Non-farm Work Research Articles

Welfare effect of rice outgrower scheme participation: empirical evidence from northern Ghana

Outgrower schemes can improve farmers’ welfare by boosting farm productivity and increasing market participation. In this context, we examined the effect of participating in outgrower schemes on household welfare indicators while controlling for potential observed and unobserved biases that could influence the outcomes. To address this objective, we employed an endogenous switching regression model to analyze primary data from 555 rice farmers in northern Ghana who use irrigation. The results revealed significant effect of sex of household’s head, age, marital status, education, dependency ratio, non-farm work, extension contact, access to credit, membership of farmer group, proximity to commercial markets, distance to outgrower schemes, familiarity with scheme operations, and the geographical location of the farmer on the propensity to participate in outgrower schemes. Importantly, participation in outgrower schemes resulted in a 57.6%, 23.6%, and 48.1% increase in household consumption expenditure per capita, income per capita, and asset ownership, respectively, exceeding what participants could have gained if they had not participated. Similarly, the non-participants, would have experienced a 21.2%, 34.0%, and 26.1% increase in household consumption expenditure per capita, income per capita, and assets, respectively, if they had joined the scheme Therefore, strategies to improve farmer groups and extension services are required as they are critical channels for encouraging more farmers to participate in the schemes and thereby improving their welfare.

Reducing farmland abandonment by raising women’s education levels: Evidence from China

With the rapid industrialization and the growing demand for male labor in urban industries, agricultural production in many developing countries presents obvious feminization features. Accordingly, improving the education level of rural women is the key to increasing farmland return and reducing farmland abandonment. Using data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this study examines the effect of rural women’s education on farmland abandonment. The results reveal that for each increase in the education level of a hostess in a rural household, the abandoned farmland of that household decreases by 40 m2. The increase in women’s education level can promote the use of the Internet, help households access credit, and better control the costs of agricultural production, thus curbing farmland abandonment. In addition, women’s education can play a stronger role in reducing farmland abandonment for rural areas where the land rental market is well developed, as well as for families whose male hosts go out to join non-farm work.

Youth and Service Work in Fast Food Restaurants: Some Structural and Cultural Considerations

The India Employment Report (2024) highlights the problem of youth unemployment and its insufficient absorption in the non-farm sectors and recommends the skilling of youth as a remedy for tardy economic growth and employability. In view of the proposed solution, I suggest that we inquire into the nature and conditions of non-farm work in alternative sectors and the experience of this work for young people. The issue is the adequacy of training and skilling as sole measures to counter insufficient absorption. My concern regarding the recommended solution is a short shrift it gives to structural and cultural factors as facilitators or barriers to absorption, and the retention of workers. This article is an inquiry into the organization and culture of service work in fast food industry– a non-farm sector–under conditions of globalization. The experience of service workers reveals the relation between service work and attitudes towards cleaning, meaning of toilet cleaning, gendered division of labour, hierarchy of tasks, ascriptive and unequal access to jobs, and dignity of labour. The experience of service work is not the same for girls and boys; it is fraught with different sorts of tensions for them. These insights question the efficacy of training and skilling as the talismanic measures for countering the problems under consideration. They make a strong case for the consideration of cultural and structural realities of India.

Time poverty and women's participation in non-farm work: Evidence from rural Ethiopia

In most developing countries, rural women are still marginalized in many domains to work in the non-farm economy, partly because the persistent unequal division of domestic burdens leaves rural women time-constrained. Yet, time poverty has received little consideration in the context of women's participation in non-farm work. This study presents evidence on the effect of time poverty on rural women's participation in non-farm work based on cross-sectional data collected from 300 rural women. We use two-stage residual inclusion instrumental variable (2SRI-IV) and recursive bivariate probit methods to address potential endogeneity. We find that time poverty is prevalent with 6 out of 10 women having insufficient time for non-farm work. The empirical results indicate that time poverty reduces women's participation in non-farm work in rural Ethiopia. This study suggests that relaxing women's time constraints coupled with meaningful rural education and infrastructure access might be vital in spurring their participation in the non-farm sector.

