The Role of Agricultural Socialized Services in Mitigating Rural Labor Shortages: A Multi-Crop Analysis of Production Performance

Zhixiong Liu, Yuheng Wei, Ruofan Liao () and Jianxu Liu
Additional contact information
Zhixiong Liu: College of Artificial Intelligences, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning 530006, China
Yuheng Wei: College of Economic, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning 530007, China
Ruofan Liao: College of Economic, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning 530007, China
Jianxu Liu: School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-40

Abstract: China’s agricultural sector faces unprecedented challenges due to rapid urbanization. The rural labor force is declining, and the agricultural workforce is aging significantly. This labor shortage, worsened by the exodus of agricultural technicians, threatens food security and agricultural sustainability. This study analyzes data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2022 using a transcendental logarithmic production function. The research examines how agricultural socialized services can alleviate rural labor shortages by improving production efficiency. It also investigates these services’ impact on labor input intensity and grain yield across different crops and regions. The results show that socialized agricultural services effectively promote food production. At the national level, these services can promote a 54.4% increase in total crop production. Agricultural socialized services are gradually developing toward labor substitution. The significant negative interaction coefficient between services and labor confirms this substitution effect. The input–output elasticity of these services is positive for total crop and cereal crop production in major production areas. It also shows positive elasticity for total crop and tuber crop production in non-major production areas. The national-level “service-labor” technical elasticity of substitution maintains values above zero, averaging 0.37 across regions, offering an effective solution to agricultural labor shortages. This study identifies a threshold effect where these services’ impact on food production significantly increases with business scale expansion. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing agricultural socialized services through strengthened service systems, differentiated regional strategies, technological innovation, and comprehensive support policies. Such targeted approaches would enhance substitution effects and service efficiency, addressing labor shortages and boosting food production.

Keywords: agricultural socialized service; agricultural labor shortages; sustainable agriculture; policy and governance; policy innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/11/1151/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/11/1151/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:11:p:1151-:d:1665719

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().