SuReFood Interdisciplinary Workshop #17

‘Push’ and ‘Pull’? The impact of DRRDP policy and agricultural labor migration on rapeseed production dynamics in China

Jinghui Hao (Associate Professor, College of Economics and Management, Macro Agriculture Research Institute, Huazhong Agricultural University, China)

Abstract:
In this paper we investigate the effect of DRRDP policy and agricultural labor on rapeseed plantation in China. We analyze county-level data on rapeseed plantation area and production in 15 provinces from 1980 to 2020. ArcGIS data is used to visualize the spatial and temporal changes in the gravity center of rapeseed production. By using the difference-in-difference (DID) method, this paper assessed the impact of the DRRDP policy on rapeseed production layout considering the impact of climate change from the perspective of agricultural labor migration. The results show that from 1980 to 2020, the gravity center of rapeseed plantation in China shifted first to the southwest, then to the northeast, and finally to the southwest, aligning with the pattern of agricultural labor migration. We further find that the number of local agricultural laborer has a significant and positive effect on the plantation area. In contrast, neither the DRRDP policy nor climate change has a significant impact. Taking this result, we believe that it is crucial to improve the mechanization level of rapeseed cultivation and increase subsidies to further increase rapeseed plantation.

About the author:
Dr. Jinghui Hao is an associate professor in the college of economics and management at Huazhong Agricultural University, and a senior researcher at Macro Agriculture Research Institute (MARI) at Huazhong Agricultural University. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics from Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group (AEP) at Wageningen University & Research. Her research interests include agricultural economics, policy analysis, food economics, gender economics and agricultural cooperatives in China.

Discussants:
Zihan Nie, associate researcher at Center for Innovation and Development Studies, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
Minjie Chen, assistant professor, School of Economics, Nanjing University of Economics and Finance, Nanjing, China