A Theoretical And Empirical Research On Appropriate Scale Agricultural Operation

The increase of farmers'income and the guarantee of national food security have not only been the top priority of China's rural work, but also the primary goal of the development of modern agriculture. The fundamental realities of our country ---too many farmers planting too few lands and the equal dividing of farmlands according to the Rural Household Contract Responsibility System--- make the household planting land small and scattered, resulting in the inconvenience of planting and low land scale benefit, seriously hindering China's Agricultural modernization. In view of the problems brought about by small-scale farming, agricultural development practitioners continue to explore new modes of appropriate scale agricultural management (ASAM), and have achieved a number of useful innovations in ASAM approach, while theory researchers continuously work on theories on agricultural production, offering different theoretical explanations for ASAM. ASAM will become the direction of development of modern agriculture, playing a key role in achieving our goal of increasing farmers'income and guaranteeing our food security.This dissertation is a case study of ASAM in rice farming in Hunan as a major grain producing area, focusing on both theoretical and empirical research on the subject. Through specific case studies of typical ASAM operations, comparing them and finally summarizing the best mode of scale rice farming from the experience, studying the input and output data of sample households of different rice-growing scales, estimating and comparing the relative efficiency of the sample farmers using data envelopment analysis (DEA), the research discovers the best farming scale. To achieve the goal of highest relative efficiency of rice farming by choosing the best farming scale, Macro-control departments of the Government and farmers as Micro production subjects should work together to carry on specific macro and micro analysis of the main factors impacting on ASAM--- the farmers as the main body of production and management, the essential factor of material investment and possible innovations in land system. This dissertation puts forward relevant policy suggestions to guide the farmers in rice cultivation practices to achieve the optimal mode of ASAM.This research draws three main conclusions. First, through summarizing the achievements of the agriculture production in Hunan since the introduction of Reform and Opening-up Policy and comparing and analyzing different typical rice-growing scale management modes, this research concludes that currently the best rice planting mode should be entrepreneurial type of appropriate planting scale with farming households as the main body of the scale production and business operation. Second, though measuring and estimating the efficiency of sample rice farmers of different scales by DEA, this research concludes that in the present condition, both for the sake of farmers'micro monetary income maximization and government's macro grain yield maximization, the most appropriate rice planting scale should be 50-60 mu (Chinese acre) in Hunan. Three, through the analysis of the cconstraints in rice planting scale operation, the dissertation puts forward six basic principles of ASAM operations; through the analysis of appropriate-scale entrepreneurial farming operation training, land contracting and circulation system reform and material investment, the dissertation draws the conclusion that we should prioritize the following six elements in ASAM rice farming: human capital investment, farming land contracting system reform, the farming land transfer system standardization, infrastructure construction to improve the farming land, investment in land substitution material and labor substitution material.Based on these conclusions, this dissertation puts forward the following policy suggestions: first, we should encourage and train farming households to undertake appropriate-scale entrepreneurial farming operation by making policies to favor appropriate-scale entrepreneurial farming households in national agricultural investments to strengthen the guiding model role of this ASAM mode. Second, we should carry out farming land contracting system reform and perfect farming land circulation system, and explore safeguard mechanism of farming land circulation. Three, we should vigorously carry out the construction of farmland infrastructure, especially the improvement of farming land and the construction of irrigation works, Four, we should change the current situation that government investments are made by confusingly various government divisions, and explore and establish a modern rural financial system to mobilize the community on investment in food production. Five, we should perfect the government service system, and establish the system of agricultural science and technology development, promotion and application system to enhance the science and technology content in agricultural production.