat, and terrain slope have positive but statistically insignificant effect. In other words, the farmland abandonment rate is higher in remoter townships and in townships where crops are more prone to threaten from wild animals, where average net income per farmer is higher, and where there is more farmland area per farmer.