Effects of land fragmentation and returns to scale in the Chinese farming sector

Abstract

Using household survey data from rural China, economies of scale as measured by returns to scale and the effects of land fragmentation on crop outputs are examined. While these effects are found to be detrimental, statistically significant and substantial, existing economies of scale appear to be too small to suggest radical land policy changes in China.

Accounting for income inequality in rural China: a regression-based approach

“…Given the divergence in dependency ratios across regions and its converging trend, we choose to include the dependency ratio. In any case, labor is unlikely to be a significant variable because of its surplus nature in rural China as Wan and Cheng (2001) demonstrate. The inclusion of TVE can be justified because of its important impact on regional inequality as Wan (1997Wan ( , 2001 and Rozelle (1994) show.…”

Agrobiodiversity, farm profits and land fragmentation: Evidence from Bulgaria

“…A number of studies indicate that land fragmentation has a significant detrimental effect on farm productivity (Wan and Cheng, 2001;Rahman and Rahman, 2009). In Northern Jordan, Jabarin and Epplin (1994) report that land fragmentation increases production costs and gives rise to agricultural inefficiencies.…”

Impact of land fragmentation and resource ownership on productivity and efficiency: The case of rice producers in Bangladesh

“…In contrast, farmers in the highly land fragmented regions of Malaysia and Philippines do not consider it as a problem in paddy farming (Hooi, 1978;Wong and Geronimo, 1983;cited in Niroula and Thapa, 2005). In case of China, Wu et al (2005) conclude that land fragmentation does not have any significant impact on productivity, whereas Wan and Cheng (2001) conclude that land fragmentation reduces productivity. Similar contrasting arguments exist on the effects of land fragmentation on efficiency.…”