IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v149y2025ics0264837724003740.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improving mechanization conditions or encouraging non-grain crop production? Strategies for mitigating farmland abandonment in China’s mountainous areas

Author

Listed:
  • Song, Hengfei
  • Li, Xiubin
  • Xin, Liangjie
  • Wang, Xue

Abstract

Food security is a critical global issue, requiring that the challenges of farmland abandonment be addressed. As a vital component of agricultural production in China, farmland use is affected by mechanization conditions and the crop cultivation decisions of rural households. With the decreasing economic viability of farmland in China’s mountainous areas, the effects of mechanization conditions and non-grain crop production on farmland abandonment remain controversial. This study developed a theoretical framework and used unique survey data from 2400 rural households in China’s mountainous areas to analyze the relationship between mechanization conditions, non-grain crop production, and farmland abandonment using multiple models, heterogeneity analysis, and factual characteristics analysis. These findings demonstrate that improving mechanization conditions and encouraging non-grain crop production could mitigate farmland abandonment. Non-grain crop production could mitigate abandonment through increasing agricultural labor input, and improving mechanization conditions could inhibit non-grain crop production. Additionally, improving mechanization conditions had a more significant effect on households with higher education level and lower incomes, while encouraging non-grain crop production showed an opposite trend. Both measures had greater effect in the western and low-altitude regions. Therefore, to protect farmland and ensure food security in mountainous areas, it is necessary to continue land consolidation appropriately, actively encourage non-grain crop production, and comprehensively balance the demands of different management objectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Song, Hengfei & Li, Xiubin & Xin, Liangjie & Wang, Xue, 2025. "Improving mechanization conditions or encouraging non-grain crop production? Strategies for mitigating farmland abandonment in China’s mountainous areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:149:y:2025:i:c:s0264837724003740
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107421
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837724003740
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107421?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qiu, Tongwei & Boris Choy, S.T. & Li, Shangpu & He, Qinying & Luo, Biliang, 2020. "Does land renting-in reduce grain production? Evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    3. Xu, Dingde & Deng, Xin & Huang, Kai & Liu, Yi & Yong, Zhuolin & Liu, Shaoquan, 2019. "Relationships between labor migration and cropland abandonment in rural China from the perspective of village types," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Chenchen Ren & Xinyue Zhou & Chen Wang & Yaolin Guo & Yu Diao & Sisi Shen & Stefan Reis & Wanyue Li & Jianming Xu & Baojing Gu, 2023. "Ageing threatens sustainability of smallholder farming in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 616(7955), pages 96-103, April.
    5. Liu, Yansui, 2018. "Introduction to land use and rural sustainability in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-4.
    6. Qiming Zheng & Tim Ha & Alexander V. Prishchepov & Yiwen Zeng & He Yin & Lian Pin Koh, 2023. "The neglected role of abandoned cropland in supporting both food security and climate change mitigation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Yang, Qi & Zhang, Daojun, 2021. "The influence of agricultural industrial policy on non-grain production of cultivated land: A case study of the “one village, one product” strategy implemented in Guanzhong Plain of China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Zhou, Hong & Yan, Jianzhong & Lei, Kun & Wu, Ya & Sun, Laixiang, 2020. "Labor migration and the decoupling of the crop-livestock system in a rural mountainous area: Evidence from Chongqing, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Birthal, Pratap S. & Roy, Devesh & Negi, Digvijay S., 2015. "Assessing the Impact of Crop Diversification on Farm Poverty in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 70-92.
    10. Wei Xie & Anfeng Zhu & Tariq Ali & Zhengtao Zhang & Xiaoguang Chen & Feng Wu & Jikun Huang & Kyle Frankel Davis, 2023. "Publisher Correction: Crop switching can enhance environmental sustainability and farmer incomes in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7966), pages 26-26, June.
