Impacts Of Rural Land Consolidation On Farmers' Livelihood

The three issues concerning agriculture,countryside and farmers which relate to Chinese economic reform and Socialist modernization are the focus work of the Chinese Communist Party.The livelihood of farmers is the key to solve the three issues concerning agriculture,countryside and farmers.How to ensure farmers' livelihood security and improve their development ability has been concerned by the government and academic circles all the time.Rural land consolidation is conducive to the coordination of people-to-land relationships,and plays an important role in promoting agricultural modernization,improving rural ecological environment and increasing farmers' income.Firstly,this paper constructs the analysis frame of rural land consolidation affecting farmers' livelihood based on the theory of sustainable livelihood.Secondly,the rural land consolidation projects are divided into two kinds of implementation modes: the government leading mode and the management main body leading mode according to the actual situation of rural land consolidation in Hubei Province.Thirdly,the influence of different patterns of rural land consolidation on farmers' livelihood capital,livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes ARE theoretically analyzed.Finally,the empirical analysis is carried out by using the methods of DID model,binary logistic model and multivariate disordered logistic model based on the questionnaire survey data of farmers.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Rural land consolidation can raise farmers' livelihood capital,and the effect of the management main body leading mode is greater than the government leading mode.In plain area,rural land consolidation has a significant positive effect on farmers' natural capital,human capital,social capital,physical capital and financial capital.The lifting effects of the management main body leading mode are significantly greater than the government leading mode in in natural capital,social capital,physical capital and financial capital,while the government leading mode has a better role in promoting the farmer's human capital.In low mountain area,rural land consolidation has a significant positive effect on farmers' natural capital,human capital,social capital and physical capital.The lifting effects of the management main body leading mode is significantly greater than the government leading mode,but there are no obvious differences in natural capital,human capital,material capital and financial capital.In general,compare with the government leading mode,the management main body leading mode is more obvious in the improvement of the farmer's livelihood capital.(2)Rural land consolidation has a significant impact on farmers' livelihood strategy,and the influence of different modes is quite different.It can directly affects farmers' livelihood strategy,or indirectly affect farmers' livelihood strategy by influencing farmers' livelihood capital.From a holistic perspective,rural land consolidation has promoted the transformation of farmers' livelihood strategy from traditional small agricultural management to agricultural scale management,and it also has promoted the transformation of farmers' livelihood strategy from agricultural to work and do business.Under the effect of rural land consolidation,on the one hand more farmers choose the livelihood strategy of agricultural scale management,while the number of farmers who choose the traditional small agricultural management is significantly reduced;On the other hand,the number of farmers who choose to work and do business in the local area is increasing significantly.From the perspective of land consolidation mode,compared with the government leading mode,the management main body leading mode is more obvious to the transformation of farmers' livelihood strategy from traditional small agricultural management to agricultural scale management,and it also contributes the farmers to go out for working and doing business more than farming.Compared with the government leading mode,more farmers choose the livelihood strategy of agricultural scale management,while the farmers who are engaged in the traditional small agricultural management strategy have significantly reduced and the farmers who choose to work and do business in local area have increased significantly under the management main body leading mode.(3)Rural land consolidation has a significant positive impact on the farmers' livelihood outcomes,and the effects of the management leading mode are greater than the government leading mode.Rural land consolidation affects the farmers' livelihood strategy first,and then affects the outcomes of farmers' livelihood.The implementation of rural land consolidation has a significant positive impact on farmers' livelihood strategy to choose the large-scale agricultural management,work or do business in the local area,while it has a significant negative impact on farmers' choice about traditional small agricultural management strategy.On the other hand,the livelihood outcomes of farmers who choose the traditional small agricultural management strategy are affected significant negatively,while the livelihood outcomes of others who choose the large-scale agricultural management,work or do business in the local area are affected significant positively.Rural land consolidation has significantly improved the livelihood of farmers.Compared with the government leading mode,the management main leading mode is more effective for farmers to choose the large-scale agricultural management,work or do business in the local area.From the perspective of land consolidation mode,the management main body leading mode plays a greater role in improving farmers' livelihood than the government leading mode.Through the empirical study,although,it is found that rural