Phases of adoption of One Acre Fund agricultural innovation among smallholder maize farmers, Bungoma County, Kenya

This study examines the adoption of One Acre Fund (OAF) agricultural innovations in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya, in response to declining maise production. Despite agricultural development programs aiding Kenya's economic growth, research shows low technological acquisition. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 204 out of 9,924 OAF-registered farmers using descriptive research design. Inferential statistics were employed to analyse the different phases of adoption, with quantitative data presented in tables. The qualitative findings were analysed using thematic analysis and incorporated into the results of the inferential analysis as narratives. A situational analysis was performed to assess the status of various types of OAF agricultural innovation among smallholder farmers in the study area. Pairwise ranking was implemented to identify advanced acquisition strategies. The findings revealed that the socio-economic characteristics of farmers, such as age (p = 0.002), marital status (p = 0.000), level of education (p = 0.001), family size (p = 0.047), non-farm work (p = 0.327), and size of land (p = 0.110), significantly influenced the adoption of the OAF agricultural innovations. The study also indicated that the adoption phases were impacted by factors such as group memberships (p = 0.047), farm visits (p = 0.012), and training (p = 0.000). Based on the findings, the study recommends the implementation of awareness programs, crop insurance, the establishment of farm cooperatives, and the strengthening of farmers' knowledge systems to enhance OAF maise output and achieve food security.

Digital Infrastructure Construction and Improvement of Non-Farm Employment Quality of Rural Labor Force—From the Perspective of Informal Employment

The pivotal role of digital infrastructure as hardware support for fostering economic efficiency in the digital economy is widely acknowledged. However, it begs the question, can the development of digital infrastructure also advance social equity, particularly concerning horizontal equity, as exemplified by the quality of non-farm employment among rural laborers, which serves as a barometer for the fairness and inclusivity of the social opportunity landscape? This article delves into the ramifications of digital infrastructure development on the quality of non-farm employment for rural laborers. Initially, it conducts a theoretical exploration of the impact and mechanisms of digital infrastructure construction on non-farm employment quality within rural labor sectors, drawing upon the Todaro model framework and existing scholarly discourse. Subsequently, by integrating data on digital infrastructure construction at the prefecture-level city level with four periods of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data spanning 2014 to 2020, employing various endogenous treatment methods including two-way fixed effects, sensitivity analysis, and instrumental variable techniques, it empirically tests and analyzes the internal mechanisms. The findings reveal that digital infrastructure construction plays a beneficial role in enhancing the quality of non-farm employment for rural laborers, encompassing both subjective perceptions and objective circumstances of non-farm work. Notably, it is observed that digital infrastructure construction significantly fosters improvements in the quality of informal employment among rural laborers, with notable disparities across gender and skill levels. This discovery exerts a positive influence on advancing the sustainable development of the labor market. Specifically, female rural laborers necessitate higher skill proficiency and educational attainment to attain commensurate benefits as their male counterparts. Moreover, caution is warranted regarding the potential for digital infrastructure construction to exacerbate existing power differentials and widen socioeconomic disparities through the perpetuation of the digital divide.

Will farmland renting out boost rural households’ income? Evidence from China’s rural areas

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the effect of renting out farmland on rural households’ income through a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, using data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Our findings support the income growth effect of farmland renting out, which is confirmed by a series of robustness tests. Additionally, the mechanism tests indicate that both the farmland rental income proportion in the total income and the rural household members’ probability of non-farm work significantly increase after farmers rent out their farmland. Our study helps to explore the market-based allocation of farmland and provides Chinese evidence and reference for the reform of rural land systems in emerging economies.

Labor Migration, Capital Accumulation, and the Structure of Rural Labor Markets

Abstract Between 1967 and 1974, a bilateral treaty increased circular labor migration from Malawi to South Africa by 200%, bringing over 53 million USD in earnings into origin communities. A deadly migrant worker plane crash in 1974 ended these flows and led to migrant repatriation. We study how this shock affected local labor markets. In regions receiving more migrant capital after the crash, workers, particularly women, shifted from farming into non-farm work over thirty years. Investments in non-farm physical and human capital contribute to these sectoral changes. This natural experiment shows that temporary capital inflows can permanently reshape rural labor markets.

How mothers’ work affects children’s nutritional intake and health outcomes?

ABSTRACT Maternal work can be considered a double-edged sword when it comes to the health needs of children. Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey, this study investigated the effects of maternal working hours and job type on children’s physical health in rural China and attempted to disentangle the mechanisms of these effects. This study found that an increase in maternal working hours decreased the body mass index for age z-score (BAZ) of overweight children and increased the proportion of children with healthy BAZ; however, this effect was significant only for boys and resulted primarily from non-farm work. These effects may have been due to healthier daily nutritional intake of children and non-farm income increases among mothers but also may have come at the cost of a heavier housework burden on mothers. The results illustrate the importance of guaranteeing women’s employment opportunities and equal income right and highlight the importance of focusing on women’s joint work and family burden.

