How does rural collective action affect farmland use right transfer? A case study in Guangxi, China

Abstract

Promoting farmland use right transfer to achieve farmland scale management is an effective means of improving agricultural production efficiency and is thus an important topic for promoting rural revitalization and achieving rural modernization. In developing countries with highly fragmented farmland, farmland use right transfer (FURT) results from cooperation among farmers who own farmland. Such cooperation is a process of collective action to achieve convergence between the individual decisions of farmers and collective decisions. Using empirical research based on survey data from 565 households in 10 cities in Guangxi, China, where farmland is highly fragmented, China, as well as 80 village-level survey data associated with these households, it was found that a high level of village collective action significantly promotes farmland use right transfer through the following three pathways of influence: cultural and recreational activities in the village, farmers' leadership willingness, and the village’s supply of institutions. In addition, we also found that the facilitating effect of village collective action on farmers' farmland use right transfer decisions is more pronounced in villages with high economic levels and among villagers with a strong sense of attachment to their village. This study provides new research ideas for exploring the organic connection between highly fragmented farmland in developing countries and modern agricultural development.