Quantifying the amount, heterogeneity, and pattern of farmland: Implications for China’s requisition-compensation balance of farmland policy

Luo Liu, Zhenjie Liu, Jianzhou Gong, Lu Wang and Yueming Hu

Land Use Policy, 2019, vol. 81, issue C, 256-266

Abstract: This study analyzed the amount, heterogeneity, and pattern of farmland subject to the requisition–compensation balance of farmland (RCBF) policy from 2011 to 2015 in China’s economic development frontier area of Guangdong Province. The study used vector data for land-use and land-cover change and farmland quality from the Department of Land Resources of Guangdong Province and socio-economic statistical data from the statistical yearbook. To determine practical and potential problems during the implementation of RCBF, we calculated the differences between the area of compensatory farmland and requisitioned farmland according to different farmland types and quality grades at both the provincial and sub-regional scale. A series of pattern metrics reflecting land fragmentation and aggregation were identified at the class and landscape levels. The results revealed the presence of “superior occupation and inferior compensation” and “paddy field occupation and dry land compensation.” The landscape pattern experienced different degrees of influence after farmland requisition and compensation. The tendency was for a large area of woodland and grassland adjacent to each other to be exploited, leading to a series of ecological and environmental problems. Due to considerations of economic benefit and cost, much of the compensatory farmland provided following land exploitation has been inefficient, unreasonable, and unstable. Although some complementary policies have been proposed, such as “linking the increase in urban construction land with a decrease in rural construction land,” primary problems of RCBF are still difficult to be solved. We suggest that specific technical specifications for land exploitation, land reclamation, and land consolidation should be formed based on regional characteristics. Local government should improve the existing relevant support policies and continue to strengthen land reclamation and land consolidation in the future, with full consideration of the need for ecological environmental protection and improvement of the farmland landscape.

Keywords: Farmland requisition; Farmland compensation; RCBF; Guangdong Province; Landscape pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:256-266

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.008

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