The Impact of Dual-scale Management on the Family Income of Forest Farmers -- Based on the Empirical Analysis of the New-type Forestry Management Entities in Fujian Province.

(1) Background Promoting scale management has become an inevitable way to solve the problem of forestland fragmentation, which is of great significance to realize the modernization of forestry. However, due to the increase of labor cost and forestry production risk and the high transaction cost, the implementation effect of both land scale management and service scale management is not satisfactory. Nowadays, most scholars have paid attention to the coexistence of land scale management and service scale management, and carried out relevant studies with traditional small-scale farmers as an example, but few studies have discussed the implementation effect of "dual-scale" management mode with the new-type forestry management entities as an example. (2)Methods The research data came from the research group' s survey and interview of the new-type forestry management entities in 20 key forestry counties (cities and districts) in Fujian Province in August 2021 and July 2023, and a total of 299 valid questionnaires were obtained. This paper selected the family income of the new-type forestry management entities as the explained variable, the dual-scale management mode as the core explanatory variable, and the characteristics of the persons in charge of the management entities, the management entities and the external environment as the control variables. The coupling coordination model and propensity score matching method were used to empirically analyze the impacts of dual-scale management on the total family income and the heterogeneity of income structure of the management entities. (3) Results First, in the OLS model, the coefficient of the total family income of the management entities is 2.299, and p<0.01. The dual-scale management has a significant promotion effect on the total family income of the management entities, and the higher the coupling coordination degree of the dual-scale management, the stronger the effect of income increase. Second, the dual-scale management has a significant promotion effect on the forestry management income of the management entities, but at the same time it will significantly reduce their wage income. Third, the regression results of dividing the new-type forestry management entities into family forest farms and forestry cooperatives show that the promotion effect of dual-scale management on the income of the forestry cooperatives is much greater than that of family forest farms. Fourth, the regression results on the degree of employment diversification of the new-type forestry management entities show that dual-scale management has a significant promotion effect on the total family income of pure farmers or low-diversified employment households, but has no significant effect on the total family income of highly-diversified employment households. (4) Conclusions and Discussions Based on the above research conclusions, the following policy recommendations are put forward: First, encourage the development of various forms of scale management and support the promotion and development of dual-scale management models. Second, strengthen the guidance and service of forestry technology, and enhance the level of specialized management of the forest farmers. Third, implement different measures to promote the development of various new-types of forestry management entities, and then give full play to the potential and role of different types of management entities in promoting the development of forestry economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]