Agrobiodiversity,farm profits and land fragmentation: Evidence from Bulgaria

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the role of land fragmentation, crop biodiversity and their interplay with farm profitability. Original primary data are drawn from a survey conducted in the Plodiv region of Bulgaria. The econometric results stress the ambiguous role of land fragmentation on farm profitability. On one hand, land fragmentation reduces farm profitability. On the other hand, land fragmentation fosters crop diversification. We also find that crop biodiversity plays a beneficial role in farm profitability. Policies that aim to increase land consolidation and reduce fragmentation may overlook the positive link between diversity and plot heterogeneity. Policies that encourage land consolidation should, therefore, consider the crucial role that this has on other variables such as farm biodiversity.     

The costs and benefits of land fragmentation of rice farms in Japan*

Land fragmentation, in which a farm operates multiple, separate plots of land, is a common phenomenon in Japan and many other countries. Usually, land fragmentation is regarded as a harmful phenomenon as it increases production costs and reduces the advantages of scale economies. However, it is also known that fragmentation may have beneficial effects in reducing risk through spatial dispersion of plots. Thus, land fragmentation has both costs and benefits, and whether it is beneficial or harmful is determined by the magnitude of these costs and benefits. This article investigates the costs and benefits of land fragmentation empirically using panel data from Japanese rice farms. The empirical results reveal that fragmentation increases production costs and offsets economies of size, and these impacts strengthen as farm size increases. Moreover, although fragmentation does reduce production risk, its monetary value is far below the cost of land fragmentation. From these findings, we conclude that land fragmentation is an impediment to efficient rice production in Japan.     

The Farmland Rental Paradox: Extreme land ownership fragmentation as a new form of land degradation

Extreme farmland ownership fragmentation is becoming a limiting factor for sustainable land management in some countries. Scattered, excessively small parcels cease to be viable for individual farming, and owners feel forced to rent these parcels to larger enterprises farming on adjacent land. Our study demonstrates a phenomenon that we call the Farmland Rental Paradox, where very small parcels tend to create large production blocks by being rented to larger farmers, and therefore to significantly homogenize the land-use pattern. The parcel size established as the threshold for this phenomenon is 1.07 ha. Below this threshold, the smaller the parcels were, the larger the blocks that they tended to create.Using the example of the Czech Republic, a state with extremely high farmland ownership fragmentation, it is demonstrated that this phenomenon can currently determine the land use of up to 40% of the country's farmland. Our study also points to other countries where this phenomenon may apply, especially the transitional countries of Central and Eastern Europe.The study discusses the tempo of the fragmentation process, which accelerates exponentially in countries with the equal inheritance system. It goes on to discuss defragmentation, social impacts of the dominance of the land rental market, and environmental impacts of significant homogenization of the land-use pattern. The serious negative impacts of extreme land-ownership fragmentation show that this phenomenon can be considered as a significant form of land degradation.     

Impacts and causes of land fragmentation, and lessons learned from land consolidation in South Asia

Landholdings and land parcels in South Asia are undergoing fragmentation, thereby accelerating the pace of their degradation and constraining agricultural development. Based on experiences gained in the region and elsewhere, this paper finds the fragmentation of small landholdings and tiny land parcels detrimental to land conservation and economic gain, thereby discouraging farmers from adoption of agricultural innovations. Primarily induced by the dependency of the major proportion of ever growing population on agriculture, the process of land fragmentation has been reinforced by the law of inheritance of paternal property, lack of progressive tax on inherited land, heterogeneous land quality and an underdeveloped land market. South Asian countries have had adopted policies and legal measures for facilitating land consolidation. However, desirable results were not achieved, as such interventions could not address structural causes of the problem. Broad policy and legal measures have been outlined for facilitating land consolidation in a sustainable way.     