Adoption and intensity of agricultural mechanization and their impact on non-farm employment of rural women

This study analyzes the impact of the adoption of agricultural mechanization and its intensity on the non-farm employment of rural women using the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data. The study captures mechanization adoption as a dichotomous decision and adoption intensity using three types of farming strategies: non-mechanized, semi-mechanized, and fully-mechanized. Non-farm work is categorized based on work types (self-employment or wage employment) and work locations (local or migrated non-farm work). Both inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment (IPWRA) estimator and multivalued treatment effects (MVTE) model are utilized to address selection bias. The IPWRA estimates reveal that mechanization adoption increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work in general and wage employment and local and migrated non-farm work in particular. The impact is greater for unmarried women than for their married counterparts. The MVTE estimates show that relative to non-mechanized farming, the adoption of semi-or fully-mechanized farming increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work, wage employment, and local and migrated non-farm work, with fully-mechanized farming playing a larger role. Meanwhile, relative to semi-mechanized farming, adopting fully-mechanized farming does not have a significant impact on any type of non-farm work.

Farm households’ adaptive strategies in response to climate change in lowlands of southern Ethiopia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the adaptation strategies they practice and the factors that influence their use of adaptation strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed-method sequential explanatory design was used to triangulate the data collected. Multistage sampling was used to select 400 sampled households for household surveys. Eight focus groups, each with eight to ten participants, and 24 key informants, were specifically chosen based on their farming experiences. Chi-square tests, one-way ANOVA and a binary logit model were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe majority of farmers used simple and low-cost adaptation strategies like changing planting dates, selling livestock and off-farm and nonfarm work. A minority of farmers used advanced adaptation strategies like crop diversification and water harvesting for irrigation. The result further revealed that: the age of the household head, educational status of household heads, farm size, livestock ownership, farming experiences, household income, access to credit and access to climate information significantly influenced the adoption of the adaptation strategies. Public policy should provide water harvesting and irrigation technology, climate-related information and the provision of microcredit facilities to enhance the farmers’ resilience to climate change risks.Originality/valueAlthough several studies on climate change adaptation strategies are available, this paper is one of the few studies focusing on a particular agro-ecological zone, an essential precursor to dealing with current and projected climate change in the area. It provides helpful insights for developing successful adaptation policies that improve adaptive capacity and agricultural sustainability in southern Ethiopia’s lowlands.

Indigenous people's perceptions of benefits and costs of China's second phase of the grain for green program and the influencing factors

We argue that, instead of conventional monetary measures of net economic benefits, perceptions of program participants about net economic, social, environmental, and overall benefits are more important for the sustainability of the programs like the Second Phase of China's Grain for Green Program. A model of participants' perceptions of net social, economic, environmental, and overall benefits is proposed and used to examine the influencing factors of the perceptions. The model is estimated using household data from Yi (Indigenous) people of China and multivariate probit regression. Interestingly, results reveal that for both poor and non-poor participants: (i) perceived income inequality reduces the respective possibilities of perceiving positive net economic and net social benefits about the program; (ii) perceived water pollution in nearby rivers reduces the respective possibilities of perceiving positive net social and net environmental benefits; (iii) perceived increase of time for non-farm work increases the possibility of perceiving positive net economic benefit; and (iv) perceived increase of time for family care and housework increases the possibility of perceiving positive net social benefit. We suggest policy interventions to improve the influence of factors that have positive impacts on participants' perceptions and reduce the influences of factors having negative impacts.

Simultaneous Decisions to Undertake Off-Farm Work and Straw Return: The Role of Cognitive Ability

