Cropland use consequences of a nationwide poverty alleviation relocation program in China

This paper examines the impact of China’s nationwide Poverty Alleviation Relocation Program (PARP) on cropland abandonment. Utilizing four waves of household panel data across eight provinces, we exploit the staggered timing of relocations among households to identify its consequences on cropland use in origin villages. Our findings show that relocation increases cropland abandonment ratio by 7 percentage points. The observed changes in cropland use reflect relocated households’ rational behavior, driven by increased off-farm employment opportunities and higher farming costs in origin villages. Effects are more pronounced for households with steeper or lower-quality land, those resettled in urban areas, and those from villages not designated as national poor villages. Further analysis indicates that the Grain-for-Green program, along with agricultural industrial development projects and land rental policy, can help mitigate potential pressures on cropland abandonment. We then proposea typology-based framework to optimize land use policies across heterogeneous out-migration regions, aiming to support sustainable rural transformation in post-relocation contexts. Our findings highlight that PARP involves inherent trade-offs between local grain production, poverty alleviation, and ecological restoration.