Heterogeneous Impacts of Aging and Feminization of Agriculture on Production Factor Inputs: Evidence From Rice Farmers in China

Abstract

In contrast to other countries, China's agricultural production faces the challenges of aging and feminization, which have a tremendous impact on food security. The purpose of this research was to reveal the correlations between aging and feminization and agricultural production factor input and its heterogeneity. This was evaluated using the ordinary least squares (OLS) model. The research found that the aging of farming did not correlate with the input of land factor and employment input. However, the feminization of farming significantly correlated with the input of land factor and employment input. In particular, an increase in the feminization of farming by one standard deviation reduced the land factor input by 18.9% and employment input by 31.3%. Second, agricultural aging and feminization had a positive and significant effect on agricultural machinery input but a negative and significant effect on material input. The instrumental variable method test results were consistent with those of the main regression. Third, heterogeneity analysis showed that the correlations between aging and feminization and the input of land, employment, agricultural machinery, and materials were significantly different with different educational levels of house heads and the proportion of agricultural income. Therefore, this study provides a reference for adjusting the rural labor structure and accumulating advanced rural production factors.