Abstract:
Farmland management right stability can increase farmers' motivation to invest in farmland and have varying degrees of an impact on their inputs, which in turn affect farmers' input structure. Based on the land property theory and a survey data from rural households in Manas County in Xinjiang, this paper examined the influencing relationship between farmland management right stability in three dimensions of law, fact, and perception and farmers' input structure of labor, machinery, and technology by the structural equation model and explored the influencing effects of farmland management right stability on farmers' input structure. Results indicate that the overall labor quality is not high, the household labor input is insufficient, and farmland management right is relatively secure. In addition, farmers' input structure can still be optimized, but the short farmland circulation period restricts them from making long-term investment. Farmland management right stability in the three dimensions of law, fact, and perception significantly affects farmers' inputs, and then affects farmers' input structure. Farmland management right stability in the three dimensions of law, fact, and perception also has significant positive impacts on labor input, machinery input, and technology input with some heterogeneity, respectively, in decreasing order as follows: labor input, machinery input, and technology input; technology input, machinery input, and labor input; and machinery input, labor input, and technology input. The perception of farmland management right stability by farmers impacts their expectations for investment, which reflects the fact that this stability has the greatest impact on machinery input in the perception dimension. Therefore, this paper provides the following policy recommendations: strengthening the market system for exchanging farmland management rights, assisting farmers in suitably extending the time of farmland circulation, and raising farmers' awareness of contract renewal to optimize farmers' input structure.