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The study is to investigate how foreign direct investment (FDI) affects China's off-farm employment and per capita income of rural labourers and compare the effects in different regions. Based on panel data from 1997 to 2018 in 27 provinces and analysing the results of the simultaneous equations and dynamic generalized moment models with economic distances as extra instrumental variables, the study finds that FDI on average has played a significantly positive role in Chinese off-farm employment and per capita income of rural labourers. However, FDI has a much bigger impact on off-farm employment and per capita income of rural labourers in the coastal region than that in the inland region. In addition, we observe a positive off-farm employment and income effect of FDI with rural labour's education level playing a significantly positive moderating role. The impact mechanism test also shows that FDI's impact on off-farm employment and income is realized by stimulating the development of non-agricultural industries and directly creating jobs. These adjustments make a significant contribution to poverty reduction in rural China. China should further adjust the structure of FDI and optimize the regional distribution of foreign investment for promoting the overall transformation in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting low-carbon agricultural technologies (LCATs) is fundamental to reducing carbon emissions in agriculture. Our study explores the factors influencing the adoption of LCATs and the roles of production outsourcing and specialised farming within the framework of off-farm employment. In this regard, survey data were collected from 1 040 farmers in the Yellow River region of China in 2020 to examine the effect of production outsourcing on the farmers' adoption of LCATs. Potential mechanisms associated with specialised farming and off-farm employment are considered to comprehend this relationship. We also investigate the heterogeneous effects of production outsourcing on adopting LCATs, taking different education levels and arable land areas into account. The results show a positive association between production outsourcing and farmers' LCATs adoption behaviour, even after considering self-selection bias. Specifically, outsourcing production can significantly increase the likelihood of farmers adopting low-carbon tillage, low-carbon irrigation, and low-carbon fertilisation technologies by 7.2%, 8.1%, and 7.3%, respectively. This effect is more pronounced among farmers with higher levels of education and smaller areas of arable land. Furthermore, production outsourcing increases the LCATs adoption by promoting specialised farming. The findings suggest that outsourcing is vital to alleviating the lack of LCATs adoption resulting from off-farm employment.

The grain storage held by rural households, given its significant quantity and crucial role in household operations, plays a vital role in ensuring food security. This paper constructs a theoretical framework that encompasses household decisions regarding off‐farm employment, savings, and consumption, as well as the production, selling, and storage of grain. The theoretical model, driven by motivations of risk aversion and temporal price arbitrage, highlights the importance of market liberalization and off‐farm employment in shaping rural household grain storage decisions. Utilizing household‐level panel data from 2003 to 2020, we empirically validate that both market liberalization and off‐farm employment contribute to the reduction of household grain storage. However, these effects exhibit heterogeneity depending on the scale of household grain production and the specific crops cultivated. Significant impacts of market liberalization are observed among large‐scale producers who have greater exposure to the market. Furthermore, the storage of rice and corn decreases with an increase in off‐farm employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting low-carbon agricultural technologies (LCATs) is fundamental to reducing carbon emissions in agriculture. Our study explores the factors influencing the adoption of LCATs and the roles of production outsourcing and specialised farming within the framework of off-farm employment. In this regard, survey data were collected from 1 040 farmers in the Yellow River region of China in 2020 to examine the effect of production outsourcing on the farmers' adoption of LCATs. Potential mechanisms associated with specialised farming and off-farm employment are considered to comprehend this relationship. We also investigate the heterogeneous effects of production outsourcing on adopting LCATs, taking different education levels and arable land areas into account. The results show a positive association between production outsourcing and farmers' LCATs adoption behaviour, even after considering self-selection bias. Specifically, outsourcing production can significantly increase the likelihood of farmers adopting low-carbon tillage, low-carbon irrigation, and low-carbon fertilisation technologies by 7.2%, 8.1%, and 7.3%, respectively. This effect is more pronounced among farmers with higher levels of education and smaller areas of arable land. Furthermore, production outsourcing increases the LCATs adoption by promoting specialised farming. The findings suggest that outsourcing is vital to alleviating the lack of LCATs adoption resulting from off-farm employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to off-farm employment has been expected to be a critical approach to ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition, two important targets of achieving Zero Hunger. This study aims to investigate the role of off-farm employment in improving dietary diversity through substitution effect and complementary effect with agricultural production activities and income effect. This study adopts Poisson/Tobit/Probit/OLS regressions and the instrument variable method based on the primary survey data collected among 1,282 households at 12 sites in environmentally and economically vulnerable areas of China, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar in 2019. The results show that off-farm employment is positively associated with household dietary diversity and the consumption of flesh meat, fish and other aquatic animals, fruits, and milk and dairy products, which are rich in protein and micronutrients. The results of mechanism analysis show that off-farm employment contributes to household dietary diversity by improving crop diversity, especially for poor households, boosting the probability of livestock raising for households with the middle one-third disposal income, and increasing household income. The positive association between off-farm employment and household dietary diversity is much higher for households with the bottom one-third disposal income, low illiteracy, and from upper-middle income countries. These findings imply that off-farm employment does play a vital role in achieving multiple benefits of poverty alleviation, malnutrition reduction, and agrobiodiversity conservation in environmentally and economically vulnerable areas. However, it may enlarge the gaps in dietary diversity between households with low human capital and from low and lower-middle income countries and those with high human capital and from middle-high countries.

