Labor transfer, ownership of agricultural machinery and farmers’ productivity

Based on the data of China Labor-force Dynamics Survey（CLDS） in 2016, this paper uses the Stochastic Frontier Approach to measure the productivity of peasant households, and uses the Tobit model to test the impact of family labor force transfer on the productivity of peasant households, and further verify the moderating effect of ownership of agricultural machinery on the relationship between the labor transfer and farmers’ productivity. The study finds that household labor transfer has a significant restriction effect on the productivity of farmers. The use of agricultural machinery can significantly improve the productivity of farmers, but the ownership of agricultural machinery plays a more positive role than the rental of agricultural machinery in alleviating the adverse effect of labor transfer on the productivity of farmers. Therefore, the government should guide farmers to purchase and use advanced and applicable agricultural machinery, innovate the use and management of subsidy funds, and improve farmers’ ability to purchase and use machinery.