High-Quality Farm and Poverty Alleviation

Abstract

To evaluate large-scale publicly-funded projects aiming at improving farmland quality, we study the income effects of China’s High-standard Farmland Construction Program. We exploit the implementation of the program and conduct a difference-in-differences analysis. We find that the program improved per capita income for rural populations, mainly through short-term projects. We find that crop production gains driven by complementary inputs including machinery and fertilizer, combined with efficient land allocation rather than labor allocation, are the primary mechanisms that account for the impacts of this policy.