Rural labor migration and farmers’ arrangements of rice production systems in Central China: Insight from the intergenerational division of labor

Rice production is crucial for food security in China, and its relationship with rural labor migration has been studied extensively. Labor migration in rural China has taken new forms in recent years. There has been a discernible trend wherein adult children have started migrating to cities while their elderly parents return to villages to re-engage in on-farm work. The phenomenon has notably shaped the intergenerational division of labor (IDL) within households. However, it remains to be seen how farmers adjust their rice production systems in response to the IDL. The age of 60 years for employment injury insurance is the eligibility threshold for off-farm employment and is used to obtain a source of exogenous variation in the IDL. Based on a representative household survey of 1,752 rice farmers in the Hubei Province of Central China, our fuzzy regression discontinuity analysis reveals that farmers in IDL households are more likely to adopt ratoon rice (RR) than single cropping rice (SR) or double cropping rice (DR). The effect of the IDL varies under different levels of operational scales and specialized agricultural service availability. Further analysis suggests that farmers’ arrangements are associated with two potential mechanisms of downward intergenerational transfer. Monetary transfer for urban housing purchases increases RR in IDL households, and time transfer for intergenerational childcare significantly promotes SR in IDL households. This study enhances the understanding of the relationship between rural labor migration and rice production in China, providing a reference for adjusting rice production systems to ensure food security.