Determinants of Farmland Abandonment Among Peasants in Scattered Villages: The Impact of Family Structure and Social Policies in Southern China

Zebin Chen, Yonglin Chen, Chenhui Zhu, Yunping Zhang and Xiang Kong ()
Additional contact information
Zebin Chen: The Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
Yonglin Chen: School of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China
Chenhui Zhu: College of Geography and Remote Sensing Sciences, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
Yunping Zhang: School of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China
Xiang Kong: The Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: With China’s urbanization process and changes in rural family structures, the abandonment of farmland in scattered villages within hilly mountainous regions is becoming an increasingly serious issue, restricting the improvement of land use efficiency. This study analyzes the basic characteristics and variations in abandoned farmland by conducting surveys and interviews with peasants in a scattered village in southern China. Using the Heckman two-stage model, we perform empirical analysis on the factors influencing farmland abandonment, addressing potential sample selection bias. The findings show the following: peasants with better health and higher education levels are more likely to transition to non-agricultural occupations which contributes to an increased abandonment of farmland. However, larger and more integrated land parcels, along with favorable farming conditions, help reduce abandonment. Additionally, rural land transfer and agricultural subsidies are important factors that enhance farmland utilization and mitigate abandonment. These results provide a reference for addressing the abandonment of farmland and improving both the farming environment and social policies in rural villages.

Keywords: farmland abandonment; peasant households; scattered villages; hilly regions; Heckman two-stage model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/877/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/877/ (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:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:4:p:877-:d:1635989

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

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