Can Land Circulation Improve the Health of Middle-Aged and Older Farmers in China?

Abstract

Compared with the urban aging population, the rural aging population in China is larger, and is subject to a lower per capita income, lower social security coverage, and insufficient security capacity. Therefore, ensuring the health of middle-aged and older farmers is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the stability of rural areas and society. This study uses data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) 2018, an ordered probit model and instrumental variable approach to empirically analyze the effect of land circulation out on the physical health of middle-aged and older farmers over 45. The results indicate that land circulation out positively and significantly affects farmers’ health. Again, farmer’s non-agricultural work and household income play a significant role in this positive relationship between land circulation out and farmers’ health. Thus, the promotion of non-agricultural work for farmers and household income enhancement could alleviate household budget constraints while increasing health investment. The findings provide policies advocating for rural health development from land circulation perspectives.

Abatement Effects of Agricultural Non-Point Pollution from Land System Reforms: A Case Study of the Farmland “Three Rights Separation” Reform in China

“…Microscopically, the separation of land management rights and contracting rights has a positive effect on increasing farmers' income [10]. On one hand, the TRS increases the ways for farmers to earn income, allowing them to gain income from both land management and off-farm employment [11]; on the other hand, the TRS increases the collective economic income in rural areas by concentrating land rights on operating entities, achieving economies of scale in agricultural management [12]. Although many studies believe that this reform can promote farmers' income growth by increasing land transfer, there may be controversy over whether the TRS can accelerate land transfer.…”