As an essential way to enhance farmers’ self-development ability, off-farm employment plays an indispensable role in farmers’ multidimensional poverty reduction in many countries. Employing a survey of 1926 farmers in five provinces of the Yellow River Basin in China, this paper examined the multi-dimensional poverty reduction effect of off-farm employment and the heterogeneous influence of different dimensions of off-farm employment (modes, levels, distances and frequency). The results showed that (1) although absolute poverty in the income dimension was largely eliminated in the Yellow River Basin, the poverty in social resources, transportation facilities, employment security were the key bottlenecks restricting farmers’ self-development. (2) The province with the best multidimensional poverty reduction effect for non-farm employment was Shaanxi, with the largest contribution to employment security. (3) Improving off-farm employment level, distance and time can significantly alleviate the multi-dimensional poverty of farmers. Therefore, to lessen the multi-dimensional poverty of farmers in the Yellow River Basin, it is necessary to focus on the governance of multi-dimensional key poverty-stricken areas, such as the middle and upper courses of the Yellow River, adopting multidimensional poverty alleviation strategy of off-farm employment according to local conditions, working on the farmers’ deficiencies in social resources, mobility, employment security, and deepening the effect of off-farm employment on benefiting farmers and helping the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalisation on the rural labour force in China, with a particular focus on labour mobility and off-farm employment. The analysis utilises micro data from the National Fixed Point Survey and Chinese manufacturing firms. The identification strategy relies on combining information on the initial province labour and product market structure with the exogenous tariff reduction schedule over WTO accession and distinguishes between output markets and intermediate input tariffs. The results are as follows: First, the reduction of output tariffs does not promote rural labour mobility, whereas the reduction of input tariffs has a positive impact on mobility. Additionally, output tariffs reduce off-farm employment income and time, while input tariffs increase them. This conclusion is applicable only to low-skilled labour. Second, the tariff reduction significantly affects total wages and the number of employees in firms, as supported by macro data. This suggests that tariff cuts have implications for firm employment and, consequently, rural employment. Third, tariff cuts have a more pronounced effect on young individuals, those with lower levels of education, and the female workforce. Therefore, the interests of these groups should be fully considered in the process of further import liberalisation and tariff reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land transfer is an important means to achieve agricultural scale production and improve land use efficiency, as well as an effective way to solve food security issues. Discussing the mechanism of how the multilevel urban centers affect rural farmland transfer can help understand the spatial heterogeneity characteristics of farmland transfer. It is helpful to provide more policy suggestions from the perspective of urban-rural spatial relations and achieve the goal of agricultural and rural modernization. Taking Tai'an prefecture as an example, this study examines the impact of multilevel urban centers on farmland transfer by mediating effect model. The results show that: (1) Distances to urban centers are negatively associated with rural farmland transfer rates, with lower rates farther from urban centers. There are two mechanisms about how the distances to urban centers influence farmland transfer: the first is that the farther a village is from urban centers, the lower the value of its farmland, which leads to lower benefits to those who transferring farmland; the second is that lower opportunity costs of agricultural labor in the villages which farther from cities increase household reliance on farmland, reducing the rates of transferring farmland out. (2) Multilevel centers differentially influence transfers. The higher-level prefectural centers affect farmland transfer through planting structure, while the lower-level county centers affect farmland transfer through off-farm employment. Additionally, the influence of county centers is less stable due to road accessibility. (3) It is critical to additional policy support to both towns and remote villages. Particular focus should be placed on increasing the non-agricultural industries and expanding the agricultural markets of towns. It is also important to enhance infrastructure development to encourage farmland transfer in remote villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting ratoon rice is a critical measure for ensuring food security in China. Understanding the mechanism underlying farmers' decision-making involving ratoon rice production may contribute to the design and implementation of extension policies. This study examined the impact of off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services on farmers' ratoon rice production behavior. We used a representative household survey of 1752 rice farmers in Hubei province in central China and a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model to address potential self-selection biases from both observable and unobservable factors. Our estimates suggest that the probability of ratoon rice production decreases by 17.2% for farmers with off-farm employment, while the probability of ratoon rice production increases by 78.9% and 57% for farmers with outsourced machinery services and those with simultaneous off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services, respectively. Moreover, we found that outsourced machinery services can mitigate the negative impact of agricultural labor aging and feminization on ratoon rice production to some extent. Outsourced machinery services have regional heterogeneity effects as farmers in non-plain areas are more likely to engage in ratoon rice production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing farmers' incomes and empowering rural revitalization through the digital economy are important issues of widespread concern in our society today. From the perspective of aging, this paper uses the 2016, 2018, and 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data to examine the impact of Internet usage on farm household income in the realistic context of the severe aging situation in rural areas, to explore the specific mechanisms through which aging plays a role. A further comparative analysis of the heterogeneity of Internet usage and aging effects on different sources of farm household income is performed. The study finds that Internet use by farmers increases household income, but aging diminishes the boosting effect of Internet usage on household income. By reducing off-farm employment and increasing family care, aging reduces the Internet's boosting effect on farm household income. Among household income sources, Internet usage significantly contributes to the growth of farm household wage income. Aging dampens the growth of all income sources except transfer income. Aging enhances the boosting effect of Internet usage on the transfer income of farm households; however, it weakens its boosting effect on the wage income of farm households. