Study On The Effect Of Land Transfer Duration On Farmers’ Cultivated Land Quality Protection Behavior

Protecting cultivated land and improving the quality of cultivated land is an important measure for national food security and the key point for sustainable development of agriculture.However,in recent years,the quality level of cultivated land has been declining continuously.As the main body of agricultural production and operation,the protection behaviors implemented by farmers are important to the improvement of the quality level of cultivated land.With the continuous advancement of the urbanization process,a large number of rural population shifts to the cities,in order to better utilize the land resources,land circulation has become the most effective measure to solve this problem.To transfer cultivated land circulation to large cultivated households for scale management through the way of land circulation has become a tendency.According to the property rights theory,the more stable land property rights are,the more incentive farmers’ long-term investment behavior will be.However,in the process of land transfer,due to the length of land transfer term and oral agreement,farmers’ investment behavior on land is restricted,which leads to simple farming and poor cultivation.Some farmers even pursue profit maximization within the operation term.Excessive cultivation of land,excessive application of chemical fertilizer,etc.Cultivated land is the most important factor of production.Protecting cultivated land and improving the quality of cultivated land can promote the sustainable development of economy and society.Therefore,it is of great practical and theoretical significance for this paper to study farmers’ cultivated land quality protection behavior from the perspective of land transfer term.This paper aims to systematically elaborate and analyze the relationship between the period of land transfer and farmers’ cultivated land quality protection behavior,so as to encourage and guide farmers to implement cultivated land quality protection behavior.Based on the data of China Rural Revitalization Survey(CRRS)in 2020,this paper explains the impact of land transfer duration on farmers’ cultivated land quality protection behavior.First,the binary Logistic regression model was used to analyze the effects of the transfer period on farmers’ straw returning behavior,rotation tillage behavior and organic fertilizer application behavior.Secondly,the group regression model was used to test the moderating effect of the proportion of signed transfer contract and agricultural income on the relationship between the term of land transfer and the protection behavior of farmers’ cultivated land quality.The results showed that:(1)The longer the transfer period,the more incentive farmers to implement straw returning behavior,rotating tillage behavior and organic fertilizer application behavior.In addition,farmers’ knowledge level,land slope,total annual income of farmers,amount of agricultural subsidies and their contracted land area also had different degrees of influence on farmers’ cultivated land quality protection behavior.(2)Signed circulation contracts and the proportion of high agricultural income have a positive adjustment effect.Signing the circulation contract can legalize the whole circulation process and provide guarantee for farmers to protect the quality of cultivated land.The higher the proportion of agricultural income,the more farmers will adopt cultivated land quality protection behavior to stabilize their income.Based on the above analysis,this paper puts forward four policy suggestions:(1)The government should speed up the research and development of farmland returning equipment adapted to the northern environment.In addition,it can also improve the level of farmland returning subsidies and provide farmers with some financial guarantee to encourage them to implement straw returning.(2)To improve farmers’ cognition and knowledge of cultivated land quality protection through online and offline agricultural technology training;(3)Improve the circulation mechanism,guide farmers to gradually accept and sign written contracts,and thus improve the stability of land circulation;(4)To reduce the degree of cultivated land fragmentation through land leveling,land replacement and other means,so that farmers’ income can be guaranteed,and they can more actively implement cultivated land quality protection behaviors.