ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
The Impact of Property Rights Security Perception and Policy Incentives on Farmers' Adoption of Saline-Alkali Farmland Improvement Technologies--Evidence in Rural Xinjiang, China
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Public Administration, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China, Urumqi, China
- 2Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, Nanjing, 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
Salinization of farmland poses a critical threat to sustainable agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions. This study investigates how farmers' perceptions of property rights security influence the adoption of saline–alkali land improvement technologies in the context of China's "Separation of Three Rights" reform, with particular attention to the moderating role of policy incentives. The results show that: (1) Farmers' perceptions of property rights security significantly affect both the likelihood and intensity of technology adoption. Recognition of property rights certificates and understanding of future land policies promote adoption, whereas concerns over land expropriation risks hinder it. (2) Policy incentives significantly moderate these relationships, with agricultural technology training exerting the strongest effect on adoption intensity. (3) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that large-scale operators are more responsive to property rights security, resulting in higher adoption rates. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening property rights protection—through accelerated registration and stable policy expectations—and integrating targeted policy incentives to reduce adoption barriers. Differentiated support strategies should be designed, particularly for large-scale land operators, to foster sustainable land improvement in saline–alkali-affected regions.
Keywords: property rights security perception, Policy incentives, saline-alkali farmland improvement, Moderating effect, Xinjiang
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 13 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abudikeranmu, Wang and Rao. 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: Abudureheman Abudikeranmu, abdrhm66@163.com
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.