Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
10-2012
Abstract
How does rural China’s political economy determine the motivations and constraints that drive small farmers and agribusiness companies into contract farming and shape its practice and impact? This paper identifies three distinctive features of contract farming in China—varied impact on rural inequality, unstable contractual relations, and lack of competitiveness with other alternatives—and proposes tentative explanations with three features in rural China’s political economy: strong collective institutions, active state support for agriculture, and strong domestic markets. The recent turn in China’s agrarian transition toward vertical integration of agriculture with industries is, however, undermining these conditions and may move China toward more convergence with other countries. Studying contract farming in China’s unique political economy context shows not only how variations in the political economy can alter its practice and impact, but also how it needs to be evaluated in comparison with competing alternatives.
Keywords
contract farming, agrarian transition, rural China, agribusiness, family farming
Discipline
Agribusiness | Agricultural and Resource Economics | Asian Studies
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Journal of Agrarian Change
Volume
12
Issue
4
First Page
460
Last Page
483
ISSN
1471-0358
Identifier
10.1111/j.1471-0366.2012.00352.x
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
ZHANG, Qian Forrest.(2012). The political economy of contract farming in China's agrarian transition. Journal of Agrarian Change, 12(4), 460-483.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1040
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0366.2012.00352.x
Included in
Agribusiness Commons, Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Asian Studies Commons