Rural Land Resources Research Articles

Empirical analysis of the relationship between farmland transfer-out and poverty alleviation in poverty areas of China

Abstract Farmland transfer-out is essentially a process of the rural land resource allocation, and it is also of great importance to farmers’ poverty alleviation. The practice of farmland transfer-out in China is generally manifested as farmland expropriation and farmland lease. Based on the survey data of 832 poverty counties in China, this paper empirically analyzed the effects of farmland lease and expropriation on poverty alleviation. The results showed that farmland expropriation and lease in poverty areas could increase farmers’ household income and poverty alleviation, and this conclusion was still valid after instrumental variable estimation and robustness test. Moreover, farmland expropriation significantly promoted the growth of entrepreneurship income and the decrease of farm income, but did not significantly impact non-farm income. However, farmland lease significantly promoted the growth of entrepreneurial income and non-farm income, but was negatively correlated with farm income. It should be noted that farmers’ entrepreneurship strengthened the positive role of farmland expropriation on poverty alleviation, while it did not play a significant role in the relationship between farmland lease and poverty alleviation. Further research showed that the farmland expropriation and lease in poverty areas improved individual well-being through poverty alleviation, and the farmers’ entrepreneurship in poverty areas strengthened this positive effect. This study provides empirical evidence for farmers in poverty areas to achieve poverty alleviation and improve individual subjective well-being through farmland transfer-out.

Using the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Explore the Effect of Farmer Differentiation on Their Intention to Revitalize Idle Homesteads: Empirical Evidence from Shaanxi, China

The revitalization of idle homesteads is an essential element in stimulating rural land resources and assets and promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. However, existing studies have paid less attention to the relationship between the differentiation of farm households and revitalization intention. Therefore, exploring the relationship between farmer differentiation and revitalization intention has become the key to improving the revitalization intention. The differentiation of farmers in the process of urbanization is an important factor affecting the intention of farmers to revitalize idle homesteads. This study defines “farmer differentiation” as a second-order factor and is based on the theoretical analysis framework of “farmer differentiation (FD)–farmer cognition (FC)–revitalization intention (RI)” to systematically reveal the relationship between FD and RI with a multi-dimensional perspective. At the same time, we analyze the mediating role of FC in the relationship between FD and RI. The data collected from 881 Shaanxi, China, farmers are analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study show that (1) The dimensions of farmer differentiation (FD) are wealth capital differentiation (WCD) and reputation capital differentiation (RCD). (2) The formation of farmers’ intention to revitalize follows the logical relationship of “FC–RI” in the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB), and subjective norms (SN) are the critical factor. (3) The logical relationship of “FD–FC–RI” in the ETPB has been confirmed. In addition to the direct positive effect of the WCD and RCD on farmers’ intention to revitalize idle homesteads, WCD will indirectly affect RI through the four sub-dimensions of behavioral attitudes (BA), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC) and homestead dependence (HD) under the FC conception. Meanwhile, the chain mediating role of the WCD and FC sub-dimensions in the RCD effect on the intention to revitalize cannot be ignored. Therefore, to increase farmers’ intention to revitalize Idle homesteads, policymakers need to focus on increasing WCD and RCD and helping farmers establish proactive FC.

Exploring land system reform for demographic transition in rural China

Rural population in China has undergone dramatic changes driven by large-scale industrialization and urbanization. However, under the current land system, it is difficult to adjust rural land resource allocation according to population changes, resulting in an imbalance in the human-land relationship of rural China and restricting the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. Therefore, there is an urgent need to further promote land system reform to cope with rural demographic transition and the challenges it brings to rural human-land relationship and provide institutional support for rural revitalization in the new era. The results show that population contraction, population aging, and below-replacement fertility are the main features of China's rural population transition in 1990–2020, which brings about problems such as the aging and weaking of social actors and non-grain farming. Meanwhile, the disconnect between land-use transition and demographic transition determines that inefficient land use, mainly characterized by cropland abandonment and homestead idle, is prevalent in rural China. Focusing on the trend of demographic transition in rural China, deepening the reform of contracted land, steadily advancing the reform of homesteads, and strengthening the provision of supporting policies are needed. These measures aim to promote the capitalization and assetization of land resources through the introduction of market mechanisms and empowerment, thus enhancing land resource allocation efficiency and optimizing rural human-land relationship.

