Empirical Study on the Structural Changes in Chinese Agriculture after the "Turning Point"

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24580332
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Agro-economics
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: IKEGAMI AKIHIDE 明治大学, 農学部, 教授 (80339572)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SATO Hiroshi 一橋大学, 大学院経済学研究科, 教授 (50211280) ; FAN Weiren 東京農業大学, 生物産業学部, 准教授 (90408683) ; ZHANG Xinyuan 東京大学, 東洋文化研究所, 助教 (60635879)
• Research Collaborator: XIAO Gang 明治大学, 大学院農学研究科
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 中国農業 / 構造変化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study has attempted to analyze the structural changes in Chinese agriculture after the "turning point" of economic development based on the field survey conducted in three inland provinces (Hebei, Jilin and Henan) and two coastal provinces (Fujian and Zhejiang) as well as official statistics and existing studies.
The study revealed that (i) the shortage of core agricultural workers is being aggravated as a result of migration of farm labor force to cities, (ii) mobilization of farmland management right is accelerating the accumulation of farmland by large scale "family farms" and farmers cooperatives, (iii) imports of agricultural products are rapidly expanding reflecting a decline in international competitiveness of Chinese agriculture due to rising production costs, and (iv) the income gap between rural and urban households is narrowing.

Free Research Field

農業経済学