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote the construction of rural digital infrastructure, improve farmers' digital literacy, and improve rural pension infrastructure and services, to escort the digital transformation of agriculture and rural areas and the common prosperity of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-timber forest product plantations (NTFP plantations), also known as "economic forests" in China, refer to forest plantations cultivated for the production of non-timber products such as fruits, nuts, oils, seasonings, and medicinal materials. With a rapid increase in the total area in the past two decades, NTFP plantations have become an important type of forestland use in China. The shift of agricultural labor to the non-agricultural sector caused by rising salaries in China will inevitably have a great impact on land use, forestry, and agricultural production. To understand the effects of off-farm employment on the development of NTFP plantations in China, a total of 709 valid household questionnaires from Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces were collected. Heckman's two-stage model was employed in the empirical analysis. The results of the study show that off-farm employment has a significant positive effect on both the probability that a household has planted NTFP plantations and the plantation area. Households engaged in off-farm employment would prefer to plant NTFP plantations. Moreover, the higher the degree of participation in off-farm employment, the more likely households are to choose to plant NTFP plantations. The area of NTFP plantations would increase with the increase in off-farm employment degrees. Besides, the age and education level of the household head show a positive effect on the NTFP plantation planting. The implication of the results is that with a continuing increase in the proportion of off-farm employment, NTFP plantation cultivation could also continue to expand. Funds are still an important constraint for households to choose to plant NTFP plantations. Therefore, if policymakers want to promote the development of NTFP plantations on collectively owned forestland, they should first resolve households' financial constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital finance offers opportunities for inclusive growth in rural areas. This study aims to clarify how digital financiers affect farmland transfer-out. Using the data from the China Household Finance Survey in 2015, this paper establishes Probit and Tobit models to empirically analyze the impact and mechanisms of digital finance on household farmland transfer-out. The study finds that digital financial use significantly increases the probability and proportion of farmland transfer-out and that this effect is greater among households with older heads and lower household per capita income and financial accessibility, suggesting that digital finance has an important role to play in reducing inequality and promoting inclusive growth. Further analysis reveals that off-farm employment and information channels are mediating mechanisms through which digital finance facilitates farmland transfer. Specifically, on the one hand, the financial function of digital finance increases the share of employment and entrepreneurship among rural households. In terms of industry and skill type, digital finance promotes the entry of farmers into tertiary employment, facilitates off-farm employment for low and medium-skilled farmers, and has no impact on the employment of high-skilled farmers. On the other hand, the information function accompanying digital finance broadens households' access to information, both of which have a favorable effect on farmland transfer-out. This study provides new ideas for supporting agricultural land transfer from a digital finance perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop appropriation occurs when portions of a farmer's crops are taken by individuals to whom she has no contractual obligation. While it is a reality in rural areas across developing countries, its economics has barely received attention. This paper uses data from Nigerian women farmers whom local patriarchal norms have typically had as crop owners rather than landowners to explore the question of how crop appropriation might affect levels of engagement in agriculture. I find the phenomenon to induce less time farming, greater participation in off‐farm employment, and lower demand for farm inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering women is an important goal of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and studies have proposed various strategies to achieve this goal. However, few have examined the role of smartphone use in empowering women in decision‐making and its mechanism. Therefore, this study analyzes how smartphone use affects women's decision‐making power and explores whether this influence is due to women's off‐farm employment mechanisms. For this purpose, the study uses the survey data of 1110 households in rural China and the endogenous treatment regression model for analysis. The control function approach addresses the selection bias of off‐farm employment. The results show that smartphone use significantly increases women's decision‐making power, partially channeled through increasing women's off‐farm employment. The mechanism effect is robust to using both binary and intensive measurements of off‐farm employment. Therefore, a policy to improve access to internet facilities and smartphone use could improve women's decision‐making power through employment in the off‐farm sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of the employment promotion effect of the digital economy is closely linked to rural laborers' digital skills (DS). Therefore, this study uses the Mprobit model to empirically test the impact of DS on rural labor employment choices. The results show that: (1) the acquisition of DS by the rural labor force significantly increases the rate of off-farm employment and entrepreneurship but has no significant effect on farm employment, with work skills having the most significant positive impact on the rural labor force off-farm employment and online business skills having the most significant positive impact on rural labor force entrepreneurship. (2) The mechanism test reveals that DS influences the employment choices of the rural labor force by alleviating the information access constraint and financing constraints faced by rural labor. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that males and rural laborers in rich regions can benefit from entrepreneurship. In contrast, females and low-skilled and rural laborers in middle and poor regions can benefit more from off-farm employment. Our findings provide empirical evidence on effectively cultivating DS to increase the diversity of employment choices for the rural workforce and highlight the importance of improving DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study linking the two economic and social phenomena of rural labor force migration and energy transition can help analyze the underlying causes of rural "Energy Poverty". However, how off-farm employment affects household low-carbon energy consumption and its potential mechanisms requires further research. Using 1351 sampled rural households from the "Rural Energy, Population Transfer and Well-being" survey in 2018 and 2021 to explore response mechanisms through which off-farm employment can influence low-carbon energy intensity. Utilizing the multivariate regression, Sobel test, and moderating effect test, the results demonstrate that off-farm employment, including short-term and long-term off-farm employment, significantly increases the intensity of low-carbon energy use among rural households. Specifically, long-term off-farm employment tends to have a greater positive contribution to the low-carbon energy intensity than short-term off-farm employment. Furthermore, off-farm employment can affect household low-carbon energy intensity through the total income, and effect of the surrounding people in the off-farm employment process also increases their consumption intensity. The research reveals that the rural energy revolution under the constraints of "Carbon Neutral" and "Carbon Peak" should relate to the off-farm development of rural households to achieve "Precise Energy