Quantitative analysis of big data for land resource classification and zoning at the township level in Northern Shaanxi

To analyze and evaluate the conditions and distribution characteristics of rural land resources in northern Shaanxi. The experiment extracts two terrain feature values, namely slope and undulation, which are highly correlated with land resources. Then, the extraction results of all 302-township level administrative regions in northern Shaanxi are processed, and the scoring results of all township level units are sorted. Based on this, optimization and adjustment are made to form a classification result. The experimental results show that land resources in primary townships are most scarce, mainly distributed in the central and western regions of northern Shaanxi, with 53 in Yan'an and 7 in Yulin; Land resources in secondary townships are relatively scarce, mainly distributed along the Yellow River in the central and southern parts of northern Shaanxi, with 40 in Yan'an and 53 in Yulin; The land resources of third level townships are relatively abundant, generally distributed along the Great Wall, and belong to the transitional zone between windblown sand and grassland areas and hilly and gully areas. Except for one third level township located in Yan'an, all 22 other townships are located in Yulin; The fourth level townships have abundant land resources and are located in the loess plateau landform area in the southern part of northern Shaanxi. They belong to Yan'an Luochuan and three surrounding counties, totaling 17 townships; The terrain of the fifth and sixth level townships is flat, and the land resources are the most abundant. They belong to the sandy and grassy terrain north of the Great Wall in northern Shaanxi. A total of 56 townships are located in 7 county-level administrative regions of Yulin City. The experimental results lay the foundation for the research on optimizing the spatial pattern of rural life in northern Shaanxi, and can also provide support for classified guidance and precise policy implementation for rural revitalization, agricultural industry policy formulation, human settlement environment construction, and ecological environment protection.

The allocative efficiency of construction land quota in rural China: a perspective of bidders' behavior and regret psychology.

The construction land quota pricing mechanism with cost plus pricing method is not sufficient to reflect its intrinsic value. This diminishes the willingness of farmers to voluntarily reclaim abandoned residential and other rural construction land, leading to suboptimal efficiency in rural land utilization and an excessive squandering of rural land resources. Thus, a sequential auction model with two stages for complementary goods was constructed, which considered the synergic characteristics between the land and quota. Further, regret psychology of bidder was considered in the case of winning or losing. A rational pricing mechanism has been developed to allocate construction land quotas, aiming to enhance farmers' motivation to the vacant homesteads of reclamation and revitalizing the stock of rural construction land. The results revealed that the regret psychology in the case of winning would decrease the transaction price of the quota, i.e., the greater the perceived regret in the case of winning, the more significant the reduction in the bidding price offered. Moreover, the regret psychology in the event of losing/failure would increase the transaction price of quota. Furthermore, publishing only the winner's price after the auction leads to the highest price of the quota offered by the bidder. In contrast, publishing only the loser's bidding price leads to the lowest transaction price of the quota offered by the bidder. In addition, the fee for delayed construction would increase the bidding price of the construction land quota. Therefore, local governments should consider announcing only the winner of price after the quota auction has ended. In addition, imposing a fee for delayed construction would enhance the transaction price of land quota, increase farmers' revenue from land reclamation, and incentivize farmers to reclaim unused rural land.

How Different Land Systems Lead to Discrepancy of Rural Population–Land Relationships: Case Study of Heilongjiang Province, China

