Research on the Impact of Farmland Transfer on Rural Household Consumption: Evidence from Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

By constructing the analytical framework of “farmland transfer—farmland function—income structure—rural household consumption”, based on the sample data of 537 rural households in 50 villages in Yunnan Province of China, this paper uses the OLS model to explore the impact of farmland transfer on rural household consumption and uses an intermediary effect model to further explore its internal transmission mechanism. The research finds that: (1) Farmland transfer (farmland transfer-out or farmland transfer-in) can stimulate rural household consumption. (2) The coefficient of farmland transfer-out to non-food consumption is 0.118, which is greater than its coefficient of food consumption of 0.016; the rural households of farmland transfer-out are more willing to increase non-food consumption expenditure, which is conducive to the optimization of their consumption structure. (3) The coefficient of farmland transfer-in to food consumption is 0.028, which is greater than its coefficient to non-food consumption of 0.009; the rural households of farmland transfer-in are more willing to increase food consumption expenditure, which is not conducive to the optimization of their consumption structure. (4) Rural household consumption expenditure will show a downward trend with the increase in the age of the head of the rural household, and the consumption structure will also show a deterioration. (5) The more family assets rural households have, the stronger their consumption expenditure capacity, which is conducive to optimizing their consumption structure. (6) The results of the intermediary effect model show that farmland transfer affects rural households’ consumption and consumption structure by affecting rural households’ income under different livelihood modes. Accordingly, the paper puts forward some suggestions on establishing the benefit coordination mechanism of farmland transfer, improving the non-agricultural employment mechanism of the rural surplus labor force, raising the expected return on farmland investment, increasing the proportion of household income saved appropriately and strengthening the social security mechanism in order to further promote the orderly transfer of farmland, improve the consumption capacity and consumption level of rural households, expand rural domestic demand and promote rural consumption upgrading.