What Drives Land Abandonment in Core Grain-Producing Areas? Evidence from China

Food security remains a major issue for developing countries. Reducing arable land abandonment (ALA) is crucial to ensuring food security. In China, the ‘decline in both quantity and quality’ of arable land resources, especially in major grain-producing areas, has become increasingly serious. This study uses fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the core conditions and combinations of paths leading to explicit and implicit abandonment using 30 typical cases in the main grain-producing areas of Hubei Province. The results show that (1) three combined pathways lead to explicit ALA (EALA) and that two pathways lead to implicit ALA (IALA); (2) laborer health (LH) is the core condition leading to EALA; and (3) LH, agricultural laborer (AL), per capita income (PCI) and social relationships (SRs) are the core conditions leading to IALA. To effectively alleviate ALA, the government should improve production conditions, pay attention to laborer health issues, improve agricultural returns and strengthen food security publicity and guidance, thereby promoting the rational use of arable land in these areas. The findings in this study link the changes in arable land use and provide a reference for other developing countries in ensuring food security.