The impact of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation in China

Land use transitions are an important research area in land system science. In seeking a feasible way to improve rural residents' livelihoods and rural development, this paper explores the mechanism and effects of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation from the perspective of the human-land relationship. The theoretical framework of rural livelihood transformation as affected by farmland use transition is established, and econometric models are used to test the effects based on empirical panel data from China for the period 2000–2017. The major conclusions are drawn as follows. In essence, farmland use transition is the redistribution of agricultural productivity on farmland, and rural livelihood transformation is a process of long-term and trend transformation of rural residents' livelihood capital, livelihood structure, and livelihood pattern. Land use transitions boost the transformation of rural livelihood by regulating the rural human-land interactive relationship and substitutional relationship of elements in agricultural development. For every 1% increase in farmland management scale transition and farmland efficiency transition, rural livelihood transformation can be improved by 3.748% and 3.854%, respectively. The direction and intensity of the impact of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation differ by area and topographic conditions. Furthermore, people's livelihood finances and farmers' planting decisions regulate the effects of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation. The authors argue that regulating land use transitions can be an important component of policy-making to promote rural livelihoods transformation, and rural development transformation.