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

Abstract

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.

Do agricultural productive services alleviate farmland abandonment? Evidence from China rural household panel survey data

“…The substitution effect of APS on the labour force has been enhanced. Farmers usually outsource some difficult production links to professional service organizations, which can alleviate the labour pressure (Li et al, 2021;Min et al, 2022). With the rapid development of urbanization, APS could optimize household labour allocation and promote part of labour to engage in non-agricultural industries, which not only improves family welfare but also reduce land abandonment.…”

“…The second category was the other control variables. This study drew on the existing literature on land abandonment and agricultural services and selected other exogenous explanatory variables (Min et al, 2022). As presented in Table 1, these variables include individual, family, and village characteristics.…”

“…The village characteristics mainly include the distance between the village committee and the township government and the village traffic conditions (Liu and Zhou, 2018). The distance between the village committee and the township government could easily reduce land abandonment (Min et al, 2022). The remoteness of villages reduces the probability of farmers going out to work, and farmers mainly rely on farming to maintain their livelihood, which reduces land abandonment.…”

“…Older farmers close to retirement are more likely to make decisions on land abandonment due to physical exhaustion (He et al, 2020). The New Rural Pension Scheme replaces the endowment insurance function of the land, which increases the probability of the elderly abandoning their farmland (Min et al, 2022). Internet use can reduce farm households' cropland abandonment by 43.20% (Deng et al, 2019).…”

Do agricultural productive services alleviate farmland abandonment? Evidence from China rural household panel survey data

“…The substitution effect of APS on the labour force has been enhanced. Farmers usually outsource some difficult production links to professional service organizations, which can alleviate the labour pressure (Li et al, 2021;Min et al, 2022). With the rapid development of urbanization, APS could optimize household labour allocation and promote part of labour to engage in non-agricultural industries, which not only improves family welfare but also reduce land abandonment.…”

“…The second category was the other control variables. This study drew on the existing literature on land abandonment and agricultural services and selected other exogenous explanatory variables (Min et al, 2022). As presented in Table 1, these variables include individual, family, and village characteristics.…”

“…The village characteristics mainly include the distance between the village committee and the township government and the village traffic conditions (Liu and Zhou, 2018). The distance between the village committee and the township government could easily reduce land abandonment (Min et al, 2022). The remoteness of villages reduces the probability of farmers going out to work, and farmers mainly rely on farming to maintain their livelihood, which reduces land abandonment.…”

“…Older farmers close to retirement are more likely to make decisions on land abandonment due to physical exhaustion (He et al, 2020). The New Rural Pension Scheme replaces the endowment insurance function of the land, which increases the probability of the elderly abandoning their farmland (Min et al, 2022). Internet use can reduce farm households' cropland abandonment by 43.20% (Deng et al, 2019).…”

Monitoring Cropland Abandonment in Hilly Areas with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Timeseries

“…Cropland abandonment is a common type of land-cover change worldwide as a result of a range of social, economic, environmental, and terrain factors [1]. For example, the rapid development in developing countries, rural-to-urban immigration, advanced social security system, and attenuated social insurance function of cropland have led to cropland abandonment [2]. Similarly, environmental pollution, soil desertification, and terrain fragmentation may also lead to cropland abandonment.…”

Do agricultural productive services alleviate farmland abandonment? Evidence from China rural household panel survey data

“…The substitution effect of APS on the labour force has been enhanced. Farmers usually outsource some difficult production links to professional service organizations, which can alleviate the labour pressure (Li et al, 2021;Min et al, 2022). With the rapid development of urbanization, APS could optimize household labour allocation and promote part of labour to engage in non-agricultural industries, which not only improves family welfare but also reduce land abandonment.…”

“…The second category was the other control variables. This study drew on the existing literature on land abandonment and agricultural services and selected other exogenous explanatory variables (Min et al, 2022). As presented in Table 1, these variables include individual, family, and village characteristics.…”

“…The village characteristics mainly include the distance between the village committee and the township government and the village traffic conditions (Liu and Zhou, 2018). The distance between the village committee and the township government could easily reduce land abandonment (Min et al, 2022). The remoteness of villages reduces the probability of farmers going out to work, and farmers mainly rely on farming to maintain their livelihood, which reduces land abandonment.…”

“…Older farmers close to retirement are more likely to make decisions on land abandonment due to physical exhaustion (He et al, 2020). The New Rural Pension Scheme replaces the endowment insurance function of the land, which increases the probability of the elderly abandoning their farmland (Min et al, 2022). Internet use can reduce farm households' cropland abandonment by 43.20% (Deng et al, 2019).…”

Monitoring Cropland Abandonment in Hilly Areas with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Timeseries

“…Cropland abandonment is a common type of land-cover change worldwide as a result of a range of social, economic, environmental, and terrain factors [1]. For example, the rapid development in developing countries, rural-to-urban immigration, advanced social security system, and attenuated social insurance function of cropland have led to cropland abandonment [2]. Similarly, environmental pollution, soil desertification, and terrain fragmentation may also lead to cropland abandonment.…”

Do agricultural productive services alleviate farmland abandonment? Evidence from China rural household panel survey data

“…The substitution effect of APS on the labour force has been enhanced. Farmers usually outsource some difficult production links to professional service organizations, which can alleviate the labour pressure (Li et al, 2021;Min et al, 2022). With the rapid development of urbanization, APS could optimize household labour allocation and promote part of labour to engage in non-agricultural industries, which not only improves family welfare but also reduce land abandonment.…”

“…The second category was the other control variables. This study drew on the existing literature on land abandonment and agricultural services and selected other exogenous explanatory variables (Min et al, 2022). As presented in Table 1, these variables include individual, family, and village characteristics.…”

“…The village characteristics mainly include the distance between the village committee and the township government and the village traffic conditions (Liu and Zhou, 2018). The distance between the village committee and the township government could easily reduce land abandonment (Min et al, 2022). The remoteness of villages reduces the probability of farmers going out to work, and farmers mainly rely on farming to maintain their livelihood, which reduces land abandonment.…”

“…Older farmers close to retirement are more likely to make decisions on land abandonment due to physical exhaustion (He et al, 2020). The New Rural Pension Scheme replaces the endowment insurance function of the land, which increases the probability of the elderly abandoning their farmland (Min et al, 2022). Internet use can reduce farm households' cropland abandonment by 43.20% (Deng et al, 2019).…”

Monitoring Cropland Abandonment in Hilly Areas with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Timeseries

“…Cropland abandonment is a common type of land-cover change worldwide as a result of a range of social, economic, environmental, and terrain factors [1]. For example, the rapid development in developing countries, rural-to-urban immigration, advanced social security system, and attenuated social insurance function of cropland have led to cropland abandonment [2]. Similarly, environmental pollution, soil desertification, and terrain fragmentation may also lead to cropland abandonment.…”