Poverty Alleviation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting a comprehensive control of mountain, river, forest, farmland, lake, grassland, and sand is the new task of desertification control, and implementing ecological compensation policy in sandy areas is an important way to ensure desertification control and improve farmers and herdsmen's livelihood. Besides ecological compensating, transferring farmers and herdsmen to off-farm sectors is proved effective to broaden their employment channel and increase their income. In the present study, taking Alxa Left Banner of Inner Mongolia as an example, the effects of ecological compensation policy on the offfarm employment intention, number, and income were empirically analyzed through a survey to 148 households in sandy areas. The results show that (1) an inverted U-shaped relationship of the compensation amount to the off-farm employment intention, number, and income and (2) although the ecological compensation policy can promote the off-farm employment of most farmers and herdsmen, the effect of off-farm employment transfer is not so significant, and farming and animal husbandry are still the main livelihood means for the local farmers and herdsmen. Therefore, from the aspects of adopting diversified ways to ecological compensation, improving education and off-farm vocational skills training levels of farmers and herdsmen, and cultivating related leading industries in sandy areas, some suggestions are given to promote the off-farm employment of the local farmers and herdsmen, which are expected to have a certain value on improving the ecological compensation policy contents in sandy areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapidly advancing urbanization and agricultural modernisation in China, some of the rural labour force has transferred to urban non-agricultural sectors for employment, resulting in the transformation of rural land-use patterns. Based on data from the China Labour-Force Dynamics Surveys from 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, IV-Probit and IV-Tobit models were constructed to determine the impact of labour migration (off-farm employment and part-time employment) on land transfer-in (whether farmers opt for land transfer-in and the scale of land transfer-in). The results were as follows. (1) Off-farm employment had a significant negative impact on the occurrence and area of farmers' land transfer-in; the inhibitory effect of off-farm employment on whether farmers had land transfer-in and the area of land transfer-in by farmers generally increased. The impact of part-time employment on the occurrence and area of farmers' land transfer-in was negative but this effect was not significant in 2012 and 2014. (2) Mediation analyses showed that off-farm employment could suppress land transfer-in either by increasing per capita income or by improving employment stability; both of these were partial mediating effects. Part-time employment reduced the probability of farmers opting for land transfer-in by increasing per capita income and improving the stability of off-farm jobs but only in 2016 and 2018. (3) Heterogeneity analysis showed that the impacts of off-farm and part-time employment on farmers' land transfer-in in suburbs were greater than for non-suburban farmers. Additionally, the inhibition effect of rural off-farm employment on land transfer-in in mountainous areas was greater than on the plains and in hilly areas. • Labor migration will restrain rural households from choosing land transfer-in. • Labor migration mainly affects the rural households' land transfer-in through two paths involving household income and stability of off-farm jobs. • The impact of labor migration on farmers' land transfer-in in suburbs were greater than for non-suburban farmers. Additionally, the inhibition effect of rural off-farm employment on land transfer-in in mountainous areas was greater than that on plains and in hilly areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secret to ensuring food security and the growth of agricultural development is farmland production efficiency. In the context of urbanization, this means that farmers need to increase their off-farm employment behavior. The research goal of this paper is to explore whether this will have a impact on farmland production. This paper is based on the data of the China Land Economic Survey conducted by Nanjing Agricultural University and uses Tobit and other methods to conduct empirical tests. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) When the proportion of the household's off-farm employment time is less than 73%, an increase in off-farm employment reduces farmland production efficiency. When the proportion of the household's off-farm employment time exceeds 73%, an increase in off-farm employment increases the farmland production efficiency. (2) This paper eliminates the scale efficiency contribution in farmland production efficiency to obtain pure technical production efficiency. After verification, off-farm employment and farmland pure technical production efficiency show a U-shaped correlation and the inflection points of the two U-shaped curves coincide. (3) The reason for the inflection point is that after the off-farm employment of farmers reaches the inflection point, with a further increase in off-farm employment, the renting-out behavior of farmland increases and there is increased input of labor-saving technology in agricultural land production, because of which the production efficiency and pure technical efficiency of the farmland increase. To sum up, off-farm employment does not necessarily mean reduced farmland production efficiency. Farmland leasing behavior plays a key role in mitigating the impact of off-farm employment on farmland production. Therefore, in the process of urbanization, the improvement of the land transfer market, the development of agricultural socialized services, and the promotion of cooperative operation will help to ensure the productivity of farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: As an essential way to enhance farmers’ self-development ability, off-farm employment plays an indispensable role in farmers’ multidimensional poverty reduction in many countries. Employing a survey of 1926 farmers in five provinces of the Yellow River Basin in China, this paper examined the multi-dimensional poverty reduction effect of off-farm employment and the heterogeneous influence of different dimensions of off-farm employment (modes, levels, distances and frequency). The results showed that (1) although absolute poverty in the income dimension was largely eliminated in the Yellow River Basin, the poverty in social resources, transportation facilities, employment security were the key bottlenecks restricting farmers’ self-development. (2) The province with the best multidimensional poverty reduction effect for non-farm employment was Shaanxi, with the largest contribution to employment security. (3) Improving off-farm employment level, distance and time can significantly alleviate the multi-dimensional poverty of farmers. Therefore, to lessen the multi-dimensional poverty of farmers in the Yellow River Basin, it is necessary to focus on the governance of multi-dimensional key poverty-stricken areas, such as the middle and upper courses of the Yellow River, adopting multidimensional poverty alleviation strategy of off-farm employment according to local conditions, working on the farmers’ deficiencies in social resources, mobility, employment security, and deepening the effect of off-farm employment on benefiting farmers and helping the poor.