Evaluating the impact of land fragmentation on the cost of agricultural operation in the southwest mountainous areas of China

Given the background of the increasing opportunity cost of farming and the popularization of labour-saving technology, increased fragmentation has gradually become a key factor in the devaluation and abandonment of land assets. To systematically identify the costs of fragmentation, we use a series of indicators such as the number of plots, the Simpson index, the plot-homestead distance and the total minimum commuting time from the homestead to all plots to measure the extent of fragmentation. A translogcost function is developed and estimated using survey data from three periods, 2011, 2014 and 2017; the data include an effective sample of 1064 household-year observations involving 6599 plot-year observations in Chongqing, China. The extent of fragmentation in the mountains of southwest China is quite serious compared with that in other countries and regions. The Simpson index is 0.63, and on average, 6.06 mu (1 mu = 666.67 m² or 1 mu = 1/15 ha) of cultivated land is distributed in 6.16 plots, while the total minimum commuting time from the homestead to all plots is approximately 45 min. An increase of one standard deviation in the number of plots, the Simpson index or total minimum commuting time would lead to cost increases of 7.1 %, 15.1 % and 12.2 %, respectively, if other conditions remain unchanged. The channel for the above result involves the changes in the cost share of inputs caused by fragmentation, which increase the labour cost share and reduce the machinery cost share. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between farm scale and production cost with an inflection point at 47 mu; that is, costs begin to decrease when the scale exceeds 47 mu. However, the average farm scale is currently only 6.06 mu. In addition, production costs can be significantly reduced by renting-in land and implementing land consolidation. To reduce land system-induced costs in mountainous areas, the government should rationally consolidate land to achieve moderate-scale management, reduce the transaction costs of land transfers and popularize machinery suitable for complex terrain.     

Agricultural input subsidies,extension services,and farm labour productivity nexus: Evidence from maize farmers in Tanzania

This paper examines the effect of agricultural input subsidies (AIS) and agricultural extension services (AES) on farm labour productivity in plots planted with maize in Tanzania, using panel data from the National Panel Survey in Tanzania. To control for the endogeneity of the two programmes, a control function and instrumental variable approach is used to estimate the effects of AIS and AES on farm labour productivity. The results show that AIS and AES are significant in raising labour productivity in maize-planted plots. Similarly, AIS and AES are also effective in increasing land productivity in these plots. Moreover, each programme has comparable effects on land productivity and farm labour productivity. These findings imply that public investments in AIS and AES are effective in raising farm productivity.     

How does land fragmentation affect off‐farm labor supply: panel data evidence from China

This article provides a deeper theoretical understanding of the linkages between land fragmentation and off‐farm labor supply in China, and investigates this relationship empirically in a more direct way than does the existing literature. Drawing upon a rural household panel data set collected in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Yunnan Provinces from 1995 to 2002, we estimate the effects in two steps. First, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on labor productivity. Second, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on off‐farm labor supply. The production function results show that land fragmentation indeed leads to lower agricultural labor productivity, implying that land consolidation will make on‐farm work more attractive and thus decrease off‐farm labor supply. However, the effect of land consolidation on off‐farm labor supply is not significant. One likely explanation for this result may be the potentially imperfect labor markets.     

Land reform and land fragmentation in Central and Eastern Europe

It has often been stated that land fragmentation and farm structures characterized by small agricultural holdings and farms divided in a large number of parcels have been the side-effect of land reform in Central and Eastern Europe. This article reports the findings of a study of land reform in 25 countries in the region from 1989 and onwards and provides an overview of applied land reform approaches. With a basis in theory on land fragmentation, the linkage between land reform approaches and land fragmentation is explored. It is discussed in which situations land fragmentation is a barrier for the development of the agricultural and rural sector. The main finding is that land fragmentation is often hampering agricultural and rural development when both land ownership and land use is highly fragmented.     

Land consolidation,customary lands,and Ghana's Northern Savannah Ecological Zone: An evaluation of the possibilities and pitfalls

