Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China

Whether promoting cash crop production can increase household welfare has long been the focus of the food policy debate. This study first investigated the determinants of household behavior in commercial pulse farming. It then examined how households’ commercial pulse production improves their econo...

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Main Authors: Ji-liang MA, Fan LI, Hui-jie ZHANG, NAWAB Khan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2022-01-01
Series:Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311922002131
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author Ji-liang MA
Fan LI
Hui-jie ZHANG
NAWAB Khan
author_facet Ji-liang MA
Fan LI
Hui-jie ZHANG
NAWAB Khan
author_sort Ji-liang MA
collection DOAJ
description Whether promoting cash crop production can increase household welfare has long been the focus of the food policy debate. This study first investigated the determinants of household behavior in commercial pulse farming. It then examined how households’ commercial pulse production improves their economic welfare. We used a dataset of 848 households collected from 2018 to 2019 to estimate the determinants of household behavior in commercial pulse farming by the Heckman two-step model. The endogenous treatment regression (ETR) method was employed to examine the impact of commercial pulse farming on household economic welfare. The results showed that factors such as market purchase prices, agricultural technology services, farmers’ access to loans, and government subsidies promoted smallholders’ commercial pulse farming; production costs and perceptions of climate change risks constrained smallholders’ commercial pulse production. Overall, commercial pulse production has increased household farm income but there was a limited impact on household off-farm income. Our findings suggest that policies aiming to increase households’ cash crop production and market access could significantly improve the economic welfare of pulse farmers.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2095-3119
language English
publishDate 2022-01-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
record_format Article
series Journal of Integrative Agriculture
spelling doaj-art-aa0429b6532e44e3b2fd70b20bead91a2025-08-20T03:57:00ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Integrative Agriculture2095-31192022-01-0121113395340710.1016/j.jia.2022.09.006Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural ChinaJi-liang MA0Fan LI1Hui-jie ZHANG2NAWAB Khan3Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R. ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China; Macro Agriculture Research Institute, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China; Correspondence LI Fan, Tel/Fax: +86-27-87282679Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R. China; Correspondence ZHANG Hui-jie, Tel/Fax: +86-10-82106287College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, P.R. ChinaWhether promoting cash crop production can increase household welfare has long been the focus of the food policy debate. This study first investigated the determinants of household behavior in commercial pulse farming. It then examined how households’ commercial pulse production improves their economic welfare. We used a dataset of 848 households collected from 2018 to 2019 to estimate the determinants of household behavior in commercial pulse farming by the Heckman two-step model. The endogenous treatment regression (ETR) method was employed to examine the impact of commercial pulse farming on household economic welfare. The results showed that factors such as market purchase prices, agricultural technology services, farmers’ access to loans, and government subsidies promoted smallholders’ commercial pulse farming; production costs and perceptions of climate change risks constrained smallholders’ commercial pulse production. Overall, commercial pulse production has increased household farm income but there was a limited impact on household off-farm income. Our findings suggest that policies aiming to increase households’ cash crop production and market access could significantly improve the economic welfare of pulse farmers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311922002131pulse farmingcash cropcommercializationeconomic welfareChina
spellingShingle Ji-liang MA
Fan LI
Hui-jie ZHANG
NAWAB Khan
Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
Journal of Integrative Agriculture
pulse farming
cash crop
commercialization
economic welfare
China
title Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
title_full Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
title_fullStr Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
title_full_unstemmed Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
title_short Commercial cash crop production and households’ economic welfare: Evidence from the pulse farmers in rural China
title_sort commercial cash crop production and households economic welfare evidence from the pulse farmers in rural china
topic pulse farming
cash crop
commercialization
economic welfare
China
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311922002131
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AT fanli commercialcashcropproductionandhouseholdseconomicwelfareevidencefromthepulsefarmersinruralchina
AT huijiezhang commercialcashcropproductionandhouseholdseconomicwelfareevidencefromthepulsefarmersinruralchina
AT nawabkhan commercialcashcropproductionandhouseholdseconomicwelfareevidencefromthepulsefarmersinruralchina