There are two types of land systems in China: collective-owned and state-owned. Under both systems, differences in land ownership have led to different land-use and management systems, resulting in urban–rural dual structures under the jurisdiction of local governments and urban–rural unitary structures in reclamation areas of the state-owned land system. This has significantly changed the relationship between the rural population and land, which has been intensified by rapid urbanization and industrialization. Therefore, based on the rural population and remote sensing data, this study uses the Tapio decoupling model to determine the relationships between the rural population and residential land under different land systems. The main results indicate that the evolution of the rural population and residential land area under different land systems presents an obvious inverse relationship. From 1995 to 2020, under the jurisdiction of the local government, the land area and population of rural dwellers declined, with the decline in population being faster than that in residential areas. At the same time, the spatial agglomeration of residential areas from the middle to the south of the province expanded. In contrast, the population and residential land area showed significant reverse changes in state-owned domains. Rural residential land area declined, and the rural population increased, most notably in the eastern region. Furthermore, strong negative decoupling between the rural population and rural residential land was observed in areas under local government jurisdiction (accounting for 89.61%), meaning that the population declined while the living area increased, which is not conducive to increasing intensive land-use and productivity. Simultaneously, in state-owned domains, only 33.33% of the rural population and residential land areas presented the above-mentioned negative decoupling, with the remaining 66.67% being coordinated. After 2010, due to the socio-economic gap, the proportion of coordination in local government jurisdiction areas continued to decrease, whereas coordination in reclamation areas remained stable. Therefore, the data suggest that a single land allocation and governance regime across urban and rural domains under the state-owned land system is more helpful in enabling populations and efficient land-use. This suggests that, in the future, it will be helpful to consider promoting the effective integration of urban and rural land markets, optimizing the allocation of urban and rural land resources, and enhancing the reform of the rural land system in order to realize synergistic interactions between the urban and rural populations and construction land in Heilongjiang Province.

Application of GIS in Land Policy and Planning Strategies in Rural Revitalization

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on reviving rural areas in China, which has become a crucial strategic direction for the nation's economic and social development. Currently, rural revitalization is a major endeavor in China, and the successful implementation of land policy and planning strategies is crucial to its achievement. This study seeks to examine the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in crafting land policy and planning strategies for rural rejuvenation. By harnessing GIS technology, a thorough evaluation and analysis of rural land resources can be undertaken, furnishing a scientific basis for formulating land policy. Furthermore, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide opportunities for spatial analysis, simulation, and decision support capabilities to implement rural land policy and planning strategies. Nevertheless, the use of GIS technology presents challenges and limitations in terms of data acquisition and technological implementation. To promote the sustainable development of the rural economy, future research efforts should concentrate on further enhancing the utilization of GIS technology in rural revitalization.

Expanded Residential Lands and Reduced Populations in China, 2000–2020: Patch-Scale Observations of Rural Settlements

The spatiotemporal transformations of rural residential lands and populations reflect changes in rural human–land relations. This study uses high-precision rural residential land patches and population distribution data to detect the area, population density, and spatial heterogeneity of newly added rural residential land (NARRL) in China from 2000 to 2020 through spatial local clustering and geographically weighted regression. The patch results were summarized into county-level units for regional comparison, spatial clustering identification, and policy recommendations. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The total rural residential area increased by 13.86% between 2000 and 2020. The average population density of NARRL (APDNARRL) at patch scale is 701.64 person/km2, significantly exceeding the 507.23 person/km2 of the remaining patches. (2) There are obvious spatial differences in the distribution of APDNARRL as per county-level statistics. There are significant differences in APDNARRL on both sides of the Hu Huanyong Line; the APDNARRL on the left is significantly lower than that on the right. (3) Spatial heterogeneity was found to be among the driving factors of APDNARRL. This study also detected the number and location of hollowing counties; it is significant for monitoring dynamic changes in rural residential lands, revealing their spatial distribution patterns and driving factors, thus improving the optimization of rural land resources.

How to promote the balanced development of urban and rural China? Evidences from reallocating idle rural residential land of Zhejiang province, China.

As more attention is given to green and sustainable industries, an analysis of the industrial impacts on all aspects of life, including inclusive affluence, is gradually developing. Idle rural residential land is a valuable resource and an important factor in promoting sustainable development. Balanced urban and rural development contributes to inclusive prosperity, so understanding the relationship between industry and the balanced development of urban and rural can significantly impact social development. In China, achieving the balanced development requires narrowing the urban-rural income gap. This paper analyzed the impact of reallocating idle rural residential land on promoting the balanced development. The study found that industry development has a positive impact on the balanced development, with a regression coefficient of 1.478. Regions with higher industry indices in counties had better outcomes regarding the balanced development. When the development of rural industry derived from idle residential land was in good condition, the effect increased by 3.326 percentage. The results showed heterogeneity, with the regression coefficient of industry development on the balanced development in county-level cities being 0.498 larger than in urban areas. In summary, the reallocation of idle residential land can promote sustainable development, increase residents' income, and improve overall regional economic development. The results are applicable to the comprehensive reallocation of rural land resources.

