Study On The Farmers' Management Behavior In Rice Prpduction And Policy-Supporting Mechanism In Major Grain Producing Areas

A country's steady increases in its comprehensive grain production and gross grain output lay solid foundations for its grain safety. The increases in grain production are mainly determined by such variables as land input, labor input and capital input, and the technology application as well. And these variables are ultimately determined by farmers' behaviour which could also be affected by economic or non-economic means, for changes in agricultural policies could further alter the resource allocation. In the case of rice production, emphasis should be laid on major production areas, for steady increases in rice output are determined by farmers' management behaviour in rice production there.Thus, to study farmers' management behaviour in rice production, to investigate factors affecting their choice of management behaviour in rice production especially influences of agricultural policies on farmers' management behaviour in rice production, and to explore systems encouraging farmers' rice production behaviour, all could establish the policy-supporting mechanism and ensure a country's grain safety. So the study may have significant theoretical and practical implications.This study took (common contracted and mass-production) rice farmers in Jiangxi Province as objects, collected their investigation data, and combined normative and empirical methods. According to the time sequence of farmers'management behaviour before, during and after rice production, their typical behaviour was analysed. Main study contents of the paper are showed as follows:Chapter One: "Introduction". This chapter discusses reasons for and implications of the study on farmers' management behaviour in rice production. After its literature review, the paper clarifies its study designs, methods and contents.Chapter Two: "Theoretical foundation and model sellection". This chapter mainly provides the further study with theoretical foundations by combing theories concerning the farmers' behaviour and other relative theories concerning grain-production support.Chapter Three: "Theoretical analyses of effects of agricultural policies on increases in grain output and income and their influences on the farmers' management behaviour in rice production". This chapter mainly includes political economic analyses of the formation of agricultural policies, economic analysis of grain policies, economic analysis of influences of grain subsidies on farmers' grain production, and game relation analysis of subjects in the farmers' managemen progress in rice production .Chapter Four: "Empirical study on effects of agricultural policies on increases in grain output and income". By using materials in time sequence and in macro perspective, this chapter mainly analyses influences of agricultural policies on rice outputs in Jiangxi Province and on farming income of farmers. The key point of this chapter is to study the implementation of new agricultural policies since 2004 as well as existing problems.Chapter Five: "Analysis of the common contracted farmers' management behaviour in rice production under the implementation of new agricultural policies". Firstly, this chapter conducts the data collection of 1058 common contracted farmers being investigated. Based on this, by using Logit model analysis, the paper concludes factors influencing the common contracted farmers' management behaviour change from "double-crop rice to mono-crop rice" in rice production. Then, by using OLS, the paper conducts empirical detection of factors influencing the non-farm behaviour in the rural labor employment in common contracted farm households.Chapter Six: "Evaluation of farmers' management effects in rice mass-production and their degree of satisfaction towards grain-production-supporting policies and market circumstance". Firstly, this chapter collects data of management status of 619 sample farmers in rice mass-production. Based on this, by using improved C-D production function model, the paper analyzes their management effects in rice production. Then, by means of comprehensive evaluation and overall dimension, the paper analyzes and evaluates their degree of satisfaction towards grain-production-supporting policies and market circumstance.Chapter Seven: "Analysis of the farmers' management behaviour in rice mass-production under new agricultural policies". By using Logit Model, Probit Model, Tobit Model, etc., the paper conducts empirical detection of farmers' management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-crop rice" in rice mass-production, their behaviour of "credits" and of "receiving paid service of agricultural technology", and their behaviour choice of "contract marketing".Chapter Eight: "Experience and enlightenment of grain-production-supporting farmer households in foreign countries". This chapter mainly introduces experience of grain-production-supporting and farmer-income-safeguarding policies in such developed countries as the U.S., Japan, and countries in E.U. etc., as well as in such developing countries as South Korea, India and Brazil, etc., which could give suggestions to the construction of a mechanism to maintain steady increases in grain output as well as in farmers' income in China.Chapter Nine: "Main conclusions and recommendations". This chapter mainly summarizes conclusions of previous studies discussed above, and based on this, raises suggestions and countermeasures to encourage farmers to develop rice production by means of increasing both their rice output and agricultural income.Through analyses in chapters discussed above, conclusions are drawn as follows:(1)By using the data in time sequence, results show that in the system of agricultural policies, such policies as price policies, subsidy policies and investment policies achieve signicicant influences on rice output and farmers' income in Jiangxi Province, of them price policies achieve the most. Since the implementation of new agricultural policies in 2004, policy effects have been achieved obviously. But owing to the rapid price increases in agricultural production means and in labour wages, policy effects on output and income increases tend to decrease year by year. Considering these, some policies need to be further perfected. As for the lowest grain purchasing policy, all of its standards, subsidy objects and implementation measures need to be readjusted.