Why do landslides impact farmland abandonment? Evidence from hilly and mountainous areas of rural China

In hilly and mountainous areas of China, landslides are a common geological hazard that threatens agricultural production and has a profound impact on farmers’ production behavior. This study aims to understand the natural factors and internal logical mechanisms that lead to farmland abandonment. More specifically, based on a sustainable livelihood framework that couples Marxist land rent theory, the new labor migration economics theory, and the human-land relationship and geographic system theory, this study builds a theoretical analysis framework that: differences in natural environmental shocks lead to differences in livelihood strategy, and then lead to differences in farmland use, which explore the impact of landslides on farmland abandonment and how this impact is affected by the mechanism of off-farm employment. Based on CLDS2014 micro-survey data, the empirical results find that (1) compared with farmers who have not experienced landslides, farmers who experienced landslides abandon a larger area of farmland, (2) Landslides significantly increase the possibility of farmers participating in off-farm employment, (3) Off-farm employment plays an important role in the impact of landslides on farmland abandonment. Thus, this study may help developing counties to further understand rural revitalization, especially to provide reference for disaster management policies.