Leaving the Homestead: Examining the Role of Relative Deprivation, Social Trust, and Urban Integration among Rural Farmers in China

Abstract

Actively promoting the orderly and voluntary withdrawal of idle rural house bases and effectively activating “sleeping” land assets are considered important measures to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, as well as promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. However, few studies have focused on the superimposed effects of negative psychological and social environmental factors on the willingness of farmers to withdraw from their homestead. Therefore, we conducted this study in order to clarify the logical ideas of rural home base withdrawal, analyze the factors that influence the decision of home base withdrawal behavior of interest subjects, and provide a scientific decision basis for promoting rural home base withdrawal and accelerating the process of transferring citizens of agricultural population in terms of policies, measures, and paths, so as to design and develop an incentive mechanism for home base withdrawal of citizens of agricultural transfer population. The results of the study show that: (1) the findings indicate that social deprivation, economic deprivation, and emotional deprivation all significantly and negatively affect farmers’ willingness to withdraw from their homesteads; (2) social trust plays a mediating role between relative deprivation and farmer homestead withdrawal behavior; and (3) urban integration plays a moderating role between social and emotional deprivation and the social trust of farmers, but does not have a significant moderating role in the relationship between economic deprivation and social trust. Furthermore, it plays a moderating role between all deprivation factors (i.e., economic, social, and emotional deprivation) and farmer homestead withdrawal behavior. This study aims to provide useful guidance and policy suggestions for optimizing policies related to farmer homestead withdrawal behaviors, and for scientifically designing the homestead withdrawal mechanism and policy system.

Does Labor Transfer Improve Farmers’ Willingness to Withdraw from Farming?—A Bivariate Probit Modeling Approach

“…There is a direct link effect between farmers' willingness to withdraw from contracted land and their willingness to withdraw from the homestead. The outcomes are parallel with the assumption by Si et al [31]. However, in a study of Jinhu County, Jiangsu Province, China, Zhao et al [34] found distinctive outcomes.…”

“…Many necessary decision-making plans and major strategies at the decision-making level emphasize that the withdrawal of rural land must respect farmers' wishes and allow them to make their own choices [29]. For this reason, relevant studies (such as Liu et al [30], Chen et al [12], and Si et al [31]) have focused on the willingness of farmers to withdraw from their land and studied that under the background of urbanization and non-agriculture employment. Where farmers have the characteristics of "leaving land without releasing soil" and "releasing soil without releasing rights", and only a few farmers under the premise of compensation are willing to withdraw from the homestead and contracted land [32,33].…”

A study assessing the impact of income relative deprivation and cooperative membership on rural residents' health: A pathway towards improving the health status of rural residents

“…The impact of relative deprivation on migration is more pronounced in male-headed households engaged in agriculture in rural areas [ 57 ]. Further research revealed that relative deprivation significantly and negatively affects rural residents' willingness to withdraw from homesteads [ 58 ]. However, to date, there has been little discussion of the effect of relative deprivation on rural residents' willingness to be cooperative members.…”

The Influence of Aging Population in Rural Families on Farmers’ Willingness to Withdraw from Homesteads in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

“…Su et al focused on the functional evolution and dynamic mechanism of homesteads, using the comprehensive index model evaluation method [36]. Furthermore, binary logistic models [37,38], structural equation models [39][40][41], and mediating effect models [42,43] are among the most common methodologies that scholars employ to explore farmers' willingness and behavior regarding withdrawing from rural homesteads from various angles. In terms of content, homestead withdrawal is a hot topic in current research.…”