land consolidation has a positive effect on raising the livelihood capital of farmers,promoting the choice of livelihood strategies and improving the livelihood of farmers,there are still some problems.In order to play the role of rural land consolidation in promoting farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich better,based on the above findings,the following recommendations are made:(1)Rural land consolidation should be implemented constantly and vigorously.It can strengthen agricultural infrastructure,protect the quality,quantity and ecology of cultivated land,adjust the structure of land use,and promote the urban-rural coordinated development.Therefore,it plays a significant role in solving the problem of farmers' livelihood and promoting the poverty alleviation.Rural land consolidation is an important way to help the national poverty alleviation strategy.To promote farmers' livelihood capital well,government should vigorously promote the regional and comprehensive rural land consolidation which aims for rural revitalization,and focuses on promoting the rural industry convergence,including agricultural land,rural construction land,unused land and so on.The comprehensive consolidation of rural land is based on the general land use planning and land consolidation plan.On the one hand,it can improve the conditions of agricultural production by strengthening the construction of farmland infrastructure.On the other hand,the consolidation of rural construction land can consolidate the "hollow village" and the abandoned homestead,even combine with the hook project of urban construction land increase and rural residential land decrease in some areas to strengthen the rural infrastructure construction and improve the rural living environment.(2)The implementation mode of rural land consolidation should be innovated.Compared with the government leading mode,the management main body leading mode is more advantageous in the planning and design of rural land consolidation projects,the quality of the construction of the project,and the later management of the project.It has better effects on raising the livelihood capital of the farmers,promoting the transformation of farmers' livelihood strategies to agricultural scale and non-agricultural strategy,and improving the livelihood outcomes of farmers.But at present,the implementation of rural land consolidation projects in China is still lead by the government,the projects lead by the agricultural management body especially the new type of management main body is still little.Therefore,the implementation mode of rural land consolidation should be innovated,and the rural land consolidation projects led by the government should be gradually reduced.Government fund support,tax preferential,land use policy,and some other policies should be used to encourage and guide the agricultural industrialization leading enterprises,agricultural production cooperatives formed by farmers,family farms and other new management main bodies to participate in rural land consolidation,comprehensively promote and expand the scale of the implementation of the management main body leading rural land consolidation projects.(3)Rural land consolidation should be carried out according to local conditions.The implementation of rural land consolidation mode cannot be a uniform.The mode of rural land consolidation should combine the actual situations in all areas.There are three principles being adhered to: Firstly,rural land consolidation should be based on the development of modern agriculture.We should promote the transfer of rural land and the adjustment of rural land ownership to couple with rural land consolidation,based on rural land consolidation,the agricultural and rural infrastructure will be perfected,the appropriate scale of agriculture will be promoted,and the efficiency of agricultural production will be improved.Government should fully excavate local characteristics and give full play to the advantages of local resources to implement rural land consolidation around the characteristic industries,which will make rural land consolidation serve the development of local characteristic industries and promote the integration and development of the regulated areas.If that's all done,the goal of promoting the prosperity of the rural industry and improving the farmers' livelihood will be achieved.Secondly various kinds of agricultural projects should be integrated by government.At present,the overall effect of rural land consolidation are not obvious because there is no resultant force in solving the issues concerning agriculture,countryside and farmers.The finance projects of the government are divided into the government departments of land,agriculture,finance,water conservancy and transportation,scattered investment and decentralized management.However,the rural land consolidation projects have been combined with all kinds of government agriculture-related fund projects which include precision poverty alleviation project and beautiful rural construction project and hook project of urban construction land increase and rural residential land decrease in some areas.The comprehensive effect in improving farmers' livelihoods of all kinds of government agriculture-related fund projects has been reflected adequately.Thirdly,it needs to be cleared that farmers' rights are very important in the process of rural land consolidation,farmers should be guided and encouraged to participate in the whole process of rural land consolidation.Farmers are the direct beneficiaries of rural land consolidation projects,they have the right to speak.To improve the quality of the project and the level of project design and supervision,rural land consolidation should broad the channels and ways of farmers' participation and encourage farmers to participate in all stages of rural land consolidation projects.