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective Forestland Tenure Reform has confirmed the forestland tenure of rural households and made forestland property rights clearer. In order to explain whether this policy is effective in improving rural households' expected returns and sense of forestland tenure security, we built models to study the impact of off-farm employment on forestland input in the context of labor migration to urban areas. We used data from the rural household tracking survey conducted by the Development Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Bureau from 2003–2016, which includes nine provinces (districts) and 1227 sample rural households in China. Regression models with the forestland titling program as the key influencing factor were constructed, controlling for household characteristics, household head characteristics, forestland characteristics, village level characteristics, market characteristics, and policy factors. Forestland leases had no significant on cash outlays and labor inputs. Forest tenure mortgage loans had a significant positive effect on cash outlays and labor inputs. For households' off-farm employment, the moderating effects of labor migration on labor inputs and cash outlays are modeled separately. The study indicated that the forestland tenure titling certificates increase households' enthusiasm in forestland production and promote cash outlays and labor inputs in forestland management. The results regarding the moderating effect indicated that labor migration has a positive moderating effect on rural households' forestland inputs including labor inputs and cash outlays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of the off-farm employment of rural laborers on agricultural land use is essential to promote farmland transfer and enhance rural development in China. This study aims to investigate the direct impact of off-farm employment on farmland transfer and the mediating role of agricultural production services outsourcing (APSO) by using the Probit and Tobit model approaches. This study uses field survey data of 960 rural households in 12 counties of the four main grain producing provinces of China. Findings of this study show that off-farm employment has a significant positive effect on the transfer of land out from households and a significant negative effect on the transfer of land into households. Furthermore, APSO has a significant mediating effect on the influence of off-farm employment on farmland transfer behavior. Specifically, APSO can reduce the positive impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer and weaken the negative impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer-in. The findings of our study also show that the mediating effect of different outsourcing of production links services on the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer is heterogeneous. Based on the findings of the study, it is contended that the APSO can reshape the supply and demand structure of rural land rental markets and policymakers should focus on the role of ASPO in shaping policies to promote land transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting ratoon rice is a critical measure for ensuring food security in China. Understanding the mechanism underlying farmers’ decision-making involving ratoon rice production may contribute to the design and implementation of extension policies. This study examined the impact of off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services on farmers’ ratoon rice production behavior. We used a representative household survey of 1752 rice farmers in Hubei province in central China and a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model to address potential self-selection biases from both observable and unobservable factors. Our estimates suggest that the probability of ratoon rice production decreases by 17.2% for farmers with off-farm employment, while the probability of ratoon rice production increases by 78.9% and 57% for farmers with outsourced machinery services and those with simultaneous off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services, respectively. Moreover, we found that outsourced machinery services can mitigate the negative impact of agricultural labor aging and feminization on ratoon rice production to some extent. Outsourced machinery services have regional heterogeneity effects as farmers in non-plain areas are more likely to engage in ratoon rice production.

Land transfer is an important means to achieve agricultural scale production and improve land use efficiency, as well as an effective way to solve food security issues. Discussing the mechanism of how the multilevel urban centers affect rural farmland transfer can help understand the spatial heterogeneity characteristics of farmland transfer. It is helpful to provide more policy suggestions from the perspective of urban-rural spatial relations and achieve the goal of agricultural and rural modernization. Taking Tai’an prefecture as an example, this study examines the impact of multilevel urban centers on farmland transfer by mediating effect model. The results show that: (1) Distances to urban centers are negatively associated with rural farmland transfer rates, with lower rates farther from urban centers. There are two mechanisms about how the distances to urban centers influence farmland transfer: the first is that the farther a village is from urban centers, the lower the value of its farmland, which leads to lower benefits to those who transferring farmland; the second is that lower opportunity costs of agricultural labor in the villages which farther from cities increase household reliance on farmland, reducing the rates of transferring farmland out. (2) Multilevel centers differentially influence transfers. The higher-level prefectural centers affect farmland transfer through planting structure, while the lower-level county centers affect farmland transfer through off-farm employment. Additionally, the influence of county centers is less stable due to road accessibility. (3) It is critical to additional policy support to both towns and remote villages. Particular focus should be placed on increasing the non-agricultural industries and expanding the agricultural markets of towns. It is also important to enhance infrastructure development to encourage farmland transfer in remote villages.

Non-timber forest product plantations (NTFP plantations), also known as “economic forests” in China, refer to forest plantations cultivated for the production of non-timber products such as fruits, nuts, oils, seasonings, and medicinal materials. With a rapid increase in the total area in the past two decades, NTFP plantations have become an important type of forestland use in China. The shift of agricultural labor to the non-agricultural sector caused by rising salaries in China will inevitably have a great impact on land use, forestry, and agricultural production. To understand the effects of off-farm employment on the development of NTFP plantations in China, a total of 709 valid household questionnaires from Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces were collected. Heckman’s two-stage model was employed in the empirical analysis. The results of the study show that off-farm employment has a significant positive effect on both the probability that a household has planted NTFP plantations and the plantation area. Households engaged in off-farm employment would prefer to plant NTFP plantations. Moreover, the higher the degree of participation in off-farm employment, the more likely households are to choose to plant NTFP plantations. The area of NTFP plantations would increase with the increase in off-farm employment degrees. Besides, the age and education level of the household head show a positive effect on the NTFP plantation planting. The implication of the results is that with a continuing increase in the proportion of off-farm employment, NTFP plantation cultivation could also continue to expand. Funds are still an important constraint for households to choose to plant NTFP plantations. Therefore, if policymakers want to promote the development of NTFP plantations on collectively owned forestland, they should first resolve households’ financial constraints.

