Abstract:

Under the background of a large population and scarce land resources and the dual structure of land property right, the cultivated land resources in China have been the lifeline of farmers, and their social security function is considered the stabilizer of society. But this view has been increasingly questioned in recent years. The capability of cultivated land as a security for farmers depends on its assets value. In the past few years, the phenomena of cropland abandonment and rent-free land transfer became increasingly prominent, indicating that the assets value of cultivated land in some areas has declined. Therefore, it is urgent to acquire detailed data in order to systematically and quantitatively examine the social security function of cultivated land assets for Chinese farmers. Taking the cultivated land with contracting rights as an asset for farmers, this study selected four agricultural regions (suburban agriculture, intensive agriculture, plain field agriculture, and mountain agriculture) and 1025 farming households in a survey to reveal the spatial differentiation characteristics of the social security function of cultivated land. The results show that: 1) As a means of production, there are significant differences in the yield from cultivated land assets in different agricultural regions. The proportion of the yield from cultivated land in household total income is no more than 50% and only less than 7% in mountainous areas. 2) For old-age security, there is also a big difference in different agricultural regions. The contribution rate of cultivated land as old-age security is less than 30%, and it is less than 3% in mountainous areas. 3) With regard to its financial mortgage function, taking the 200000 yuan capital demand for a farming household as an example, the average eligible loan amount from cultivated land assets meets no more than 20% of this need, and only 1% in the mountainous areas. At present, the social security function of farmers' cultivated land assets is very limited, and the social security theory of cultivated land needs to be re-examined. This will help us to make scientific judgments on the rural land security function in the new era. With the continued advancement of urbanization, the yield and assets value of cultivated land for farmers show persistent differentiation in different agricultural regions, especially due to the marginalization of cultivated land in mountainous areas. How to slow the cropland abandonment and depreciation of cultivated land assets in mountainous areas needs to be researched during the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Key words: social security function, agricultural regions, cultivated land assets, spatial differentiation, land marginalization