Off-Farm Employment, Outsourced Machinery Services, and Farmers' Ratoon Rice Production Behavior: Evidence from Rice Farmers in Central China

Promoting ratoon rice is a critical measure for ensuring food security in China. Understanding the mechanism underlying farmers' decision-making involving ratoon rice production may contribute to the design and implementation of extension policies. This study examined the impact of off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services on farmers' ratoon rice production behavior. We used a representative household survey of 1752 rice farmers in Hubei province in central China and a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model to address potential self-selection biases from both observable and unobservable factors. Our estimates suggest that the probability of ratoon rice production decreases by 17.2% for farmers with off-farm employment, while the probability of ratoon rice production increases by 78.9% and 57% for farmers with outsourced machinery services and those with simultaneous off-farm employment and outsourced machinery services, respectively. Moreover, we found that outsourced machinery services can mitigate the negative impact of agricultural labor aging and feminization on ratoon rice production to some extent. Outsourced machinery services have regional heterogeneity effects as farmers in non-plain areas are more likely to engage in ratoon rice production.