Classification of Rural Relative Poverty Groups and Measurement of the Influence of Land Elements: A Questionnaire-Based Analysis of 23 Poor Counties in China

In 2021, China achieved an all-round victory in the fight against poverty and completed the task of eliminating absolute poverty. However, relative poverty will still exist for a long time. According to the degree of relative poverty, this paper divided rural population into four groups, incapability group, vulnerable group, marginal group and non-relative poverty group, to further explore the differences in specific land elements requirements among different groups. Firstly, ten factors were selected as evaluation indexes, including per capita household income, education level, poverty registration situation, employment situation, critical disease situation, natural disaster frequency situation, etc. By extracting 100 relative poverty group evaluation units as samples, the authors established a decision tree for rural relative poverty group evaluation based on an improved ID3 algorithm. Secondly, we quantified the effect of different land elements. Considering the resource, asset and capital function of land, this paper constructed an ordered logistic model with four groups as classification variables. The result showed that: (1) a better condition of land resource endowment leads to a lower degree of rural relative poverty; however, over-reliance on land increases the risk of relative poverty; (2) except for cultivation income and land transfer income, asset value and capital value of rural land are not evident. Suggestions are put forward: use land elements to build a long-term mechanism for rural relative poverty alleviation; improve the quantity, quality and spatial endowment of rural land resources; optimize the rural land property rights and land acquisition system; realize the market-based mechanism for rural land transfer; and implement the policy of Increase and Decrease Connection of Urban and Rural Construction Land.

Renovation Potential Evaluation and Type Identification of Rural Idle Residential Land: A Case Study of Yuzhong County, Longzhong Loess Hilly Region, China

The land problem is the key to the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, and the land suitability evaluation is the basis for the renovation and classification of idle rural residential areas. Taking Yuzhong County in the Loess Hilly region of Longzhong, China as the research area, this study constructed an idle residential identification matrix by combining the evaluation results of ecological protection suitability, agricultural production suitability, and construction and development suitability, and realizing renovation zoning of rural residents through the advantage type identification method. The results show that: (1) The waste in rural residential is serious, and there are significant phenomena of “one household with two houses” and “one household with multiple houses.” The renovation potential of 1700 idle rural residential patches is 1.18 km2. (2) The spatial differences in the suitability of rural residents in Yuzhong County are significant, and through the rational guidance and planning layout of rural residential renovation, it can provide an important decision-making basis for the rational utilization of rural residents and national land–space planning. (3) The renovation of rural residential should be guided by national land–space planning; make a solid plan for the renovation of rural residential areas; formulate a scientific plan for the renovation, relocation, and reuse of rural “hollow houses”; stimulate the vitality of rural land resources; and promote the revitalization of the countryside and the improvement of the rural living environment.

Research on Legislative Issues Related to The Reform of Homestead Management System in Ningxia

According to the Proposal of the CPC Central Committee on formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goal of 2035, it is necessary to “explore the realization form of the separation of homestead ownership, qualification right and use right. We will guarantee the right of settled farmers to contract land, use homestead land and distribute collective income, and encourage voluntary transfer with compensation in accordance with the law.” Deepening the rural homestead system reform is a beneficial exploration. Revitalizing and utilizing idle rural homestead and rural housing plays a positive role in activating rural land resources and promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. The fourth Promotion Meeting of the Party Committee and the Government of the Autonomous Region to build the Pilot Zone for Ecological Protection and High-quality Development in the Yellow River Basin specially made arrangements for the reform of the “four rights”, emphasizing that the reform of land rights is conducive to revitalizing land resource elements, activating land market value, and improving the level of economical and intensive use of land.

