Journal of Integrative Agriculture ›› 2020, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (12): 2877-2890.DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63390-1

• 论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

  

  • 收稿日期:2020-05-26 出版日期:2020-12-01 发布日期:2020-11-19

The short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family farms in China-Evidence from a survey of 2 324 farms

DU Zhi-xiong1, LAI Xiao-dong2, LONG Wen-jin3, GAO Liang-liang1
  

  1. 1 Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100732, P.R.China
    2 Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, P.R.China
    3 College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, P.R.China
  • Received:2020-05-26 Online:2020-12-01 Published:2020-11-19
  • Contact: Correspondence GAO Liang-liang, E-mail: gaoll@cass.org.cn
  • Supported by:
    This study received supports from the Cultural Celebrities of “Four Batches” Talents Project, China, the National Social Science Fund of China (17BJY010, 17CJY032 and 18CJY032) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71803045).

PDF

Abstract:

Family farms are considered the most desirable form of Chinese agriculture.  Studies on the risk management of family farms are rare, while the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to explore how family farms respond to risks.  Based on an online survey of 2 324 family crop farms, we examine for the first time the short-term impact (immediate impact or short-term fluctuation, and farms’ instantaneous response) and long-term impact (on farms’ future or long-term production) of the COVID-19 pandemic on family farms’ production and operation in rural China.  By using factor analysis and dummy variable regression, we find that the severity of the pandemic, the lockdown of the village, and farmers’ knowledge of the pandemic contribute significantly to the short-term impact, but not on the long-term impact.  Farmers’ characteristics such as gender, age, and education are not related to the short-term impact, but family farms with male owners or owners with high school education or below are more likely to be diversified and large-scale.  The number of years the farm has existed for and agricultural insurance affect both short-term and long-term impacts.  We suggest that the government needs to pay more attention to stability-enhancing policies, the market environment, vocational training and the agricultural insurance market.

Key words: family farms ,  COVID-19 ,  agricultural risk ,  China