Quantifying the amount, heterogeneity, and pattern of farmland: Implications for China’s requisition-compensation balance of farmland policy

• Published in: Land use policy Vol. 81; pp. 256 - 266
• Main Authors: Liu, Luo, Liu, Zhenjie, Gong, Jianzhou, Wang, Lu, Hu, Yueming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2019; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Agricultural land; arid lands; China; Compensation; Consolidation; Consolidation of land holdings; Cost benefit analysis; Data quality; Economic development; Economic problems; Economics; Environmental degradation; Environmental impact; Environmental protection; Exploitation; Farmland compensation; Farmland requisition; financial economics; frontier areas; Grasslands; Guangdong Province; habitat fragmentation; Heterogeneity; issues and policy; Land; Land cover; Land reclamation; Land resources; land restoration; Land use; land use and land cover maps; Landscape; Landscape pattern; landscapes; Local government; Occupations; paddies; Policies; Quality; RCBF; Regions; Rural areas; Rural land use; Social classes; Socioeconomic factors; socioeconomics; Statistics; vector data; Woodlands; China; Landscape pattern; Farmland requisition; RCBF; Farmland compensation; Guangdong Province
• ISSN: 0264-8377; 1873-5754
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.008

•Paddy field failed to achieve quantitative balance and dry land was the main farmland compensated by woodland and grassland.•Landscape fragmentation and heterogeneity of farmland have been intensified.•Integrated institution involved RCBF could be established and farmers engaged in compensatory farmland should be encouraged.•Concrete technical specifications should be developed for land exploitation, reclamation and consolidation.•Problems and causes of farmland’s spatial distribution and landscape pattern changes under RCBF were quantitatively verify. This study analyzed the amount, heterogeneity, and pattern of farmland subject to the requisition–compensation balance of farmland (RCBF) policy from 2011 to 2015 in China’s economic development frontier area of Guangdong Province. The study used vector data for land-use and land-cover change and farmland quality from the Department of Land Resources of Guangdong Province and socio-economic statistical data from the statistical yearbook. To determine practical and potential problems during the implementation of RCBF, we calculated the differences between the area of compensatory farmland and requisitioned farmland according to different farmland types and quality grades at both the provincial and sub-regional scale. A series of pattern metrics reflecting land fragmentation and aggregation were identified at the class and landscape levels. The results revealed the presence of “superior occupation and inferior compensation” and “paddy field occupation and dry land compensation.” The landscape pattern experienced different degrees of influence after farmland requisition and compensation. The tendency was for a large area of woodland and grassland adjacent to each other to be exploited, leading to a series of ecological and environmental problems. Due to considerations of economic benefit and cost, much of the compensatory farmland provided following land exploitation has been inefficient, unreasonable, and unstable. Although some complementary policies have been proposed, such as “linking the increase in urban construction land with a decrease in rural construction land,” primary problems of RCBF are still difficult to be solved. We suggest that specific technical specifications for land exploitation, land reclamation, and land consolidation should be formed based on regional characteristics. Local government should improve the existing relevant support policies and continue to strengthen land reclamation and land consolidation in the future, with full consideration of the need for ecological environmental protection and improvement of the farmland landscape.