Rural households in developing countries often depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, many also pursue off‐farm economic activities either to complement their farm income or because they lack access to agricultural land. Rural off‐farm employment is often informal and temporary. Searching for jobs can be associated with high transaction costs, which may be a constraint on some households' participation in off‐farm employment. The increasing spread of mobile phones may help to reduce these transaction costs. Here, we test the hypothesis that mobile phone ownership increases rural households' participation in off‐farm employment and—through this mechanism—also improves household income. We use nationally representative panel data from rural India and regression models with household fixed effects to control for confounding factors and unobserved heterogeneity. We find that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with the likelihood of participating in various types of off‐farm employment, including casual wage labour, salaried employment and non‐agricultural self‐employment. This association is larger in female‐headed than in male‐headed households. The estimates also show that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with household income, partly channelled through the off‐farm employment mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hilly and mountainous areas of China, landslides are a common geological hazard that threatens agricultural production and has a profound impact on farmers' production behavior. This study aims to understand the natural factors and internal logical mechanisms that lead to farmland abandonment. More specifically, based on a sustainable livelihood framework that couples Marxist land rent theory, the new labor migration economics theory, and the human-land relationship and geographic system theory, this study builds a theoretical analysis framework that: differences in natural environmental shocks lead to differences in livelihood strategy, and then lead to differences in farmland use, which explore the impact of landslides on farmland abandonment and how this impact is affected by the mechanism of off-farm employment. Based on CLDS2014 micro-survey data, the empirical results find that (1) compared with farmers who have not experienced landslides, farmers who experienced landslides abandon a larger area of farmland, (2) Landslides significantly increase the possibility of farmers participating in off-farm employment, (3) Off-farm employment plays an important role in the impact of landslides on farmland abandonment. Thus, this study may help developing counties to further understand rural revitalization, especially to provide reference for disaster management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined time-use in off-farm employment of female and male laborers from mountain and upland areas in Sichuan, China. The researchers conducted a tracking survey of 400 households in 2008 and 2012. We calculated the probabilities of rural laborer involving in one of four categories of employment (i.e., on-farm, < 0.5 year off-farm employment, 0.5–1 year off-farm employment, and whole-year off-farm employment) by using multinomial logistic models. We found that although the rate of females engaged in off-farm employment was lower than that of males overall, females tended to engage in long-term off-farm employment. The influences of household structure factors (e.g., marital status, the presence of pre-school children, the presence of school-age children, and the presence of elderly people in the household) on laborers' participation in off-farm employment were significantly different by gender. The same variable may have different impacts on the three off-farm employment types. Employing multinomial regression and separate models for different laborer groups revealed considerable heterogeneity. The results are significant to many current policy debates in China, such as the concerns regarding left-behind children and elderly people. • Off-farm employment participation is categorized by working time. • Females tend to engage in long-term off-farm employment. • There are strong gender differences in household factors affecting laborers' participation in off-farm employment. • Separate models for different laborer groups can reveal considerable heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islands are particularly vulnerable to the effects of land cover change due to their limited size and remoteness. This study analyzes vegetation cover change in the agricultural area of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Archipelago) between 1961 and 2018. To reconstruct multitemporal land cover change from existing land cover products, a multisource data integration procedure was followed to reduce imprecision and inconsistencies that may result from the comparison of heterogeneous datasets. The conversion of native forests and grasslands into agricultural land was the principal land cover change in the non-protected area. In 1961, about 94% of the non-protected area was still covered by native vegetation, whereas this had decreased to only 7% in 2018. Most of the agricultural expansion took place in the 1960s and 1970s, and it created an anthropogenic landscape where 67% of the area is covered by agricultural land and 26% by invasive species. Early clearance of native vegetation took place in the more accessible—less rugged—areas with deeper-than-average and well-drained soils. The first wave of settlement consisted of large and isolated farmsteads, with 19% of the farms being larger than 100 ha and specializing in diary and meat production. Over the period of 1961–1987, the number of farms doubled from less than 100 to more than 200, while the average farm size decreased from 90 to 60 ha/farmstead. Due to labor constraints in the agricultural sector, these farms opted for less labor-intensive activities such as livestock farming. New farms (popping up in the 1990s and 2000s) are generally small in size, with <5 ha per farmstead, and settled in areas with less favorable biophysical conditions and lower accessibility to markets. From the 1990s onwards, the surge of alternative income opportunities in the tourism and travel-related sector reduced pressure on the natural resources in the non-protected area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed Chinese labor-force survey data to determine the relationship between cropland abandonment and high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure. A PSM-DID approach was employed to examine 2014 and 2016 data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey and estimate the impact of HSR, from which it was found that HSR accessibility promoted cropland abandonment in local farm households with a coefficient of 0.206, that is, HSR projects led to a 20.6% increase in area of cropland abandonment and these impacts were found to be greater in hilly areas and lower in plain areas. The results also suggested that HSR accessibility could have a "pull" effect, which resulted in rural labor force shifts to non-agricultural sectors in the local region. Countermeasures and policy suggestions are given to reduce cropland abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of the employment promotion effect of the digital economy is closely linked to rural laborers’ digital skills (DS). Therefore, this study uses the Mprobit model to empirically test the impact of DS on rural labor employment choices. The results show that: (1) the acquisition of DS by the rural labor force significantly increases the rate of off-farm employment and entrepreneurship but has no significant effect on farm employment, with work skills having the most significant positive impact on the rural labor force off-farm employment and online business skills having the most significant positive impact on rural labor force entrepreneurship. (2) The mechanism test reveals that DS influences the employment choices of the rural labor force by alleviating the information access constraint and financing constraints faced by rural labor. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that males and rural laborers in rich regions can benefit from entrepreneurship. In contrast, females and low-skilled and rural laborers in middle and poor regions can benefit more from off-farm employment. Our findings provide empirical evidence on effectively cultivating DS to increase the diversity of employment choices for the rural workforce and highlight the importance of improving DS.

