Agricultural mechanization and cropland abandonment in rural China

This study examines the impacts of the adoption of three mechanized farming strategies (no-mechanized, semi-mechanized, and full-mechanized farming) on cropland abandonment, using the 2016 China Labour-force Dynamics Survey data. An innovative multivalued treatment effects model is employed to address sample selection bias. The results show that relative to no-mechanized farming, the adoption of semi-mechanized farming increases the probability of cropland abandonment. However, relative to either no or semi-mechanized farming, the adoption of full-mechanized farming significantly decreases the likelihood of cropland abandonment. Thus, farmers’ decisions of cropland abandonment depend on whether mechanization can partially or fully substitute farm labour. Our findings suggest that promoting agricultural mechanization via scale and topography-appropriate farm machines and enhancing land transfer for consolidation can help alleviate cropland abandonment.