Factors’ Constraints And Risk Aversion:an Analysis On The Decision Of Production Inputs Of Hickory Farmers

Since early1990s, fundamental changes have taken place in agricultural products market in China. The market for major agricultural and sideline products has turned from the long-term shortage to universal overproduction, and the bulk farm-products has also highlighted the contradiction between price declining and marketing difficulties gradually. Meanwhile, to be regarded as the new areas of agricultural growth, characteristic agriculture has drawn wide attention throughout the country. After years of development, the scale, the number and the production benefit of characteristic agriculture has been improved significantly, and played an important role in promoting the development of local agriculture and increasing farmers’income. As the characteristic agriculture industry of Lin’ An County, Zhejiang Province, hickory industry experiences a rapid development and becomes the agricultural leading industry in major hickory producing areas in recent years.Because of its distinct regionalism and diversity, the differences between the development of various characteristic agriculture are existing based on the different regional characteristics. Several problems, such as the severity of forestland fragmentation, the seasonal shortages of labor force and the security risk of harvest which are gradually exposed have posed a huge threat to the sustained and healthy development of hickory industry of Lin’ An County. Therefore, based on the survey of the status and problems in the development of hickory industry, the decision of factor inputs and risk-averse behavior of hickory farmers should be studied in their hickory growing and production. Then, countermeasures and suggestions should be furtherly presented for the sustained and healthy development of hickory industry. The outline of the paper and conclusions drawn are as follow:The paper begins in Chapter I with a brief introduction, in which research questions and objectives are presented, several key conceptions are defined, the methodology and technical route are sketched, and then the structure arrangement of the dissertation is introduced. Chapter II continues with a literature view on its theoretical bases(farmer’s behavior theory and property rights theory) and several strands of the literature such as the determinants of farmers’forestland transfer, the allocation determinants of farmers labor, and the influencing factors of farmers’ participation in agricultural insurance. Chapter III offers some background information and points out a couple of problems in the development of hickory industry of Lin’An County, and then gives a description of the survey design and the samples.In Chapter Ⅳ, the paper firstly concluds the forms and characteristics of hickory forestland transfer currently, and then the factors influencing the farmers’ willingness to join in land interchange are proposed based on theoretical analysis. Finally, empirical analysis is completed. Results are as follows:The fragmentation of hickory forestland is very common. The primary forms of forestland transfer between hickory farmers include interchange, subcontract, lease and resale. Farmers would select proper forms according to his own needs. However, there are considerable gaps between the present transfer scale and the transfer target of local government. The proportion of farmers who are willing to join in land interchange is59.7%. Factors influencing the farmers’ willingness to join in land interchange mainly include the number of employees for hickory harvesting, the number of forestland blocks, the condition of the four boundaries of hickory forestland, the maximum number of adjacent households, the elapsed time for the householder to make one circuit around all of the forestland blocks. The purpose of hickory forestland transfer is to lower the cost of production and management, the possibility of disputes between the farmers with adjacent forestlands, and the probability of security risk.In Chapter V, the paper fully analyzes the allocation characteristics and determinants of farmers labor in the period of daily management and the harvest season, based on the presentation of the allocation status of farmers labor and the characteristics of hickory cultivation. Results are as follows:Hickory cultivation is with seasonal characteristics. In the period of daily management, the householder and his spouse are the principal parts of labor input, but their children are occupied mainly with non-agricultural work. In the harvest season, with the consideration to relieve the seasonal shortages of labor force and lower spending of staff costs, farmers would employ labor for hickory harvest according to the need when their own labor would also join as much as possible. The allocation of different task between the labor for hickory harvest are mainly based on the needs of avoiding security risk and Strengthening process management. Forestland fragmentation not only increase the difficulty in the management of hickory harvest, but also enhance the labor costs to a certain degree. Farmers would allocate the labors between different tasks such as picking by climbing trees, picking up on the ground, and hickory carrying, for avoiding security risk.In Chapter Ⅵ, the paper firstly concluds the risks existed in hickory cultivation. Then, factors influencing the farmers’participation in hickory mutual insurance are proposed based on theoretical analysis. Finally, empirical analysis is completed. Results are as follows:The risks mainly consist of natural risk and security risk. Farmers always pay more attention to security risk. Hickory mutual insurance is a important guaranty for farmers avoiding security risk, but only with a low level of participation rate at present. Factors influencing the farmers’participation in hickory mutual insurance mainly include farmers’cognition to risks of hickory harvesting and hickory mutual insurance, the number of employees for hickory harvesting, the raito of income from hickory production to annual household income, the mobilization and propaganda of village organizations, the satisfaction with insurance claims, participating commercial insurance and insurance expenses.Chapter Ⅶ summarizes the whole dissertation and presents a set of policy recommendations. Furthermore, the paper put forward some policy implications for hickory industry development, such as follows:Establishing intermediary organizations for assets appraisal of land resources, expanding the channel for information distribution and acquisition for supply and demand of rural labor resource, fractionizing different classes of insurance according to different scales of production. It is looking forward to be beneficial for the development of hickory industry of Lin’An County and other characteristic agriculture industry...