Two phenomena in the history of China’s economic growth during the last four decades are the increase in the share of off-farm employment and the progress in poverty alleviation in rural China. Although both of them have been well documented in the literature, less is known about the linkage between the two. To better understand the role that off-farm employment has played in poverty alleviation in rural China is critically important not only for China but also for those countries that are trying to reduce poverty. Here, we examine the impact of off-farm employment on poverty alleviation in rural China. Using the data from two nationally representative household panel surveys (China National Rural Survey and China Rural Development Survey), this paper provides supporting evidence that off-farm employment contributes to poverty alleviation in rural China. Specifically, if household participation in off-farm employment increases by 10 percentage points, the likelihood for a non-poor household to fall into poverty will decrease by 0.88 percentage point whereas the likelihood for a poor household to climb out of poverty will increase by 3.5 percentage points. In a word, off-employment can not only prevent rural residents to fall into poverty but also help those already in poverty climb out of it.

A study linking the two economic and social phenomena of rural labor force migration and energy transition can help analyze the underlying causes of rural “Energy Poverty”. However, how off-farm employment affects household low-carbon energy consumption and its potential mechanisms requires further research. Using 1351 sampled rural households from the “Rural Energy, Population Transfer and Well-being” survey in 2018 and 2021 to explore response mechanisms through which off-farm employment can influence low-carbon energy intensity. Utilizing the multivariate regression, Sobel test, and moderating effect test, the results demonstrate that off-farm employment, including short-term and long-term off-farm employment, significantly increases the intensity of low-carbon energy use among rural households. Specifically, long-term off-farm employment tends to have a greater positive contribution to the low-carbon energy intensity than short-term off-farm employment. Furthermore, off-farm employment can affect household low-carbon energy intensity through the total income, and effect of the surrounding people in the off-farm employment process also increases their consumption intensity. The research reveals that the rural energy revolution under the constraints of “Carbon Neutral” and “Carbon Peak” should relate to the off-farm development of rural households to achieve “Precise Energy Poverty Alleviation”.

With ensuring food security becoming a priority for the Chinese government, the prevalence of off-farm employment (OE) may cast a shadow on agricultural productivity. Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies in 2018, the Tobit model and threshold effect model have been applied to investigate the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural productivity efficiency (APE), measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA). The result has shown that: (1) OE contributes to a low level of APE. (2) Both self-employed off-farm employment (SOE) and wage-based off-farm employment (WOE) result in lower APE levels when endogenous issues are addressed. However, SOE had a greater negative impact on APE than WOE. (3) There exists a threshold for OE associated with a lower level of APE, indicating that the negative effect of OE on APE disappears when the degree of OE is high enough, SOE has a lower threshold than WOE. The study findings have implications for improving agricultural production efficiency in the context of large-scale off-farm employment of Chinese farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender gaps in labor force participation in developing countries persist despite income growth or structural change. We assess this persistence across economic geographies within countries, focusing on youth employment in off‐farm wage jobs. We combine household survey data from 12 developing countries with geospatial data on population density. The gender gap increases with connectivity from rural to peri‐urban areas and disappears in high‐density urban areas. In non‐rural areas, child dependency does not constrain young women, and secondary education improves their access to off‐farm jobs. The gender gap persists for married young women independent of connectivity improvements, indicating social norm constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2009 land reform in China marks a move toward a more flexible land tenure system in rural areas. This study evaluates the effect of this reform on rental market participation and household welfare in rural China. Using a four‐period nationally representative household‐level panel data during 2010–2016, we find that the 2009 land reform increased rental market participation by 6.6 to 7.0 percentage points on average. The effect varies significantly with village and household characteristics. The welfare impact of rental market participation on rural households depends on the type of participation. Specifically, the households renting in land witness an increase in their aggregated income by 10.7% on average through the expansion of farm production, which is accompanied by an increase in aggregated expenditure by approximately 11.2%. Those leasing out their land lose the portion of income on the farm but the aggregated household income is on average statistically unchanged, possibly due to a higher off‐farm income and the inflow of land rental income. Along with the statistically unchanged aggregated expenditure, the households leasing out land experience no significant welfare changes after the 2009 land reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundAdvanced maternal age is associated with fetal outcomes such as higher risks of birth defects and very low birth weight. Off-farm employment is an important factor in fertility transition in many developing countries. This study investigated the association between off-farm employment and fertility timing among Chinese rural women.MethodUsing data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), we employed the ordinary least squares and instrumental variable approaches to estimate the effect of female off-farm employment on fertility timing decisions as well as the differences in the effect across groups.ResultsThe results show that off-farm employment participation is significantly associated with a later age at first birth, and the effect is stronger for women participating in wage employment than in off-farm self-employment. The delayed effects on fertility timing are also more pronounced for less-educated women and low-income families, implying a heterogeneous effect in terms of women's socioeconomic status.ConclusionStudies of the relationship between women's off-farm employment and fertility timing in rural areas of developing countries remain limited. This study provides important insights on this topic, and it lends support to efforts to design effective policies and practices to facilitate female employment, childbearing, and health promotion.

