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The analysis of the factors influencing the willingness to transfer out of farmland is of great positive significance for solving the fragmentation of production and management, achieving overall prosperity and accelerating the modernisation of rural agriculture. Based on questionnaire survey data from Yanshan County, Yunnan Province, statistical analysis and logistic regression models were adopted to analyse the factors influencing the willingness to transfer farmland. The yesults showed that: ① The number of years of education, the area of contracted land, the number of contracted land, the level of economic development and the location of the farming household had significant effects on the transfer of farmland. ② Age, type of occupation, distance to contracted land, total household size and number of people working in agriculture did not have a significant effect on the willingness to transfer out of farmland. The willingness to transfer out of farmland is constrained and influenced by various factors such as the characteristics of the contracted land parcels. Combined with the results of the empirical analysis, in order to enhance farmers’ willingness to transfer farmland, revitalise the transfer of contracted farmland and improve the efficiency of farmland use, it is necessary to increase investment in rural science and technology and education, improve the level of rural economic management and services based on the current situation of rural economic and social development, formulate preferential policies, reduce farmers’ burdens and increase farmers’ income, so as to ensure sustainable development of the rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is undergoing rapid urbanization, yet research comparing urban expansion and agricultural land loss in peri-urban areas is scarce. This study utilizes multi-temporal Landsat imagery to examine the impact of urban growth on agricultural land and fragile ecosystems in Kampala (a mega city) and Mbarara (a regional urban center) in Uganda. We distinguish between random and systematic land-use and land-cover (LULC) transitions in the landscape. The results reveal substantial urban expansion. Kampala’s urban area surged from 7.14% in 1989 to 55.10% in 2015, while Mbarara increased from 6.37% in 2002 to 30.95% in 2016. Correspondingly, agricultural land decreased, from 48.02% to 16.69% in Kampala, and from 39.92% to 32.08% in Mbarara. Notably, a significant proportion of urban growth in both cities encroached upon agricultural land (66.7% in Kampala and 57.8% in Mbarara). The transition from agricultural to built-up areas accounted for 14.72% to 28.45% of the landscapes. Additionally, unsustainable practices led to the conversion of wetlands and forests to agricultural land, with approximately 13% of wetlands and 23% of Savannah and forests being converted between 2001 and 2015. These findings underscore the necessity of monitoring LULC changes for sustainable urban growth management, emphasizing the importance of preserving agricultural land and ecosystems to ensure present and future food security. This research contributes to the understanding of urbanization’s impact on peri-urban agricultural land and ecosystems in SSA, providing insights that are crucial for informed urban planning and policy formulation aimed at sustainable development in the region.

The objective of this research is to explore the impact mechanism of agricultural digital transformation in alleviating the mismatch of agricultural land resources and provide an effective path for the formation of new quality agricultural productivity. Using the balance panel data of 29 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper analyzed the mitigation effect and mechanism of agricultural digitalization on agricultural land resource misallocation from the perspectives of land scale management and agricultural socialization services. The results indicate that agricultural digitalization can alleviate the misallocation of agricultural land resources, promote the large-scale management of agricultural land, and improve the level of agricultural socialization services, all significant ways to reduce the mismatch of agricultural land resources. The heterogeneity test showed that the mitigation effect of agricultural digitalization on the agricultural land resource mismatch in eastern and central China and major grain-producing areas was better than that in western China and non-major grain-producing areas. Hence, we ought to strengthen the construction of agricultural digital infrastructures and play into the role of agricultural land scale management and agricultural socialization services in slowing down the mismatch of agricultural land resources.

The experience of the market turnover of agricultural land in Ukraine has shown that untimely and insufficiently comprehensive analysis of the functioning of the land market can lead to incorrect conclusions and limit the understanding of its dynamics and impact on the country’s economic situation. The purpose of the study was to identify the main trends and indicators of the market turnover of agricultural land in Ukraine by analysing land ownership transactions. The methodological tools of the problem under study were general scientific and special methods, as well as the method of comparison and abstract and logical methods. The main results of the study are a cost and quantitative assessment of transactions of sale and purchase of ownership rights to agricultural land in Ukraine, which makes it possible to identify the main trends in the land market. Certain provisions can be used to formulate strategies for the development of land relations in Ukraine. The number and share of transactions involving the sale and purchase of ownership rights to agricultural land in the overall structure of transactions is determined. The area of land ownership rights to which were alienated through sale and purchase is determined. The author calculates the value of agricultural land depending on its remoteness from a settlement, regional location and designated purpose. Fluctuations in the value of arable land depending on their territorial location and in the overall dynamics by month are determined. The level of activity of agricultural land market participants in the country as a whole and by regions is determined. The results and trends in the market turnover of agricultural land in the territories where military operations were or are ongoing are investigated. The main key indicators of the market turnover of agricultural land are determined. Forecasts of the value of arable land in Ukraine by the end of 2023 are formed. The discrepancy between the Ukrainian model of agricultural land market turnover and the models operating in the European Union has been established. The results of the study can be used to develop ways to reorient the market turnover of agricultural land to the European principles of functioning aimed at the development of family farming as a fundamental goal of Ukraine’s agricultural policy

