Impact Of Endowment Restriction And Labor Transfer Differences On Terraced Fields Abandonment

Terraces are an ancient agricultural ecosystem,which embodies the wisdom of working people to adapt to nature,reflects the idea of storing grains on the ground and storing grains in technology,and has important enlightenment and reference significance for the sustainable development of agriculture.Nowadays,this precious traditional farming system is facing a situation of rapid disintegration.With the rapid development of China's social economy,the comparative benefits of agriculture have continued to decrease and the opportunity cost of farming has increased.A large number of laborers have flowed out of rural areas,and rural labor has been continuously transferred to urban non-agricultural sectors.The supply of agricultural production labor has been restricted.At the same time,due to the complex terrain of mountainous areas and poor resource endowment conditions,terraced agricultural mechanization and large-scale development are hindered.The transportation cost of agricultural production in terraced areas is much higher than that of plain areas.The use of terraced fields in mountainous areas is in a deeper "marginalization" dilemma.A large number of terraced fields have been abandoned.The phenomenon of abandonment of terraced fields in China is severe,but there is very little research on the abandonment mechanism of terraced fields,which cannot fully explain the impact of resource endowment constraints and labor transfer differences on terraced abandonment.To still use the abandonment analysis of plain areas to explain the abandonment of terraced fields would be difficult to reveal the internal mechanism of terraced abandonment of farmers in mountainous areas.In particular,under the dual pressure of resource endowment constraints and labor transfer,what is the difference between the abandonment behavior of farmers in mountainous areas and plain areas? For farmers in hilly and mountainous areas,does the endowment of terraced fields induce the abandonment of terraced farms,or the transfer of labor force the abandonment of terraces? And what are the theoretical influencing mechanisms and paths? This series of issues requires scientific and standardized argumentation and systematic and adequate interpretation.Based on this,under the macro background of the massive precipitation of rural labor,this research starts from the micro perspective of peasant households,and first theoretically explores the influencing mechanism and path of the resource endowment and labor transfer of terraced fields on the abandonment of terraces and analyzes the resource endowment of terraced fields and labor transfer to clarify the behavioral mechanism of farmers' terraced abandonment.This research then combines this basis with the comprehensive use of binary selection model,Heckman model,Tobit model and random forest method,which reveals the impact of resource endowment constraints and labor transfer differences on farmers' terrace abandonment decisions and the scale of abandonment.The main research conclusions are as follows.(1)The resource endowment conditions of the terraced fields of the farmer households will significantly affect the farmer's decision to abandon the terraced fields.The results of abandonment at the plot level show that the resource endowment conditions and structures of terraced plots significantly affect the decision of farmers for abandonment.The abandonment of terraced fields is mainly affected by the area of the field,the quality of the land,the irrigation conditions,the cultivation distance,the height difference/fall of the cultivation,and the degree of mechanization.At the farmer level,the resource endowment conditions of terraced fields not only affect the decision of whether to abandon the farmer households,but also affect the degree of abandonment of the farmer's terraced fields.The more terrace areas per household possesses and the worse fertility,the higher the intensity of terrace abandonment.(2)The amount,distance and quality of non-agricultural transfer of rural household labor force have a significant positive impact on the decision-making and scale of abandonment of terraced fields of rural households.That is,the greater the number of labor transfer,the farther the distance,and the higher the quality,the higher the probability of abandonment behavior of farmers,and the larger the scale of abandonment.However,the influence of the quantity of labor transfer on the decision of farmers to abandon the terraced fields is constrained by the distance and quality of labor transfer.(3)Resource endowment constraints are the fundamental reason for inducing the decision of farmers to abandon terraced fields in hilly and mountainous areas,and the main reason for the expansion and deepening of the scale of abandonment of terraced fields by farmers is the transfer of labor.Due to the endowment constraints of terraced farming areas,the scale of agricultural production in mountainous areas is not economical,and farmland is“marginalized”.The scattered and fragmentary terraces further reduce the comparative agricultural incomes,and the increase in non-agricultural employment opportunities induces the occurrence of abandonment behavior of farmers.The scale of the abandonment of farmers is affected by the quantity,distance and quality of the labor transfer of farmers.(4)The factors that affect the abandonment behavior of farmers with different resource types and different types of labor transfer are different,but the fundamental reason is still resource endowment constraints.Based on the above research conclusions,this article puts forward the following policy recommendations.First of all,it is necessary to pay attention to the labor substitution role of agricultural service outsourcing and mechanization in mountainous areas,and actively promote the development of agricultural service outsourcing and small and micro machinery in terraced areas.Secondly,it is necessary to carry out a secondary development of terraces,implement suitable mechanized transformation,improve terraced farming roads and mechanical working conditions,and improve the adaptability of agricultural machinery in mountainous areas.Third,there is a need to promote the development of agricultural industry in terraced areas with agricultural "new products" and business "new entities",revitalize the deserted terraces,actively support new agricultural economic entities,and promote the circulation of terraces.Finally,this research suggests to build a comprehensive agricultural and rural information platform,to promote the classified management and control of terraced fields,to conduct research,judgment and prediction on potential abandonment risks,and to take the initiative to take countermeasures.