Background: Forestland right confirmation is an important part of the new round of collective forest tenure reform.It is worth noting that after the forestland right confirmation, the stability and security of farmers' land ownership has increased, land constraints have decreased, and the allocation of labor resources has also undergone corresponding changes. Methods: Based on the research data of 612 rubber growers in Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, the logit model is used to estimate the risk perception of farmers' rubber planting and interactive effects of off-farm employment caused by forestland right confirmation.The control method is used to control the endogeneity of risk perception.In addition, the interactive effects were analyzed heterogeneously from three perspectives: planting area, whether to harvest rubber, and planting altitude. Results: The estimation results of the logit model show that the impact of forestland right confirmation on off-farm employment is not significant, but the interactive effect of affirmation of woodland and risk perception is significantly positive at the level of 10%.This result shows that the forestland right confirmation has no direct impact on off-farm employment, but its impact on off-farm employment changes with the variations of the perception of rubber planting risks.For farmers holding forest property right certifications, the higher the risk perception of rubber planting, the greater the possibility of engaging in off-farm employment.The control method is used to further control the endogeneity of risk perception, which verifies the robustness of the research results.In addition, the interactive effects of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on off-farm employment are heterogeneous in terms of rubber planting area, harvest situation and altitude.The interactive effect of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on the off-farm employment of farmers whose rubber planting area is greater than 0.5 ha per person is the most significant, followed by those whose rubber planting area is between 0.5 and 1.0 ha per person.The mutual effect of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on the off-farm employment of farmers whose rubber planting area is greater than 1.0 ha per person is not significant.It can be seen that, the interactive effect of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on non-agricultural employment has weakened with the increase of rubber planting area.Then, forestland right confirmation and risk perception have a significant interactive effect on the off-farm employment of unharvested rubber farmers, but the impact on other farmers is not significant.This means that as the risk perception of rubber planting increases, farmers who have not harvested rubber are more likely to engage in off-farm employment.In contrast, farmers who harvested rubber during the harvest period may not change their off-farm employment decisions as the risk perception changes.Finally, in terms of the altitude of rubber planting, the interactive effect of farmer's forestland right confirmation and risk perception on off-farm employment in areas above 800 m altitude is significantly positive.For farmers whose altitude is below 800 m, the interactive effect of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on off-farm employment is not significant.The interactive effect of forestland right confirmation and risk perception on off-farm employment may weaken with the increase of altitude. Conclusions and Discussions: The forestland right confirmation does not have a significant direct impact on off-farm employment, while the forestland right confirmation and rubber planting risk perception have a significant positive interactive effect on off-farm employment.At the same time, the interactive effects of different planting areas, different harvest conditions, and different altitudes are heterogeneous.The results of this study are conducive to a better understanding of the off-farm employment of rubber farmers in the context of forestland right confirmation.It is recommended to further deepen the reform of the collective forest tenure system, help farmers correctly understand the risks of rubber planting, and promote off-farm employment of rubber growers with specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

Collective Forestland Tenure Reform has confirmed the forestland tenure of rural households and made forestland property rights clearer. In order to explain whether this policy is effective in improving rural households’ expected returns and sense of forestland tenure security, we built models to study the impact of off-farm employment on forestland input in the context of labor migration to urban areas. We used data from the rural household tracking survey conducted by the Development Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Bureau from 2003–2016, which includes nine provinces (districts) and 1227 sample rural households in China. Regression models with the forestland titling program as the key influencing factor were constructed, controlling for household characteristics, household head characteristics, forestland characteristics, village level characteristics, market characteristics, and policy factors. Forestland leases had no significant on cash outlays and labor inputs. Forest tenure mortgage loans had a significant positive effect on cash outlays and labor inputs. For households’ off-farm employment, the moderating effects of labor migration on labor inputs and cash outlays are modeled separately. The study indicated that the forestland tenure titling certificates increase households’ enthusiasm in forestland production and promote cash outlays and labor inputs in forestland management. The results regarding the moderating effect indicated that labor migration has a positive moderating effect on rural households’ forestland inputs including labor inputs and cash outlays.

Understanding the effects of the off-farm employment of rural laborers on agricultural land use is essential to promote farmland transfer and enhance rural development in China. This study aims to investigate the direct impact of off-farm employment on farmland transfer and the mediating role of agricultural production services outsourcing (APSO) by using the Probit and Tobit model approaches. This study uses field survey data of 960 rural households in 12 counties of the four main grain producing provinces of China. Findings of this study show that off-farm employment has a significant positive effect on the transfer of land out from households and a significant negative effect on the transfer of land into households. Furthermore, APSO has a significant mediating effect on the influence of off-farm employment on farmland transfer behavior. Specifically, APSO can reduce the positive impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer and weaken the negative impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer-in. The findings of our study also show that the mediating effect of different outsourcing of production links services on the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural land transfer is heterogeneous. Based on the findings of the study, it is contended that the APSO can reshape the supply and demand structure of rural land rental markets and policymakers should focus on the role of ASPO in shaping policies to promote land transfer.