Migration,socioeconomic transformation,and land-use change in Mexico’s Mixteca Alta: Lessons for forest transition theory

The forest transition is a concept used to describe and explain the transition from a dwindling to an expanding forest area in a given region or country. Three main explanations of the forest transition have been developed. The first is the “economic development path to the forest transition”, which contends that economic development and new agricultural technologies trigger rural-urban migration and agricultural intensification, leading in turn to the abandonment of marginal farmland and eventually to a forest recovery. The second is the “forest scarcity path to the forest transition”, which argues that the scarcity of forests is a major factor that encourages commercial tree plantations, reforestations and the conservation of woodlands. A third explanation has been advanced in certain developing countries. This explanation, referred to in this paper as the “diversification of rural livelihoods path to the forest transition”, holds that rural households must adjust to outside forces, including globalization and neoliberal economic policies, and that those adjustments marginalize smallholder farming, allowing for the expansion of forests. This paper describes and explains the onset of a forest transition in the Mixteca Alta UNESCO Global Geopark, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on qualitative fieldwork and the analysis of official statistics and land-use/cover maps, we contend that the three paths to the forest transition overlap in our study area. This implies a fuller and more complex explanation of the forest transition, which is crucial to understand the expansion of woodlands in other regions of Mexico and the developing world.     

How does off-farm work affect chemical fertilizer application? Evidence from China’s mountainous and plain areas

There is a rising concern that the ongoing wave of off-farm employment will have profound effects on agriculture-based environment problems-measured by the intensity of chemical fertilizer (CF) usage. Yet, our understanding of the regional heterogeneities of this effect remains scant. This research gap is addressed by using panel data of selected cities in Sichuan and Henan provinces in China, which are representative mountainous and plain regions respectively, to empirically examine the impact of off-farm employment on CF use. Our findings indicated that there exists an inverted “U” shaped relationship between off-farm employment and CF use in the mountainous region, whereas CF use is positively correlated with off-farm employment in the plain area. The increased CF inputs, which resulted from the substitution effect and remittance effect, can compensate for the negative effect of labor loss, while land marginalization is the main reason for the decrease in CF consumption at the later stage of urbanization in the mountainous region. Meanwhile, the deagriculturalization of farmers’ employment patterns decreases the intensity of CF usage, which resulted from the scale effect produced by land transfer and large-scale management in the plain region. Besides, the evolution pattern of this effect may present a similar trend in these provinces, but the turning point of plain regions would appear later than that of mountainous areas due to the inherently unique physical conditions and socio-ecological contexts. Based on the empirical results of this paper, some policy recommendations are provided.     

发展权受限角度下永久基本农田划定中补偿价格的测算 ——以重庆市为例

国家对永久基本农田建立了严格的保护制度,各地也尝试构建耕地保护的补偿机制,但补偿价格的测算目前还没有比较科学的方法,多是结合当地财政状况和经验值进行估算.本文从土地发展权损失的角度,通过量化发展权受限的损失对永久基本农田保护补偿价格进行测算,为建立基本农田保护激励机制提供依据和支撑.     

中国农地租赁市场交易双方议价能力及影响因素研究 ——来自中国家庭追踪调查数据

研究目的：探讨农地租赁双方在信息不对称条件下的讨价还价能力,并揭示其异质性问题及背后原因。研究方法：利用信息博弈的双边随机前沿模型（SFA2tier）对不同阶段和不同地区下中国农地租赁市场交易双方议价能力及影响因素进行分析。研究结果：（1）从总体样本看,承租户比出租户具有更强的议价能力,出租户利用自身议价能力将租金抬高28.64%,承租户利用自身议价能力将租金降低34.25%,使得实际租金低于基准租金5.61%。（2）中国农地租赁双方的议价能力差距随时间呈现出不断扩大的趋势,但这种议价能力差距并不是由地区经济水平的差异性引起的,而是由地理区位条件和粮食主产区差异所决定,即承租户与出租户议价能力的差距在东、中、西部地区均为5.50%左右,而在南方地区和北方地区各为7.94%和3.67%,在非粮食主产区和粮食主产区却分别为7.20%和3.64%。（3）城乡因素、受教育程度、户口类型、性别、健康状况、年龄、经营规模等因素均是导致议价能力差距的根本原因,而居住在农村、受过高等教育、农业户口、男性、身体不健康、中老年、小经营规模农户都能够有效降低这种差距。研究结论：应当从实行农地租赁价格补贴、制定差别化的基准租金、完善农地租赁信息服务中心等方面来促进农地流转效率。     

国外农地保护政策与措施对我国的启示

世界工业化、城市化进程导致的农地减少已成为大家关注的焦点.综观国外农地保护采取的政策与措施,既有特殊性,又有共性.采用文献资料法和比较分析法对国外农地保护的政策与措施进行分析与概括,结合我国当前实际提出相应的农地保护建议.     

农用地等级价关联探讨——以南阳市等内划级为例

在农用地分布的连续性、广域性的实体上,建立一套有效的农用地等、级、价关系体系是一项复杂而艰巨的任务.以宏观的农用地分等为基础,对分等指数作适当修正后得到中微观层次的级别,再通过货币量化作物产量高低的级别收益价格;其完成了农用地等级价之间的连控.实现了土地质量评价从宏观相对量到微观绝对量顺序的过渡,反映了农用地的自然-社会-经济属性间的顺次递延与相互间的衔接,级是等、价是级的细化,而等是级、级是价的校验,三者从根本上表现为连续性统一体,并呈互为印证的关联关系.     

Transnational Farmland Investment: A Risky Business

Transnational farmland investments in much of the Global South are risky for all parties involved: agribusiness firms and their financial backers; host‐country governments; and the people on the spot. This essay focuses on political risk, which encompasses policy shifts, legal disputes and push‐back from affected populations. It draws on the analytical framework of ‘powers of exclusion’ (see the work of D. Hall, P. Hirsch and T.M. Li) to consider how transnational investors attempt to deploy force, law and market transactions to secure and legitimate farmland deals; yet they remain fragile, as do the governments that enable them.     

退耕还林生态效益评价方法

从坡耕地退耕还林后的涵养水源、固土保肥、纳碳吐氧,减免灾害、改善生活环境等5个方面着手,对其生态效益评价方法进行了探讨,以期对今后的退耕还林工作有所借鉴.     

川中丘陵农地生态建设研究

从生态学角度研究了川中丘陵农地利用中存在的生态环境问题，认为实施生态建设是川中丘陵农地持续利用的重要途径。提出了进行生态建设的思路。     

农地流转:机制阐释与制度支撑体系构建

农地流转是指在不改变农地所有权属性及农业用途的前提下,在农地承包经营权有效存续期内,农地承包经营权以有偿的方式,依法、自愿地从一方农户转让给另一方农户的行为。本文分析了农地流转机制及制约农地流转的不同制度安排,提出实现农地顺畅流转就要构建包括农地产权制度、户籍制度、农村社会保障制度、农业投入制度、农村金融制度、农民教育培训制度、农地交易市场制度在内的制度支撑体系。