    11. Zhou, Yang & Li, Xunhuan & Liu, Yansui, 2021. "Cultivated land protection and rational use in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. Wei Xie & Anfeng Zhu & Tariq Ali & Zhengtao Zhang & Xiaoguang Chen & Feng Wu & Jikun Huang & Kyle Frankel Davis, 2023. "Crop switching can enhance environmental sustainability and farmer incomes in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 616(7956), pages 300-305, April.
    13. Mohammed, Kamaldeen & Batung, Evans & Saaka, Sulemana Ansumah & Kansanga, Moses Mosonsieyiri & Luginaah, Isaac, 2023. "Determinants of mechanized technology adoption in smallholder agriculture: Implications for agricultural policy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Liu, Yansui & Zhou, Yang, 2021. "Reflections on China's food security and land use policy under rapid urbanization," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    15. Zhang, Yihao & Wu, Ya & Yan, Jianzhong & Peng, Ting, 2022. "How does rural labor migration affect crop diversification for adapting to climate change in the Hehuang Valley, Tibetan Plateau?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    16. Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2004. "Maximum likelihood estimation of endogenous switching regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 4(3), pages 282-289, September.
    17. Zhou, Yang & Li, Yamei & Xu, Chenchen, 2020. "Land consolidation and rural revitalization in China: Mechanisms and paths," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    18. Fangbin Qiao, 2023. "The impact of mechanization on crop production in China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(15), pages 1728-1741, March.
    19. Chen, Xin & Jiang, Li & Zhang, Guoliang & Meng, Lijun & Pan, Zhihua & Lun, Fei & An, Pingli, 2021. "Green-depressing cropping system: A referential land use practice for fallow to ensure a harmonious human-land relationship in the farming-pastoral ecotone of northern China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    20. Zhang, Ying & Li, Xiubin & Shi, Tiechou & Li, Hongwei & Zhai, Liang, 2023. "Understanding cropland abandonment from economics within a representative village and its empirical analysis in Chinese mountainous areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    21. Keyvan Malek & Patrick Reed & Jennifer Adam & Tina Karimi & Michael Brady, 2020. "Water rights shape crop yield and revenue volatility tradeoffs for adaptation in snow dependent systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    22. Belton, Ben & Win, Myat Thida & Zhang, Xiaobo & Filipski, Mateusz, 2021. "The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    23. Wanglin Ma & Zhongkun Zhu & Xiaoshi Zhou, 2022. "Agricultural mechanization and cropland abandonment in rural China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 526-533, March.
    24. Liyang Sun, 2018. "Implementing valid two-step identification-robust confidence sets for linear instrumental-variables models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 18(4), pages 803-825, December.
    25. Adrian Muller & Christian Schader & Nadia El-Hage Scialabba & Judith Brüggemann & Anne Isensee & Karl-Heinz Erb & Pete Smith & Peter Klocke & Florian Leiber & Matthias Stolze & Urs Niggli, 2017. "Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    26. He, Yafen & Xie, Hualin & Peng, Chaozhong, 2020. "Analyzing the behavioural mechanism of farmland abandonment in the hilly mountainous areas in China from the perspective of farming household diversity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    27. Christian Dippel & Andreas Ferrara & Stephan Heblich, 2020. "Causal mediation analysis in instrumental-variables regressions," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 20(3), pages 613-626, September.
    28. Bozzola, Martina & Smale, Melinda, 2020. "The welfare effects of crop biodiversity as an adaptation to climate shocks in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    29. Shortall, O.K., 2013. "“Marginal land” for energy crops: Exploring definitions and embedded assumptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 19-27.
