ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1650689
When Farmers Walk Away: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Farmland Abandonment through Land-Use Change and Farmer Interviews in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, Southwestern China
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Business, Chongqing College of Humanities, Science and Technology, Chongqing, China, Chongqing, China
- 2Institute for Ecology and Environmental Resources, Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences, Chongqing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Farmland abandonment poses a critical threat to food security, ecological stability, and sustainable rural development, particularly in China's hilly and mountainous regions. This study examines the spatial distribution and socioeconomic determinants of farmland abandonment in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (CCEC), located in the upper Yangtze River Basin. Drawing on multitemporal land use data, we quantify the extent and spatial variation of abandonment over the past decade. Supplementary household survey data were analyzed using a Binary Logistic Regression Model to identify key drivers behind farmers' abandonment decisions. The results reveal pronounced spatial heterogeneity, with dryland abandonment exceeding 20% and paddy field abandonment surpassing 8% in peripheral mountainous zones. Major positive drivers include household labor aging (β = 1.218; marginal effect: 27.1%), low net farming income (below 7500 RMB/hectare; 21.4%), high dependence on hired labor (18.3%), and land fragmentation (β = 0.217; 5.3%). In contrast, higher educational attainment, access to agricultural subsidies, greater policy awareness, and larger household size significantly reduce abandonment likelihood. While natural and institutional factors were considered, socioeconomic variables exhibited more statistically robust and consistent influence on farmland abandonment decisions within the study area. These findings provide empirical insights for designing targeted rural revitalization policies that address labor shortages, enhance agricultural returns, and promote sustainable land use in mountainous regions.
Keywords: Food security, Farmland abandonment, Socioeconomic drivers, Binary logistic regression model, Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle
Received: 30 Jun 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhou and Dai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Peng Zhou, School of Business, Chongqing College of Humanities, Science and Technology, Chongqing, China, Chongqing, China
Yunchuan Dai, Institute for Ecology and Environmental Resources, Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences, Chongqing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.