Does Rural Construction Land Marketization Inhibit State-Owned Industrial Land Transactions? Evidence from Huzhou City, China

The market-based allocation of rural construction land is conducive to the revitalization of rural land resources, influences urban and rural land planning, and facilitates urbanization. The rural collective operating construction land entering the market (COCLEM) is a key measure for China’s rural construction land marketization reform, while its impacts on the existing land supply pattern have received little attention. Taking Huzhou City as an example, this paper investigates the impacts of COCLEM on state-owned industrial land (SIL) transactions with Difference-in-Differences (DID) regression models. The results show the following: (1) Given the natural conditions, enterprises’ preferences, and government forces, COCLEM has failed to inhibit the SIL transaction scale. (2) COCLEM contributes to industrial agglomeration and significantly increases the value of SIL. These findings altogether imply that currently, in China, market-based rural construction land transfer is the complement of land administrative allocation. Policy implications are drawn from this analysis to advance further reforms for China’s urban–rural integrated construction land market.

Impact of Social Capital on Land Arrangement Behavior of Migrant Workers in China

<p><big>In China, the land arrangement behavior of over 160 million rural-urban migrant workers is closely related to the optimal allocation of rural land resources and sustainable development of urban and rural areas. Although previous studies show that social capital affects migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior, few empirical studies reveal the relationship between them, and the corresponding interventions remain unclear. Using survey data collected in Henan Province, China, and a multinomial logit model, this study empirically analyzes the mechanism behind the impact of social capital on migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior from the perspective of social capital. Results illustrate that social capital has a significant impact on the land arrangement behavior of migrant workers. The behavior is significantly correlated with the scale of migrant workers’ urban social networks, the degree of urban social trust, and urban belonging. More social capital in urban areas indicates a higher tendency for migrant workers to abandon their land contracting rights and become permanent urban residents. This study reveals the mechanism of social capital affecting migrant workers’ land arrangement behavior and provides a reference for decision-making with respect to guiding migrant workers’ land management behavior for other countries facing similar social problems.</big></p>

Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Driving Mechanisms of Rural Residentials from the Perspective of the Human-Land Relationship: A Case Study from Luoyang, China

Rural residential area is the core component of rural land, and the process of its transfer exists to guide the change of rural land use. Its evolution is closely related to population migration, so exploring the spatial and temporal evolution of the coupling type of human-land relationship and its driving mechanism is the core scientific basis for the optimal allocation of rural land resources. From the perspective of human-land relationship, this paper introduces spatio-temporal big data on the basis of 3S technology and constructs an elasticity coefficient model. The composite index method is also used to further explore the coupling types of rural human-land relations in the Luoyang region. At the same time, spatial autocorrelation and spatial autoregressive models were used to reveal the driving mechanism of the spatio-temporal evolution of rural human-land relationship types in the Luoyang region. The results showed that: (1) Against the background of the continuous reduction of the rural population in Luoyang, the scale of rural residential area first increases and then decreases, and spatially they continue to gather around the central city (2) At the township scale, the conflict between people and land tends to be moderated. The elasticity coefficient shows a zonal distribution pattern in the southwest of Luoyang region and the townships around the central city. (3) There is a non-negligible spatial correlation between rural human-land relations in Luoyang region. The initial scale of rural residentials, arable land area, rural resident population and industrial output value are positively correlated with the coordination of people-land relationship, and the slope, elevation and distance from the central city have an inverse effect on the harmony of the relationship between people and land.

On the Optimal Allocation of Urban and Rural Land Resources in Rapidly Urbanizing Areas of the Yangtze River Delta, China: A Case Study of the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area

In the process of rapid urbanization, the coordination of the population–land relationship, the optimal allocation of land resources, and the improvement in land-use efficiency are the keys to ensuring the sustainable development of the region. This study takes the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area (NJNA), a national development zone in China, as a case study to construct an analytical framework for the regional population–land–industry (PLI) coupling coordination relationship. A spatial organization model of population–land (PL) flow is used to calculate the coupling coordination degree of PLI factors. The allocation of land resources is adjusted and optimized through the characteristics of the actual population served in the area to determine the new urban population that can be effectively accommodated by the new district. The comprehensive evaluation of the coordination degree of PLI coupling shows that the area connected with Jiangpu and Dacang Street has high development potential in terms of population concentration and construction land layout and can be used as a key area for future development. Based on the analysis of the spatial layout of the PL flow, further suggestions are made to optimize planning for the future population concentration area in NJNA. This study can also provide a reference for the optimal management of land resources in similar areas at home and abroad.