    30. Van Loon, Jelle & Woltering, Lennart & Krupnik, Timothy J. & Baudron, Frédéric & Boa, Maria & Govaerts, Bram, 2020. "Scaling agricultural mechanization services in smallholder farming systems: Case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sun, Yong & Miao, Yiling & Xie, Zhiju & Jiang, Xingling, 2025. "Address the challenge of cultivated land abandonment by cultivated land adoption: An evolutionary game perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Yuhan Zhang & Xu Zhang & Wangyue Zhou & Jianfu Li & Zhenlin Weng & Xueping Gao, 2024. "The Impact of and Mechanism behind High-Standard Farmland Construction in Farmland Abandonment: A Moderated Mediating Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Zhou, Yang & Zhong, Zhen & Cheng, Guoqiang, 2023. "Cultivated land loss and construction land expansion in China: Evidence from national land surveys in 1996, 2009 and 2019," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Song, Wei & Yang, Dazhi & Wang, Yanwei, 2024. "Integrating an abandoned farmland simulation model (AFSM) using system dynamics and CLUE-S for sustainable agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    5. Jian, Yuqing & Liu, Zhengjia & Gong, Jianzhou, 2022. "Response of landscape dynamics to socio-economic development and biophysical setting across the farming-pastoral ecotone of northern China and its implications for regional sustainable land management," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Guohua Ding & Mingjun Ding & Kun Xie & Jingru Li, 2022. "Driving Mechanisms of Cropland Abandonment from the Perspectives of Household and Topography in the Poyang Lake Region, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Pengjing Zhang & Tao Xiong, 2025. "Can Agricultural Subsidies Reduce Cropland Abandonment in Rural China?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    8. Zhang, Yingnan & Long, Hualou & Li, Yurui & Ge, Dazhuan & Tu, Shuangshuang, 2020. "How does off-farm work affect chemical fertilizer application? Evidence from China’s mountainous and plain areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Dang, Yuxuan & Zhao, Zhenting & Kong, Xiangbin & Lei, Ming & Liao, Yubo & Xie, Zhen & Song, Wei, 2023. "Discerning the process of cultivated land governance transition in China since the reform and opening-up-- Based on the multiple streams framework," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Ziqi Zhang & Jingyi Ding & Kuan Zhang & Xin Deng, 2025. "Impact of Aging on Farmland Abandonment: Evidence from Rural China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-27, February.
    11. Gokul P. Paudel & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2025. "Trade‐offs between labour migration and agricultural productivity: Evidence from smallholder wheat systems in Nepal," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(1), pages 202-229, January.
    12. Zhang, Daojun & Yang, Wanjing & Kang, Dingrong & Zhang, Han, 2023. "Spatial-temporal characteristics and policy implication for non-grain production of cultivated land in Guanzhong Region," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    13. Peng Cheng & Houtian Tang & Yue Dong & Ke Liu & Ping Jiang & Yaolin Liu, 2021. "Knowledge Mapping of Research on Land Use Change and Food Security: A Visual Analysis Using CiteSpace and VOSviewer," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Junjun Zhi & Xinyue Cao & Wangbing Liu & Yang Sun & Da Xu & Caiwei Da & Lei Jin & Jin Wang & Zihao Zheng & Shuyuan Lai & YongJiao Liu & Guohai Zhu, 2023. "Remote Sensing Monitoring and Spatial Pattern Analysis of Non-Grain Production of Cultivated Land in Anhui Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, July.
    15. Zhang, Chuanyong & Song, Yanjiao, 2022. "Road to the city: Impact of land expropriation on farmers’ urban settlement intention in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    16. Chong Lu, 2020. "Does household laborer migration promote farmland abandonment in China?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 1804-1836, December.
    17. Ma, Wanglin & Zhou, Xiaoshi & Boansi, David & Horlu, Godwin Seyram Agbemavor & Owusu, Victor, 2024. "Adoption and intensity of agricultural mechanization and their impact on non-farm employment of rural women," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    18. Zuo Zhang & Lin Zheng & Dajie Yu, 2023. "Non-Grain Production of Cultivated Land in Hilly and Mountainous Areas at the Village Scale: A Case Study in Le’an Country, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    19. Hengfei Song & Liangjie Xin & Xiubin Li & Xue Wang & Yufeng He & Wen Song, 2022. "Can Livestock Raising Alleviate Farmland Abandonment?—Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, July.
    20. Chen, Qianru & Wu, Manyu & Xie, Hualin, 2023. "Tillage conditions or social economy? An analysis of the dominant driving force of farmland marginalization from the farmers' perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:149:y:2025:i:c:s0264837724003740. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.