Land fragmentation has been identified to greatly undermine crop production in many countries. In the case of Ghana’s customary tenure system, household farmlands are relatively small and are highly fragmented. Recent agricultural drives, however, have focused on farm level interventions that are ad hoc with short-term benefits. A sustainable long-term application of land consolidation which reorganises farmlands may improve yields, reduce the cost of production and improve the incomes of farmers. The successful implementation of land consolidation depends greatly on the suitability of local conditions with respect to land tenure and land use. However, in Ghana’s customary lands, the alignment between the requirements for land consolidation and existing conditions remains unexplored. This study investigated the feasibility of land consolidation within the customary tenure by juxtaposing the local conditions of the study areas with the baseline conditions for land consolidation outlined in literature. Using both qualitative and spatial data, the study revealed some traits of convergence and divergence with respect to the baseline conditions in the study areas. For example, conditions such as the existence of land fragmentation, suitable topography and soil distribution were fully met. Conditions such as the existence of a land bank, technical expertise, and infrastructure and supportive legal frameworks were partially met. The remaining conditions such as the willingness to participate, availability of a land information system and favorable land ownership structure were non-existent. The circumstances surrounding these unmet conditions are deeply embedded in customs and traditions that hardly yield to change. Since these conditions are fundamental for land consolidation, their absence negates the feasibility of land consolidation under the current tenure system of the study areas.     

不同模式农地整治对耕地细碎化的影响效应 及其区域差异 ——来自湖北省江汉平原与武陵山区的经验证据

研究目的：基于湖北省江汉平原、武陵山区483份农户调查数据,分析不同模式农地整治对耕地细碎化的影响效应及其区域差异,探求适应现代农业发展的耕地细碎化治理新路径。研究方法：综合指数法、双重差分模型。研究结果：（1）政府主导模式和新农主导模式通过促进地块集中连片的土地平整工程,改善农业生产关系的权属调整工作,共同降低自然因素和产权因素造成的耕地细碎化;（2）相对于政府主导模式,新农主导模式定位于现代农业发展,农地流转与农地整治的耦合度更高,土地平整工程和权属调整的比例更高,对耕地细碎化的治理效果也更为明显;（3）与丘陵山区农地整治相比,平原地区农地整治更能显著降低耕地细碎化。研究结论：建议继续大力实施政府主导模式和新农主导模式的农地整治,结合区域自然资源禀赋、产业布局、区位优势,总结和完善农地整治的地域模式,因地制宜地推进土地平整工程和权属调整工作,全面促进现代农业高质量发展。     

How Do Health and Social Insurance Programmes Affect the Land and Labour Allocations of Farm Households? Evidence from Taiwan

To protect farmers from health care costs and risks to livelihood, most countries have developed special health and social insurance programmes specifically for farmers. While numerous studies have examined the determinants of participation in these programmes, little is known about how they influence famers' land and labour allocations. Without government‐sponsored health and social insurance, farmers may seek off‐farm employment in order to obtain similar benefits. Conditioning eligibility for social insurance on minimum land holdings and on‐farm work days can lead to delayed retirement and other forms of job lock. We investigate these issues using a unique dataset of 703,287 farms in Taiwan. After controlling for non‐random participation in Taiwan's social insurance programme, we find that the programme increases (decreases) on (off) farm labour supply, and decreases the amount of set‐aside land. This suggests that payments from social insurance substitute for those issued through land set‐aside programmes to some extent, and that failing to account for this substitution increases the cost of achieving both programmes' objectives.     

基于田块空间和权属信息的耕地细碎化MAVF评价研究

研究目的:结合土地整治内容提出田块尺度多属性耕地细碎化评价体系,完善耕地细碎化评价理论与方法。研究方法:以江西省乐平市双田镇高标准农田建设区上河村片为研究对象,选择影响农业生产效率和规模经营潜力的田块细碎化待整治特征为指标,采用AHP和MAVF法制定评价体系,测算研究区的细碎化程度。研究结果:(1)将田块空间信息叠加非空间权属信息后,基于多属性价值函数和权重测算得出251户农户细碎化指数最低为0.170,最高为0.870,中位数为0.469,平均数为0.493,细碎化指数呈现右偏态;(2)研究区耕地细碎化综合指数为0.493,细碎化程度处于中差水平.研究结论:基于田块空间和权属信息,采用MAVF法构建的田块尺度耕地细碎化评价指标体系,较传统耕地权属破碎评价指数更科学全面地反映了耕地细碎程度,本研究为完善耕地细碎化评价理论和实践应用提供一定帮助。     

Do farmers or governments make better land conservation choices? Evidence from China's Sloping Land Conversion Program

In developing countries with small holdings, targeting payments-for-environmental-services prices to site-specific environmental benefits becomes administratively impractical. Instead, governments fix price and either dictate parcel enrollment or let farmers decide, which might be expected to maximize environmental benefits and minimize opportunity costs, respectively. No paper has actually tested such hypotheses in a developing-country setting. This paper examines China's Sloping Land Conversion Program, with 32 million planting forests, using a unique dataset on 3397 parcels, including farmer-choice and government-choice parcels. Farmers consider similar criteria to local governments but weight land characteristics within the farm (not the landscape) and household characteristics.     

