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Empirical analysis of the main factors influencing rice harvest losses based on sampling survey data of ten provinces in China

Linhai Wu (Food Safety Research Base of Jiangsu Province, School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China) (Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China)
Qipeng Hu (Food Safety Research Base of Jiangsu Province, School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China)
Jianhua Wang (Food Safety Research Base of Jiangsu Province, School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China)
Dian Zhu (Department of Economics, School of Dongwu Business, Soochow University, Suzhou, China) (School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China)

China Agricultural Economic Review

ISSN: 1756-137X

Article publication date: 2 May 2017

490

Abstract

Purpose

In China, a major grain producer, rice losses during harvest cannot be ignored. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of rice harvest losses in major grain-producing areas in China by a sampling survey, and to further analyze the main factors influencing rice harvest losses using an ordered multinomial logistic model.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, data were collected using a multi-stage sampling method from ten major rice-producing provinces/regions in China. On this basis, five counties were selected from each of these provinces/regions. In the actual survey, house numbers were randomly selected, and then corresponding farmer households were visited by trained investigators.

Findings

The survey found that 56.22 percent of respondents believed that rice harvest losses were 4 percent or lower in China, though there were differences among the provinces. The proportion of family business income, planting scale, mechanization level, timely harvest, and operational meticulousness had negative effects on rice harvest losses. On the other hand, farmers’ experience of employment as migrant workers had a positive effect on rice harvest losses. In addition, bad weather and short handedness during harvest significantly increased rice harvest losses.

Originality/value

The meaning of rice harvest losses was defined based on previous research findings on the definition of grain harvest losses and the realities in China. The current rice harvest losses in different areas in China were analyzed based on sampling survey data from 957 farmers in ten provinces in China.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was a staged achievement of the 2015 special project on nonprofit grain industry research, “Research on investigation and assessment techniques for post-harvest grain losses and waste” (Project Number: 201513004-6), and the project “Food Safety Risk Management (China)” (Project Number: 2017JDZD01) supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” and Research on Chinese Food Safety Incidents Based on Big Data, a project of Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Project Number: 2015JDZD01).

Citation

Wu, L., Hu, Q., Wang, J. and Zhu, D. (2017), "Empirical analysis of the main factors influencing rice harvest losses based on sampling survey data of ten provinces in China", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 287-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-03-2016-0036

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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