(2) Serious problems of the management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-crop rice" exist in the common contracted farm households, and young farmers commonly give up their cultivation behaviour. The main reasons for the common contracted farmers' management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-cro rice" and for their non-farm behaviour in rural labor employment are small-scaled cultivated land, low evaluation of subsidies for grain to gain income increase, and low scheduled income in rice production.(3) The degrees of rice mass-production farmers' satisfaction towards grain-supporting policies and the market circumstance are generally low, and the lowest degree goes towards "the market of main production means". As for rice mass-production fanners, the cultivated land scale has positive effects on their income increases, but has weak effects on rates of land production and land benefits, and even has negative effects on rates of their input-output. Thus, a certain proper land scale must be maintained. Rice mass-production farmers' management effects can only be achieved by such main means as increases in multiple rice index, unit yield and (scheduled) purchasing prices, as well as decrease in land rents.(4) By analyzing factors affecting farmers' management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-crop rice" in rice mass-production, their behaviour of "credits" and of "receiving paid service of agricultural technology", and that of "contract marketing", results are showed in the following:In hilly areas, the rice mass-production farmers' willingness of management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-crop rice" is strong, and the young farm household heads' willingness is stronger, but in rice mass-production the decisive influencing factor is not their family population. The acreage of rice cultivation has positive influences on the rice mass-production farmers' management behaviour changes "from double-crop rice to mono-crop rice", for they are more willing to choose double-crop rice cultivation. And the more mechanized they are, the higher the rice price is, the higher the scheduled income in rice production they can get, and the longer the land lease is, the more willingly they choose double-crop rice cultivation.Five factors showing significantly positive influences on the rice mass-production farmers' behaviour of "credits" are the household heads' intellectual degrees, the acreage of rice cultivation, land rent ways (the land lease), and their evaluation of credits, etc.. However, their years of becoming rice mass-production farmers have significantly negative influences on their behaviour of "credits".As for the rice mass-production farmers' behaviour of "willingly receiving paid service of agricultural technology", significant influencing factors include the intellectual degrees of household heads, rates of non-farm rural labours, years of farming management, and their evaluation of agricultural technology provided by government sub-units.With the aging of household heads and increases in their intellectual degrees and family population, rice mass-production farmers more willingly tend to sign agricultural contracts, but such variables can not achieve significant effects on their contract scales. The greater the family population is, the longer their years of farming management are, and the better evaluation of rice prices they make, the less possibly the rice mass-production farmers in flat countries will sign agricultural contracts. But these variables have not so significant influences on their executiion of contract scales. Credits also have significant influences on their contracts, but do not achieve so much significance on their contract scale choice. However, the larger scale they cultivate, the more possibly they will sign agricultural contracts, but may choose to execute small-scaled contracts.Through the conclusions listed above, recommendations are raised as follows:(1) To strengthen subsidies for farmers; (2) To perfect grain subsidy policies; (3) To perfect the mechanism to implement direct grain-subsidy; (4) To construct a policy system to release subsidies for public products related to grain production in rural areas; (5) To perfect the mechanism of land circulation and land transfer in rural areas; (6) To perfect the formation mechanism of grain prices; (7) To perfect the control mechanism of grain production cost; (8) To construct the mechanism to coordinate benefits in both major grain producing and marketing areas; (9) To construct a system to safeguard input in grain production; (10) To construct a mechanism of agricultural technology support.Original findings in the paper may include the following:(1) Originality in study designs. In farmers' (micro) perspective, this paper tries to explore grain problems and the internal mechanism influencing farmers' management behaviour in rice production. Emphasis of this study is laid on influences of agricultural policies on farmers' management behaviour choice, so the paper provides the government with new thoughts and ideas on how to improve and perfect an agricultural policy system in farmers' perspective.(2) Originality in methodology. By using such research methods as multivariate regressional analysis, binary Logistic Model, Probit Model, etc., this paper studies farmers' management behaviour in rice production by means of analyses of multi-perspectives, multi-variables, and multi-levels, and some control cognition variables were applied to models. These are originality in methodology.(3) Originality in conclusions. In empirical perspective, this paper conducts quantitative detection and empirical analysis of factors influencing common contracted and rice mass-production farmers' management behaviour choice in rice production, and the study results fairly and basicly discover the management behaviour choice.