基于景观格局与生态过程的土地整理生态效应评价——以天津市七里海镇为例

目前,对土地整理项目效益的评价多集中关注于经济效益评价,对生态效应的评价较少,更没有将评价结果应用于土地整理项目的规划设计和实施中。该文从生态系统结构的整体出发,结合宏观的景观格局与微观的生态过程,选取了斑块个数、破碎化指数、景观隔离度、植被覆盖率、生物多样性指数、物质循环速率、干扰频率和土壤质量8个二级评价指标,构建了土地整理项目的生态效应评价体系,运用归一化方法对评价指标量化,并结合天津市七里海镇土地整理项目进行实证研究,结果表明该土地整理项目在景观格局方面得到了较好的优化,斑块个数减少,破碎化指数降低,总体景观隔离度降低,但局部区域由于修建水泥道路导致隔离度增加。在生态过程方面,植被覆盖率提高,但呈现季节性,生物多样性降低,物质循环速率和干扰频率增加,土壤质量有较大提高。总体上,土地整理项目取得了耕地面积和土壤质量改善方面较好的效益,但在生态系统方面受到较大干扰,带来了负效应。今后需要在土地整理项目中从生态学角度进行规划设计,以取得经济、社会和生态综合效益。     

Towards sustainable rural development in Central and Eastern Europe: Applying land consolidation

Over the past twenty years, social and economic decline in rural areas has intensified in the Central and Eastern European countries. A precondition for the reversal of this decline is the implementation of new policies in relation to the fundamentals of land ownership and management. In addition to addressing the problems of land ownership fragmentation, these should include measures to improve agricultural production and employment, taxation policy, and legislation to protect land ownership rights, within the context of acknowledging environmental and sustainability considerations. In Europe, the requirement for readjusting unfavourable land fragmentation and promoting the appropriate use of land combining with positive environmental solutions is expected to create new sustainable land management systems. The consolidation of land ownerships may be an effective and active land management instrument which not only addresses the problems of land fragmentation, but also, if applied sensitively, may be an instrument for delivering sustainable rural development in a wider context. The aim of this research is to investigate land consolidation as an essential tool to create sustainable rural areas in Lithuania.     

西方农地法的特点及启示

西方农地管理有着丰富的经验和有力的法律基础.本文立足于我国实行最严格的土地管理制度,在系统总结西方,尤其是欧洲农地法特点的基础上,采用比较分析的方法,对我国土地资源管理法律建设的重点问题进行了探索.研究表明,政府对农地最终处置权的享有、区域规划的突出地位、农地转让及农场规模的控制以及可持续发展思想的充分体现是西方农地法的主要特点.这些特点给了我们以下一些启示:①应加强区域规划和土地利用规划相互关系的研究;②积极探索农地管理的市场机制及其实现形式;③重视我国农地取得方式问题和农地细碎化现象;④及时将农地保护以数量保护为主转变为农地的数量、质量和生态环境保护并重的三维保护体系.     

How and why large scale agricultural land investments do not create long-term employment benefits: A critique of the ‘state’ of labour regulations in Ghana

Support for large scale agricultural investments in Africa has been mainly premised on their employment prospects for local populations. However, despite earlier calls by Tania Li to centre labour in the land grabs debate, labour is generally invisible in both mainstream policy and academic research. This paper, through a governance lens, draws attention to the implications of the global land rush on wage labour. In principle, policy frameworks that emphasise the labour potentials from large-scale land investments also gravitate towards regulations that seek to facilitate capital accumulation and mitigate negative impacts on communities – congruent with Ghana’s policy direction. This paper assesses the political-economic context of the legislative gaps in the current governance framework for wage labour and large-scale agriculture in Ghana; characterised mainly by absent, illusively present and repressive institutions. It is supported with empirical findings from the nature of farm workers’ incorporation into a transnational oil palm plantation in Ghana, their struggles over the nature of the investment, and the political orientation of the existing regulatory institutions. The study calls for policy measures which address power relations that shape the distribution of benefits from land investments, and also recognise structural inequalities that exist in and outside of agriculture.     

