| For a big power with a population of 1.3 billion, food security, especially in respect of quantity, has always been the focal point of food production in China. With the great support from the government to farmers, the grain output has increased steadily in recent years. However, the stability of food quantity security is not optimistic in the long term in our country. In 2003, the grain production had drastically declined. Meanwhile, the world grain stocks fell to the mid-1990s level. All of these sounded the alarm to China's food security once again. With economic development and population growth, demand for food would be further expanded. However, farmland, especially grain land, has presented a downward tendency year by year. This means that, in order to satisfy future food needs increase in our country, we must constantly improve land efficiency. Grain land size and its change not only affect food output, but also the production efficiency of grain land, because grain is land-intensive products. Therefore, the research on grain land scale and the changing law of its efficiency not only means great theoretical significance, but also could be used as a realistic guideline to carry out the appropriate grain land scale of operation.The problem of the relationship between grain land scale and its efficiency has always been the focus of controversy among the scholars both home and abroad. According to the existing research, both quality and quantitative analyses to the efficiency of grain land scale have been done by many scholars in accordance with indicators set up by themselves, but the conclusions are widely divergent. Some scholars believe that grain land scale and its efficiency are in positive direction relationship.While, others' findings indicate that grain land scale and its efficiency are in reverse direction relationship. Meanwhile, most of the scholars adopted the productivity indicators to evaluate the efficiency of grain land scale in their researches. However, productivity indicators only measures the relationship between inputs and outputs, it can not measure the maximum output level on the condition of fixed input or the minimum input level on the condition of fixed output, which can not embody the real content of efficiency. In addition, the respect for farmers' willing was only put forward in constructive ideas by these researches, which is not to be in-depth investigation and analysis.In view of this, instead of the traditional way of using productivity to measure efficiency, the research adopt technical efficiency to make a in-depth study on the relationship between grain land scale and its efficiency. Farmers' choice and decision-making mechanism for grain land scale are analysed at the same time. Therefore, at the beginning of this thesis, the concept of grain-land-scale efficiency of operation is clearly clarified. And then it summarizes related theories at home and abroad. Changing tendency of grain-land-scale efficiency based on traditional evaluation indicators is analyzed in Jilin province and all over our country. On the basis of these, through analyses of survey and gauging, farmers' grain-land-scale efficiency of operation is discussed deeply in a case of corn production in Jilin Province. In the process of measuring and analyzing the efficiency of grain land scale. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to construct analytical model of it, and to measure both the pure technical efficiency and family total scale efficiency at the same time. According to measuring results, Tobit Model was applied to do empirical analyses of factors influencing grain-land-scale efficiency, and a further analysis is done to find out the cause of farmers choosing the non-efficiency optimal scale. Based on these, the main conclusions of this research are drawn. Policy propositions are put forward to carry out grain-land appropriate scale of operation and to improve its efficiency.This research consists of seven chapters as follows.Chapter 1 is the Introduction. This chapter introduces the research background, purpose, meaning, ideas, theoretical basis and methods of this thesie. The definition of the grain-land-scale efficiency of operation and related concepts is a focal point in the chapter.Chapter 2 reviews the research on the grain-land-scale efficiency of farmers operation. This chapter reviews mainly literatures and make corresponding commentary from five aspects. Firstly, foreign basic theories of grain land scale of operation are in retrospect; Then domestic theories of that are summarized ; Thirdly, analysis and commentary are focused on literatures of the relationship between grain land scale and its efficiency. Fourthly, literatures on how to determine the appropriate grain land scale based on optimal efficiency are analyzed. In the end, the measurement method of efficiency and its application in the evaluation of grain-land-scale efficiency are reviewed.Chapter 3 is the overview the grain land scale and its efficiency in Jilin Province and all over our country by traditional evaluation indicators. Based on traditional evaluation indicators, this chapter s the calendar year changing trend of the efficiency of grain land scale is analyzed in Jilin Province and all over our country. The results show: which reveal that labor and land productivity increase year by year, while cost margins fluctuate drastically. Chapter 4 is the empirical study on grain-land-scale efficiency of farmersoperation based on DEA. On the basis of review on Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA), this chapter constructs the analytical model of grain-land-scale efficiency. Inthe meanwhile the corresponding indicators system of efficiency evaluation isestablished. In the process of the efficiency evaluation of grain land scale, it ismeasured both input-oriented and output-oriented from the micro view——farmers'goal in grain production firstly. The results show that it's not simply a positive or reverse direction relationship between grain land scale and its efficiency. As the grain land scale expands, its efficiency performed a U-shaped curve within certain areacoverage. Then, from the macro view——the governments' goal, the results arealmost the same with micro view. The changing condition of total factors and family scale efficiency is fully considered in the process of grain-land-scale efficiency measurement. And then the pure technical efficiency and the total scale efficiency are given in farmers' grain production. Finally, on the basis of the optimal efficiency of grain land scale, pure technique and total family scale, the optimal operation scale of efficiency for farmers is determined with absolute efficiency indicators.Chapter 5 is factors analyses of grain-land-scale efficiency based on Tobit model. Firstly the Tobit model and its application are reviewed. And then with the efficiency value of it from last chapter is used as explained variables. Empirical analyses on factors influencing efficiency of grain land scale from micro- and macro- goal are done respectively in the input-oriented production. How the factors affect the efficiency of grain land scale is revealed.Chapter 6 is the research of variance on farmers' willing choice and optimal scale of grain land efficiency. In this chapter, through the comparison between the optimal scale of efficiency and farmers' willing scale for grain land, the phenomenon is found out, which the optimal efficiency scale is not farmers willing scale. To further understand why they chose non-optimal efficiency scale, Factors influencing farmers willing scale of grain land operation are deeply analyzed in the thesis.Chapter 7 is the main conclusions and policy implications of this research. This chapter summarized the main conclusions systematically. On the basis of these, the policy implications are drawn to carry out grain-land appropriate scale of operation and to improve its efficiency.
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