Using a sample of 1166 maize-planting farmers from Liaoning province in China, in this paper, we provide a new explanation for the slow-proliferation situation of straw return. Both our theoretical and empirical results indicate that the low rate of adoption of straw return can be partly attributed to the farmers’ choice to undertake off-farm work. Probit, PSM, IV-probit, and bivariate probit models are utilized to estimate the interdependent nature of these two simultaneous decisions, with an identified causal effect ranging from −0.115 to −0.287. Instead of the “income-increasing effect”, our research supports the dominant existence of the “lost-labor effect”. Furthermore, intelligent and risk-tolerant farmers undertaking off-farm work are found to have additional negative impacts on the likelihood of straw return adoption. With regard to the mediating mechanisms, we find that the choice of off-farm work may decrease the probability of raising cattle and also downscale arable land, thereby reducing the likelihood of straw return adoption. In line with our proposed model, fluid cognitive ability contributes to the farmers’ adoption of straw return by increasing their learning and updating efficiency. In contrast, crystal cognitive ability deters the undertaking of nonfarm work by establishing a comparative advantage in agricultural production, thus indirectly promoting the proliferation of straw incorporation. According to our theoretical and empirical findings, the proper policy interventions proposed mainly include three points. First, governments should endeavor to increase agricultural specialization by further promoting arable land transfer and human capital accumulation in farming. Second, it is beneficial to facilitate the process of learning by doing and social learning by enhancing the human capital levels of farmers. Last, it is necessary to cultivate farmers’ inclination towards long-term investment by explaining the concrete benefits of straw return to farmers on a timely basis.

The role of small towns in rural villagers’ use of public services in China: Evidence from a national-level survey

It is widely believed that small towns have been playing a crucial role in rural sustainable development, as they provide most public services for rural residents living in hinterland villages. However, concrete evidence from a national-level analysis based on first-hand survey data is scarce. This paper explores the role of small towns in servicing their rural hinterlands, using nationwide survey data in 31 provinces throughout China. The role of small towns is measured by the mobility patterns of villager in using small-town services, namely, travel purposes and frequency. The results show that small towns are the main destination for access to daily necessities, agricultural trades, non-farm employment, basic education and minor medical treatment for rural villagers. They are universally important in providing agricultural products and daily goods, especially in less developed areas in middle and western parts of China. In developed areas, the role of small towns for non-farm work, schooling, eating out and leisure activities tends to increase. The diverse role of small towns depends mainly on socioeconomic development, urban proximity and public transport infrastructure. High-frequency village-town bus services, diverse land use and a high-quality public service also affect the role of small towns. The research findings will enhance our knowledge of the central function of small towns within the rural hierarchy in a context of developing and fast urbanised countries.

Analysis of Transaction Costs and Market Participation among Cassava Farmers in Osun State, Nigeria

This study examined the effects of transaction cost variables on market participation among cassava farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. This was with a view to providing insight into how transaction cost factors can be managed to ensure that cassava farmers in Osun State participate more in the market for the purpose of promoting cassava production and hence agricultural growth as well as reducing poverty among the rural community. Access to market information, non-farm work, road condition, credit availability, access to telecommunication facilities, personal transport, farm size, farming experience, price of cassava, market distance, transport cost, dependency ratio, as well as age were used as proxies for transaction costs. The study made use of primary data by administering copies of a well-structured questionnaire to 100 cassava farmers drawn from three local governments in the State. Data obtained were analysed descriptively using frequencies, tables, simple percentages as well as pie and bar charts. Data collected were also analysed by inferential statistical procedure using Logit regression model. Results of the logit regression showed that access to market information and farm size have significant positive effects on cassava farmers’ participation in the market (). Findings also revealed that cost of transportation and dependency ratio have weakly significant negative effects on the probability of cassava farmers participating in the market (). The study concluded that access to market information and farm size play significant positive roles in the participation of cassava farmers in the market. Thus, policies that are aimed at lowering transaction costs through the creation of an enabling environment in which farmers can easily access market information, cultivate more farmlands and incur low cost of transportation are recommended.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LOW AND DECLINING TRENDS OF FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN RURAL UTTAR PRADESH AND WEST BENGAL

Based on unit-level data of three rounds of the Employment-Unemployment Surveys (68th, 61st and 50th) and two rounds of the Periodic Labour Force (2017-18 and 2018-19) Surveys of the NSS, this paper examines trends in women’s labour force and work force in the two Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal since 1993-94. A comparative analysis of women’s participation in the labour markets of the two Indian states shows the significance of occupational diversification in explaining the varying trends in the pattern of female employment. It explores the relevance of the nature of female employment in understanding the sustainability of such employment pattern as exists over time. Our paper highlights the extreme vulnerability attached to the self-employed status of women, be it in farm or non-farm work that women in rural U.P. and W.B. engage in and urges on the importance of publicly sponsored employment generation programmes like MNREGA as a viable alternative employment option, especially for women in rural areas. Given the abysmally low levels of participation of women in the labour markets of both U.P. and W.B., does the explanation lie in economic factors such as lack of jobs alone or do gender biased cultural norms also play a role? Our analysis suggests that it is a combination of both these factors to which a low and declining women’s participation in labour markets must be attributed to.