Reducing land fragmentation to curb cropland abandonment: Evidence from rural China

Reducing land fragmentation can theoretically curb cropland abandonment, thus ensuring food security. However, few studies have quantified this relationship using large-scale survey data at the household level. This study adopts a two-way fixed-effects (TWFE) model to examine the effect of land fragmentation on cropland abandonment using nationally representative panel data from the China Rural Household Panel Survey (CRHPS). The panel data set contains 15,138 households across 29 provinces in 2017 and 2019. We find that land fragmentation has a significant and positive relationship with cropland abandonment. The mechanism analysis reveals that this relationship is due to high labor costs and difficulties in renting out the fragmented land. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that farmers with poor human capital and those living in non-plain areas are at a higher risk of abandoning their cropland due to land fragmentation. Furthermore, the association between land fragmentation and cropland abandonment tends to vary across different land rent-in scenarios. For instance, an increase in the number of plots in the case of land rent-in is not necessarily associated with cropland abandonment. These findings are conducive to correcting the underestimation of the role of land fragmentation in cropland abandonment, and their implications may be extended to various countries.     

基于SEM的土地整理项目“三农”效益评价——以陕西省揉谷镇347份农户调查为例

研究目的:从农户视角出发,以陕西省杨凌示范区揉谷镇347份农户调查为基础,定量评价土地整理项目的"三农"效益,为提高土地整理效益提供相关建议。研究方法:选取农业效益、农村效益和农民效益共3个潜变量和15个观测变量建立结构方程模型(SEM)。研究结果:(1)揉谷镇土地整理项目"三农"效益处于中等水平,农村效益较好,农业效益次之,农民效益最低;(2)农村效益和农业效益均对农民效益产生了一定的显著影响,但农业效益对农民效益的影响较低,农业效益每增加1单位,农民效益仅增加0.18单位。研究结论:在今后的土地整理过程中,要努力提高"三农"效益,特别是农民效益的提升,更要确保农民分享到农村效益、农业效益,推动"三农"协调发展,共同进步。     

Africa's changing farm size distribution patterns: the rise of medium‐scale farms

This study assesses changes over the past decade in the farm size distributions of Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, drawing on two or more waves of nationally representative population‐based and/or area‐based surveys. Analysis indicates that much of Sub‐Saharan Africa is experiencing major changes in farm land ownership patterns. Among all farms below 100 hectares in size, the share of land on small‐scale holdings under five hectares has declined except in Kenya. Medium‐scale farms (defined here as farm holdings between 5 and 100 hectares) account for a rising share of total farmland, especially in the 10–100 hectare range where the number of these farms is growing especially rapidly. Medium‐scale farms control roughly 20% of total farmland in Kenya, 32% in Ghana, 39% in Tanzania, and over 50% in Zambia. The numbers of such farms are also growing very rapidly, except in Kenya. We also conducted detailed life history surveys of medium‐scale farmers in each of these four countries and found that the rapid rise of medium‐scale holdings in most cases reflects increased interest in land by urban‐based professionals or influential rural people. About half of these farmers obtained their land later in life, financed by nonfarm income. The rise of medium‐scale farms is affecting the region in diverse ways that are difficult to generalize. Many such farms are a source of dynamism, technical change, and commercialization of African agriculture. However, medium‐scale land acquisitions may exacerbate land scarcity in rural areas and constrain the rate of growth in the number of small‐scale farm holdings. Medium‐scale farmers tend to dominate farm lobby groups and influence agricultural policies and public expenditures to agriculture in their favor. Nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from six countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia) show that urban households own 5–35% of total agricultural land and that this share is rising in all countries where DHS surveys were repeated. This suggests a new and hitherto unrecognized channel by which medium‐scale farmers may be altering the strength and location of agricultural growth and employment multipliers between rural and urban areas. Given current trends, medium‐scale farms are likely to soon become the dominant scale of farming in many African countries.