Policy distortions, farm size, and the overuse of agricultural chemicals in China

【作者】 Yiyun Wua, Xican Xib, Xin Tang（汤昕）, Deming Luo, Baojing Gue, Shu Kee Lam, Peter M. Vitousek, and Deli Chen

【摘要】Understanding the reasons for overuse of agricultural chemicals is critical to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. Using a nationally representative rural household survey from China, we found that farm size is a strong factor that affects the use intensity of agricultural chemicals across farms in China. Statistically, a 1% increase in farm size is associated with a 0.3% and 0.5% decrease in fertilizer and pesticide use per hectare (P<0.001), respectively, and an almost 1% increase in agricultural labor productivity, while it only leads to a statistically insignificant 0.02% decrease in crop yields. The same pattern was also found using other independently collected data sources from China and an international panel analysis of 74 countries from the 1960s to the 2000s. While economic growth has been associated with increasing farm size in many other countries, in China this relationship has been distorted by land and migration policies, leading to the persistence of small farm size in China. Removing these distortions would decrease agricultural chemical use by 30–50% and the environmental impact of those chemicals by 50% while doubling the total income of all farmers including those who move to urban areas. Removing policy distortions is also likely to complement other remedies to the overuse problem, such as easing farmer’s access to modern technologies and knowledge, and improving environmental regulation and enforcement.

【期刊来源】PNAS May 18, 2018

• 如果您无法在线浏览此 PDF 文件，则可以

• 下载免费小巧的 福昕(Foxit) PDF 阅读器,安装后即可在线浏览  或

• 下载免费的 Adobe Reader PDF 阅读器,安装后即可在线浏览  或

• 下载此 PDF 文件