Implications of Non-Farm Work for Clean Energy Adoption: Evidence from Rural China

Due to China’s socioeconomic development, labor force transfer from rural areas has become more common, the income of rural households has increased, and the structure of rural household clean living energy consumption has changed. However, few studies have explored the correlation between non-farm employment and clean energy adoption in rural households. Using survey data from 1175 farmers in 106 villages from a 2018 Survey in Liaoning Province, this study uses a Probit model to analyze the effect of non-farm work on clean energy adoption, as well as an effect decomposition model to examine the specific mechanism of their interaction. Robustness tests were performed using extended regression models (ERMs), propensity score matching (PSM), and variation of the core explanatory variable measures. The results found that: (1) Rural residents’ non-farm work has a significant positive effect on their household clean energy adoption. (2) Increasing rural residents’ household income and promoting the growth of their health knowledge are the main channels through which non-farm work influences their clean energy adoption. (3) Non-farm work has a more positive impact on household clean energy adoption for young or male farmers, those who had a junior high school education or above, and those who had a village head in the family. This study provides an understanding of rural non-farm work and clean energy adoption decisions and provides references for the effective allocation of rural labor resources and the formulation of policies related to rural energy adoption.

The gendered effects of droughts: Production shocks and labor response in agriculture

Climate change has increased rainfall uncertainty, leading to greater production risks in agriculture. We examine the gender-differentiated labor impacts of droughts using unique individual-level panel data for agricultural households in India over half a decade. Accounting for unobserved heterogeneity across individuals, we find that women’s workdays are 19% lower than men’s when a drought occurs, driven by the former’s lack of diversification to the non-farm sector. Women are less likely to work outside their village and migrate relative to men in response to droughts and are consequently unable to cope fully with the adverse agricultural productivity shock. We find suggestive evidence in support of social costs emanating from gender norms that constrain women’s access to non-farm work opportunities. The results highlight the gendered impact of climate shocks, potentially exacerbating extant gender gaps in the labor market.

Socio-economic impacts of scaling back a massive payments for ecosystem services programme in China.

This paper examines the socio-economic implications of scaling back China's Sloping Land Conversion Programme (SLCP), one of the world's largest payments for ecosystem services programmes. Using the consolidation phase of SLCP as a natural experiment, a staggered difference-in-differences design is applied to a panel of rural villages (and households) located in poor and ecologically fragile areas. SLCP consolidation, consisting of a 50% subsidy reduction and suspension of a job training programme, leads to larger income declines in treated villages driven by a reduction in the likelihood that SLCP households transition from farm to non-farm work. These harmful socio-economic effects disappear, however, in villages with stronger land rights and more job training prior to consolidation. When these favourable site-specific characteristics exist, SLCP households remain equally engaged in off-farm work even after subsidy payments and training resources are scaled back. Moreover, on aggregate, village income losses are no longer detectable. The findings provide partial support in favour of the behavioural permanence thesis, highlighting the important role of prevailing local characteristics in mitigating harmful development effects otherwise brought about by programme roll-back.

Driving Mechanisms of Cropland Abandonment from the Perspectives of Household and Topography in the Poyang Lake Region, China

Cropland abandonment is driven by various mechanisms and is best viewed from multiple perspectives to suggest targeted policy changes which may change the status quo of abandonment. Here, we systematically analyze the characteristics of abandonment and its driving mechanisms by different farming households (pure, part-time, and non-farm) in three topographic regions of the Poyang Lake region using a binary logistic regression model. Results show that: (1) The overall abandonment probability in the Poyang Lake region is largest for non-farm households, followed by part-time households and pure households. In the mountainous region, abandonment is largest for non-farm households, followed by pure households and part-time households. Both the hilly and plain regions show the largest abandonment probability for pure households, followed by part-time households, and non-farm households. (2) The low agricultural economic benefits and the uneconomical investments of time in plots are the main abandonment determinants for pure households. Economic efficiency, both the time invested in plots and economic efficiency, are key abandonment determinants for pure households in the mountainous and plain regions, respectively. (3) Labor shortage and plots which are time-consuming and unfavorable to cultivation are the main abandonment determinants for part-time households, with different factors in different topographic regions. (4) For non-farm households, many factors can influence the occurrence of abandonment. Non-farm households in the mountainous and hilly regions are more influenced by non-farm work and the number of farming workers, respectively; in addition, the inconvenience of using agricultural machinery has a significant influence.