Purpose: the purpose of the article is to conduct an analysis of the legal aspects of the creation and operation of agrarian holdings, taking into account the need to ensure food security of Ukraine and guarantee the constitutional right of everyone to a sufficient standard of living in conditions of martial law. Methodology. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of the available scientific and theoretical material and the formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. During the research, such methods of scientific knowledge were used: comparative-legal, systemic-structural, analysis and synthesis, historical method. Results. In the process of the research, the definition of an agricultural holding in the structure of agrarian legal relations in Ukraine was substantiated as an association of enterprises in the agrarian sphere with the aim of ensuring a closed cycle of production, processing, storage and/or sale of agricultural products with the use of large land plots mainly on lease rights, which is carried out under by the principle of subordination of corporate (subsidiary) enterprises to the holding (parent) company, has at least two participants (the holding (parent) company and the corporate (subsidiary) enterprise), and in which the holding (parent) company owns, uses and disposes of holding corporate blocks of shares ( shares) of two or more corporate enterprises, on the condition that the indicated block of shares exceeds 50% or amounts to an amount that ensures the right to decisive influence on the economic activity of the corporate (subsidiary) enterprise. Originality. In the process of analyzing the activities of agricultural holdings under martial law, it is substantiated that agricultural holdings in Ukraine, together with other subjects of the agrarian market, are in difficult conditions of conducting agribusiness in the conditions of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, while their access to land plots, financial resources, foreign investment and international aid programs is complicated. Therefore, in the post-war period, agricultural holdings may lose their dominant positions on the agricultural market of Ukraine and undergo reorganization. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in the research field - for the further development of the problems of legislative regulation of the creation and operation of agricultural holdings in Ukraine, as well as in the rule-making work - in the preparation of projects of normative and legal acts aimed at improving the legislative regulation of the functioning of agricultural holdings in the agricultural market of Ukraine.

An important sector of the Ukrainian economy is agriculture, which is based on the fertility of agricultural land, in particular, the land of the western region of Ukraine. Analysis of the structure, fertility of agricultural land, and its monetary valuation can provide insight into its productivity and potential for agricultural development. The purpose of the study is to analyse the structure and fertility indicators of agricultural land in the west of Ukraine, demonstrate their main characteristics, and compare land prices in the western regions of Ukraine. In the study, the materials of the land directory of Ukraine and regional reports on the state of the environment of the west of Ukraine were used, involving analysis and comparison of the state of land resources by the content of humus, mobile compounds of phosphorus and potassium, easily hydrolysed nitrogen, their material and monetary assessment. After analysing the structure of the land fund of the west of Ukraine (13125.5 thousand hectares), it was identified that agricultural land accounts for more than half of the total area (56.1%), and forests and other wooded zones – about a third of the total area (32.8%). Built-up land, open wetlands, open land without vegetation cover or with little vegetation cover, and other land account for less than 10%. Among agricultural land, the largest share is arable land, a little less is hayfields and pastures, and the least is perennial plantations and fallows. The total value of agricultural land in the western administrative regions is markedly different. The highest land value is in Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil regions (1.71 and 1.09 billion USD), and the smallest – in Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia (489.90 and 317.21 million USD). 1420223 shares were leased on the territory of western Ukraine. The largest number of them was leased in Khmelnitsky and Ternopil regions (25.2 and 20.7%), and the smallest – in Zakarpattia (1.0%). Thus, the total area of land cultivated by farmers is 330.8 thousand hectares, the largest in the Ternopil and Khmelnytskyi regions (23.3 and 22.7%). The findings of the study will contribute to the adoption of managerial decisions on conducting efficient agriculture and the preservation of soil fertility of agricultural lands in the region under study. Monetary assessment of these territories is useful for the country’s population in the context of changes in the law on the land market in Ukraine, and in the implementation of an environmentally balanced agricultural policy

The Lake Victoria basin’s expanding population is heavily reliant on rainfall and river flow to meet their water needs, making them extremely vulnerable to changes in climate and land use. To develop adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate changes it is urgently necessary to evaluate the impacts of climate change on the quantity of water in the rivers that drain into Lake Victoria. In this study, the semi-distributed hydrological SWAT model was used to evaluate the impact of current land use and climate changes for the period of 1990–2019 and assess the probable future impacts of climate changes in the near future (2030–2060) on the Simiyu river discharge draining into Lake Victoria, Northern Tanzania. The General Circulation Model under RCPs 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5 predicted an increase in the annual average temperature of 1.4 °C in 2030 to 2 °C in 2060 and an average of 7.8% reduction in rainfall in the catchment. The simulated river discharge from the hydrological model under RCPs 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5 revealed a decreasing trend in annual average discharge by 1.6 m3/s from 5.66 m3/s in 2019 to 4.0 m3/s in 2060. The increase in evapotranspiration caused by the temperature increase is primarily responsible for the decrease in river discharge. The model also forecasts an increase in extreme discharge events, from a range between 32.1 and 232.8 m3/s in 1990–2019 to a range between 10.9 and 451.3 m3/s in the 2030–2060 period. The present combined impacts of climate and land use changes showed higher effects on peak discharge at different return periods (Q5 to Q100) with values of 213.7 m3/s (Q5), 310.2 m3/s (Q25) and 400.4 m3/s (Q100) compared to the contributions of climate-change-only scenario with peak discharges of 212.1 m3/s (Q5), 300.2 m3/s (Q25) and 390.2 m3/s (Q100), and land use change only with peak discharges of 295.5 m3/s (Q5), 207.1 m3/s Q25) and 367.3 m3/s (Q100). However, the contribution ratio of climate change was larger than for land use change. The SWAT model proved to be a useful tool for forecasting river discharge in complex semi-arid catchments draining towards Lake Victoria. These findings highlight the need for catchment-wide water management plans in the Lake Victoria Basin.