Spatiotemporal variations in cropland abandonment in the Guizhou–Guangxi karst mountain area, China

Han, Ze; Song, Wei

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117888

Cited by 69 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Likewise, rural-to-urban migration reduces the availability of farm labor, thus increasing the likelihood of cropland abandonment, as concluded in many studies (Jaquet et al 2015;López et al 2006;Paudel et al 2014;Xu et al 2019). Meanwhile, the phenomenon termed ''feminization of agriculture work'' (Han and Song 2019;Ojha et al 2017;Paudel et al 2014) that results from out-migration by the male labor is manifested by our result: land abandonment rate is higher in female-headed households than in male-headed households. The engagement of off-farm employment is equally important in decisions on cropland abandonment in some other studies (Deng et al 2018;Du et al 2019;Rai et al 2019), but it is not considered here, because in Nepal a significant share of the rural income is contributed by remittances, pensions, and/or governmental elderly allowances (Gilmour et al 2014).…”

Section: B Cropland Parcel Attributes and Household Characteristicssupporting

confidence: 48%

Cropland Abandonment in the Community-Forestry Landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal

et al. 2021

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Cropland abandonment has been a major land-use concern, threatening food security globally. Understanding the factors contributing to cropland abandonment advances land-use change science and provides essential information for policy making, both of which aim to improve agriculture land management. Despite many studies conducted on this topic, we still lack in-depth understanding on how feedbacks from the natural system influence cropland-use decisions at the household level in the human system. We fill this knowledge gap by conducting this study in the Middle Hills of Nepal, where community forestry is an integral part of the land-use system. We collected qualitative data through focus-group discussions, key-informant interviews, and review of local community-forest management documents, and we collected quantitative socioeconomic data through a household survey of 415 households. We geolocated 1264 cropland parcels owned by these households and recorded their use statuses. We found that there is an increasing trend of cropland abandonment that is due to multiple socioeconomic, ecological, and biophysical factors. A higher likelihood of cropland abandonment is linked to households that have more out-migrants, female heads, nonagricultural occupation of the household heads, and larger areas of agriculture landholding. The study also found that cropland parcels that are far from the households, close to the forest edge, and on steeper slopes are more likely to be abandoned. These findings provide key information for policy makers to devise effective measures on managing cropland and developing sustainable agriculture in rural Nepal.

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Section: B Cropland Parcel Attributes and Household Characteristicssupporting

confidence: 48%

Cropland Abandonment in the Community-Forestry Landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal

et al. 2021

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“…The marginalization of cropland in relatively less‐favored locations will continue given the irreversible process of rural‐to‐urban migration and the continuous aging of the agricultural labor force (Shao, Zhang, & Li, 2015; Xu et al, 2019). Given the upcoming continuous marginalization process in the rural regions, it is unnecessary to extend the 'Grain for Green' programme, and subsidies can be provided for restoring natural vegetation (Han & Song, 2019). However, because almost one half of the total land was not of high‐quality and located in mountainous regions (Li et al, 2018), policymakers will have to make difficult choices between food security and the ecological environment (Yan et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban expansion or poor productivity: Explaining regional differences in cropland abandonment in China during the early 21st century

et al. 2020

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Cropland abandonment has long been recognized as a marginalization process in rural regions but recently also as a precursor to urbanization in peri-urban regions. This study aimed to evaluate the relative importance of urbanization and poor productivity in cropland abandonment. A thorough investigation was conducted on 345 cities/ towns at the prefecture level or higher in China using 500-m annual maps for 2003-2016. Cropland abandonment was spatiotemporally coupled with the urbanization. At a national scale, approximately 0.55% of the total cropland area (approximately 862 km 2 per year) has been abandoned. Cropland abandonment increased significantly until 2009, declined in the early 2010s, and then leveled off in recent years. In particular, the new first-tier cities suffered the greatest abandonment per capita. However, cropland abandonment was increasingly shifted to lower-tier cities, particularly the high-quality cropland abandonment in the medium-tier cities. Lowquality cropland in rural regions of the medium-and lower-tier cities experienced incessant abandonment. Results showed that the extent of cropland abandonment increased with city sizes described either by population/GDP or by built-up area. High-quality cropland abandonment was more closely related to the built-up area than to population and GDP for total abandonment. Urbanization-induced abandonment in peri-urban areas was dominant for most cities, with exceptions only for a few small cities. Contrary to expectation, cropland abandonment for most cities/ towns in rural regions was not more driven by poor productivity, compared to periurban regions. Our study highlights that urbanization mainly accounted for the regional differences in cropland abandonment in China during the past two decades.

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“…At the regional level, the trade-off relationship between land for economic development, agricultural production, and ecological protection should be comprehensively coordinated. Furthermore, efforts should be made to reduce production costs associated with scattered land holdings, backward agricultural infrastructure, and rising opportunity costs of labour through land consolidation, land transfer, and agricultural subsidies (Han & Song, 2019).…”

Section: Policies Implications In Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cultivated land is one of the most sensitive types of land‐use change (Gao et al, 2019), covering about 12.6% of global surface area (Han & Song, 2019). It plays a vital role in regulating climate change and ensuring food security and sustainable human development (Bren d'Amour et al, Fprogramme 2017; Rudel et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring cultivated land evolution in mountainous areas of Southwest China, an empirical study of developments since the 1980s

et al. 2020

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Cultivated land protection is related to food security and sustainable development. As an important reserve resource, the protection and development of cultivated land in mountainous areas need attention from governments and academia. This paper analyses the long‐term evolution process cultivated land in mountainous areas of Southwest China by using large‐scale remote sensing, topographic relief amplitude model, and a modified binary logistic regression model, to understand internal reasons for evolution differentiation at the macro level. The results show that untransformed cultivated land is mainly distributed below the topographic relief amplitude of 770 m. The transformation direction and spatial characteristics of transformed cultivated land gradually shift to low relief amplitude (<631 m) areas with time. Construction land accounts for 51.11% of the cultivated land transformation, usually distributed in flatlands or basins below the relief amplitude of 498 m, and hilly cultivated land around it displays a fluctuating recovery process. Topography is the most important factor affecting the evolution of cultivated land in mountainous areas. However, there are still differences in the driving mechanism of cultivated land evolution types, and some key policies in China in the past directly affected the evolution paths of cultivated land in mountainous areas. The research results can provide ideas for the utilization and protection of cultivated land in similar mountainous areas.

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Spatiotemporal variations in cropland abandonment in the Guizhou–Guangxi karst mountain area, China

Cited by 69 publications

References 67 publications

Cropland Abandonment in the Community-Forestry Landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal

Cropland Abandonment in the Community-Forestry Landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal

Urban expansion or poor productivity: Explaining regional differences in cropland abandonment in China during the early 21st century

Exploring cultivated land evolution in mountainous areas of Southwest China, an empirical study of developments since the 1980s

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