Land tenure security, migration and farm performance in rural China

Land tenure security and migration play vital roles in rural development and livelihood security of rural households. Farm performance benefits not only a nation’s food security, but also sustainable agricultural development. However, a full picture of the linkages is lacking. Hence, the overall objective of this thesis is to conduct a joint analysis of land tenure, migration and farm performance in China. Based on the household and village data collected from four regions in China, the following main conclusions could be drawn. Village democracy and households’ knowledge of policy have a positive impact on migration through encouraging land reallocations in villages where land rental market is less developed. Actual land tenure security has a positive impact on migration through perceived land tenure security, but a negative impact on migration through other channels in villages where the land rental market is less-developed. Through influencing households’ migration decisions, actual land tenure security has a positive impact on  farm performance, while perceived land tenure security has a negative impact on farm performance, given the level of actual land tenure security.