The Impacts of High-Standard Farmland Construction on Cultivated Land Improvement in China

Jie Feng, Xiaowen Zhang and Wensheng Lin ()
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Jie Feng: School of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, China
Xiaowen Zhang: School of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, China
Wensheng Lin: School of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: The construction of high-standard farmland has emerged as a prominent strategy to increase the total arable land area and augment cultivated land quality. This paper endeavors to scrutinize the policy impacts of this measure on elevating cultivated land quality and increasing land area in China. We employ an instrumental variable model with two-way fixed effects to quantitatively analyze the impact of the construction of high-standard farmland on the area and quality of cultivated land, based on panel data from 30 sample provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. Our results indicate that for every additional 10,000 hectares of high-standard farmland construction, the cultivated land area per person increased by 0.004 hectares, and the overall quality improved by 0.004 grade. The mechanism analysis further shows that constructing high-standard farmland indirectly alleviates cultivated land quality by reducing farmers’ use of chemical fertilizers, plastic film, and pesticides. The results imply that the ongoing construction of high-standard farmland remains a pivotal element in ensuring the sustainable utilization of cultivated land resources and achieving food security and agricultural modernization goals in China.

Keywords: high-standard farmland construction; land area; land quality; chemical usage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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