From Fragmentation to Intensification: Land Reform in China’s “New Era”

Abstract

Combining the current national conditions of China and the status quo of rural land, realizing the transformation of land from fragmentation to intensification is the only way for China to move towards agricultural modernization. We selected Feicheng City, Shandong Province, as the research area, conducted regression analysis on the data by means of questionnaires and key interviews, and identified the influencing factors that can affect and change farmers’ willingness to transfer (WTT) their land and willingness to the duration (WTD) of land transfer. The study found that 82.54% of farmers are willing to transfer land, and the WTD is 9.34 years. Among them, five factors, including job stability, purchased houses in urban area, cultivated land roads, degree of policy understanding, and emotion for the land, can significantly affect the farmers’ WTT. Six factors, namely, age, job stability, number of family members, purchased houses in urban area, non-agricultural income, emotion for the land, can significantly affect the farmers’ WTD. Based on this, we propose the “MPEU theory” of farmers’ land transfer. That is, by allowing farmers to change their minds, understand policies, increase the non-agricultural employment rate, and improve the level of urbanization, the farmers’ WTT/WTD can be improved, and the level of land intensification can be improved. Finally, agricultural modernization, peasant citizenization, and rural urbanization will be realized.