Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture
Most of the poor in the developing countries are smallholder farmers. Improving their productivity is essential for reducing poverty. Despite small landholdings, a high degree of land fragmentation, and rising labor costs, agricultural production in China has steadily increased. If one treats the fa...
| Autores principales: | , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2015
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149847 |
| _version_ | 1855542013921853440 |
|---|---|
| author | Zhang, Xiaobo Yang, Jin Reardon, Thomas |
| author_browse | Reardon, Thomas Yang, Jin Zhang, Xiaobo |
| author_facet | Zhang, Xiaobo Yang, Jin Reardon, Thomas |
| author_sort | Zhang, Xiaobo |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Most of the poor in the developing countries are smallholder farmers. Improving their productivity is essential for reducing poverty. Despite small landholdings, a high degree of land fragmentation, and rising labor costs, agricultural production in China has steadily increased. If one treats the farm household as the unit of analysis, it would be difficult to explain the conundrum. When seeing agricultural production from the lens of division of labor, the puzzle can be easily solved. In response to rising labor costs, farmers outsource some power-intensive stages of production, such as harvesting, to specialized mechanization service providers, which are often clustered in a few counties and travel throughout the country to harvest crops at very competitive service charges. Through such an arrangement, smallholder farmers can stay viable in agricultural production. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace149847 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1498472025-11-06T07:24:44Z Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture Zhang, Xiaobo Yang, Jin Reardon, Thomas microeconomics labour market economic development agriculture wages smallholders mechanization Most of the poor in the developing countries are smallholder farmers. Improving their productivity is essential for reducing poverty. Despite small landholdings, a high degree of land fragmentation, and rising labor costs, agricultural production in China has steadily increased. If one treats the farm household as the unit of analysis, it would be difficult to explain the conundrum. When seeing agricultural production from the lens of division of labor, the puzzle can be easily solved. In response to rising labor costs, farmers outsource some power-intensive stages of production, such as harvesting, to specialized mechanization service providers, which are often clustered in a few counties and travel throughout the country to harvest crops at very competitive service charges. Through such an arrangement, smallholder farmers can stay viable in agricultural production. 2015-02-06 2024-08-01T02:50:04Z 2024-08-01T02:50:04Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149847 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150410 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150200 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Zhang, Xiaobo; Yang, Jin; Reardon, Thomas Anthony. 2015. Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1415. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149847 |
| spellingShingle | microeconomics labour market economic development agriculture wages smallholders mechanization Zhang, Xiaobo Yang, Jin Reardon, Thomas Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title | Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title_full | Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title_fullStr | Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title_short | Mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in Chinese agriculture |
| title_sort | mechanization outsourcing clusters and division of labor in chinese agriculture |
| topic | microeconomics labour market economic development agriculture wages smallholders mechanization |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149847 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zhangxiaobo mechanizationoutsourcingclustersanddivisionoflaborinchineseagriculture AT yangjin mechanizationoutsourcingclustersanddivisionoflaborinchineseagriculture AT reardonthomas mechanizationoutsourcingclustersanddivisionoflaborinchineseagriculture |