Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Public Administration, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1, Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430070, PR China.
Environ Manage. 2020 Mar;65(3):369-384. doi: 10.1007/s00267-020-01258-9. Epub 2020 Feb 8.
China's urban explosion has resulted in a substantial loss of agricultural production on the fringes of many cities. Farmland is not only converted into urban uses but also taken out of production because it has lost its value for those who can farm it. This farmland abandonment process has received little research attention. This paper studies the abandonment of farmland around the rapidly urbanizing city of Wuhan and aims to identify its important determinants based on an extensive field survey among local farmers. Around 800 semi-structured field interviews were conducted to capture the parcel and location characteristics, farming practices, and household characteristics. Important parcel-related drivers of land abandonment are lack of family members to work the land and fragmentation of parcels. Spatial characteristics are less important, except for the presence of certain soil types that favour cultivation and designation under the farmland protection policy. The planted crop species and the option to transfer land to other farmers are important farming practices to continue cultivation. Moreover, farmers with a higher farming income and lower education levels are less likely to abandon their farmland. We suggest that land use policies can help in preventing further farmland abandonment by steering urban development away from the most suitable soils for farming and concentrating development to limit the fragmentation of parcels. Strengthening the land market and removing the remaining barriers for farmers to transfer land to colleagues can further help to keep farmland in production.
中国的城市爆炸式发展导致许多城市边缘地区的农业生产大量流失。农田不仅被转化为城市用途，而且由于其对耕种者失去了价值而被弃耕。这一农田废弃过程尚未得到太多关注。本文研究了武汉市周边快速城市化地区的农田废弃问题，旨在根据对当地农民的广泛实地调查，确定其重要决定因素。共进行了约 800 次半结构化实地访谈，以获取地块和位置特征、耕种实践和家庭特征。土地废弃的重要地块相关驱动因素是缺乏家庭成员耕种土地和地块的碎片化。空间特征的重要性较小，除了存在某些有利于耕种和农田保护政策指定的土壤类型。种植的作物种类和将土地转让给其他农民的选择是继续耕种的重要耕种实践。此外，农业收入较高和教育程度较低的农民更有可能放弃他们的农田。我们建议，土地利用政策可以通过引导城市发展远离最适合耕种的土壤，并集中发展来限制地块的碎片化，从而有助于防止进一步的农田废弃。加强土地市场并消除农民转让土地给同事的剩余障碍，也有助于保持农田的生产。