Evaluation and Application of Environmental Value of Rural Land Resources Based on Improved GIS System

As the basis and material source of human production and life, land is an important part of natural resources. With the deepening of the concept of sustainable development, more and more attention has been paid to the sustainable development of land use. Reasonable assessment of land resources and environment is the premise of accelerating agricultural infrastructure construction, optimizing ecological environment construction, and rationally disposing land use structure. This paper proposes an evaluation method of rural land resources and environment based on the improved GIS system and takes Lingshan County as an example, based on the powerful spatial processing and rich spatial query and analysis capabilities of GIS, to analyze the current situation and sustainable development of its land use. It has established a representative and operable evaluation index system, which has certain reference significance for rural land and environmental evaluation.

Land use optimization of rural production–living–ecological space at different scales based on the BP–ANN and CLUE–S models

Rural production–living–ecological (PLE) space is the essential carrier of China's rural land resource planning and management. However, the pattern identification, optimal prediction, and multi–scale integration of rural PLE space lack sufficient scientific evidence and reliable quantitative analysis. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a multi-scale land use optimization method based on benefit coupling evaluation, BP–ANN and CLUE–S models. The typical hilly area of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest China were used as a case for empirical study. The results showed that there was a high correlation between land use patterns and benefits. The key to land use optimization in hilly areas is to increase the area of ecological land and improve the capacity of regional ecosystem services. Through the evaluation of the degree of comprehensive benefit coupling, 44 sample towns with an optimal land use pattern were effectively identified to construct the optimization model. At the regional scale, the BP-ANN model predicted the optimal ratio of land use structure for each township unit based on natural, social, and economic influencing factors. The optimization results reduced production land by 8.94% on average, increased ecological land by 9.2% on average, and kept living land relatively stable. The proportions of production, living, and ecological land were adjusted to 59.85%, 8.34%, and 31.81%, respectively, which can better meet the land space demand for food security and ecological protection in the future. Regarding the smaller scale, the CLUE-S model took the regional-scale optimization results as the goal to simulate the spatial distribution of land use. The proportion of production, living, and ecological land in the town of Taiping was optimized from the previous 88.17%, 6.25%, and 5.58% to 62.92%, 7.83%, and 29.25%, respectively. The optimization results not only ensure the stability of high-quality cultivated land, but also effectively improve ecological functions such as soil conservation and water purification. This novel method was proven to be effective for quantitative optimization of land use and multi-scale functional space cohesion and integration, providing scientific support for the sustainable use of rural land resources in China.

Vulnerability Evaluation of Villages Based on Social–Ecological Indicators and Strategies for Improvement: Case Study of Villages in the Northeast China Plain

Abstract Given the background of rural revitalization, it is considered crucial for solving various village problems caused by fast urbanization, including the underuse of rural land resources and ...

Does Institutional Social Insurance Cause the Abandonment of Cultivated Land? Evidence from Rural China.

At present, the world’s countryside needs to be revitalized urgently, and cultivated land is the critical factor in promoting the countryside’s revitalization. The reduction of uncultivated land contributes to the efficient use of rural land resources, contributing to global rural revitalization. This study uses data from 3938 Chinese peasant households conducted in 2014 and the OLS method to investigate the quantitative impact of institutional social insurance on cultivated land abandonment. The empirical results point to the following conclusions: (1) Institutional social insurance will weaken the social insurance function of land, which will lead to the generation of peasant households’ cultivated land abandonment. More specifically, for every 1% increase in the level of institutional social insurance of peasant households, the area of cultivated land abandoned increased by 0.002 mu; (2) The influence of institutional social insurance on peasant households’ cultivated land abandonment is heterogeneous, that is, endowment insurance can weaken the social insurance function of land more than medical insurance, and households with a higher proportion of pensioners are more likely to abandon cultivated land. This study’s conclusions may help understand the relationship between institutional and non-institutional social insurance and provide a reference for the effective use of cultivated land resources in the global rural revitalization.