THE RURAL HOUSEHOLDS’ CHOICE OF CONTRACT FARMING: A CASE STUDY OF SUBSEQUENT EFFECT OF IMPROVED UPL AND RICE TECHNOLOGY IN YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA
THE RURAL HOUSEHOLDS’ CHOICE OF CONTRACT FARMING: A CASE STUDY OF SUBSEQUENT EFFECT OF IMPROVED UPL AND RICE TECHNOLOGY IN YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA
The improved upland rice technology (IURT) reduced the pressure from intensifying food production, benefited the rural households’ food security, well-being and incomes in fragile uplands initially. Meanwhile, contract farming boomed and focused on cash crops in southern uplands of Yunnan, China. This paper aims to identify the possible subsequent effect of IURT on the rural households’ choice of contract farming. The survey data of 508 households from 2000 to 2004, 141 households from 2007 and 252 households from 2010 were obtained, which were distributed from 20 villages in southern upland Yunnan, China. Then, a conventional contrastive statistical description in time series was used under the livelihood approach to analyse the significant changes which were induced by IURT. Based on the indices of significant changes, the Probit Model was used to analyse the latest choice of contract farming in 2010. The promotion of IURT provided an observation of been boosted to saturated, and the livelihood in upland rice-based system was significantly featured by sharp decline even abandon upland rice cultivation in subsistence but in a smoothly process, and the development of cash crops cultivation was inclined in a larger proportion. However, the promotion of IURT increases the probability in the choice of contract farming indirectly. Thus, the uptake of IURT is not only a “pro-poor” technology which works on the needs for subsistence initially, but also subsequently effect on the compatibility with market institutions. Conclusions are drawn with regard to IURT subsequent effect in general and the implication of the IURT promotion in similar regions, particularly for the understanding and evaluation of policy-induced extension in uplands.