The Impact of Intergenerational Inheritance on the Scale of Farmland Management in the Context of Aging: Evidence from Eastern China

Dengyan Ji, Xiaoping Shi, Xiaojuan Luo () and Xianlei Ma
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Dengyan Ji: Research Center of Resource and Environment Economics, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, China
Xiaoping Shi: Chinese Resources & Environment and Development Academy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Xiaojuan Luo: Jiangxi Economic Development Research Institute, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330047, China
Xianlei Ma: Chinese Resources & Environment and Development Academy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: The dilemma of aging and lack of successors must be understood to improve the scale efficiency and competitiveness of China’s agriculture. This paper uses a survey of 1347 farmers in Liaoning, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi and applies tobit and probit models to explore the impact of intergenerational inheritance on farmland management in terms of the current scale and willingness for expansion. The results show that (1) an increased probability of intergenerational inheritance in agriculture can significantly increase the scale of farmland operations, with a greater effect on the current scale than on the willingness to expand; (2) the scale upgrading effect of agricultural intergenerational inheritance is greater in regions with frequent nonagricultural activities and in families with middle or low-scale farmland operations; and (3) the promotion effect on the current scale is greater for elderly farmers 60 years old or above than for farmers who are 40–59 years old, while the promotion effect on the willingness for expansion exists only for the latter. Therefore, policies should attract young, skilled laborers to return to their hometowns for agricultural employment and entrepreneurship and support farmland transfer and scale operation in regions with frequent nonagricultural activities or a lower scale of agricultural operations.

Keywords: aging of population; intergenerational inheritance of agriculture; management scale; willingness to expand; rural areas in eastern China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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