The Income-Boosting Effect of Agricultural Product Quality Improvement on Farmers from the Perspective of Industrial Agglomeration: Empirical Evidence from National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Counties
The Income-Boosting Effect of Agricultural Product Quality Improvement on Farmers from the Perspective of Industrial Agglomeration: Empirical Evidence from National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Counties
GAO Peng, WAN Junyi
School of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Abstract Taking the pilot policy of establishing National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Counties as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs panel data from 1,599 counties in China spanning 2013 to 2023 to systematically examine the impact and underlying mechanisms of agricultural product quality improvement on farmers’ income growth from the perspective of industrial agglomeration. The study shows that improving the quality of agricultural products has a significant and long-term effect on increasing farmers’ income, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analyses indicate that this income-enhancing effect operates mainly through agricultural value chain extension, rural employment expansion, and improvements in agricultural labor productivity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the income-enhancing effects of agricultural product quality improvement are significantly more pronounced in regions with higher levels of innovation capacity, educational development, transportation infrastructure, and e-commerce penetration. Furthermore, the effects on income distribution exhibit significant heterogeneity, manifesting as a narrowing of the urban-rural income gap accompanied by a widening of intra-rural income disparity. These conclusions have confirmed that enhancing agricultural product quality effectively increases farmers’ income. This provides a policy basis for improvement of the agricultural quality supervision system and the expansion of farmer’sincome-generating channels.
GAO Peng,WAN Junyi. The Income-Boosting Effect of Agricultural Product Quality Improvement on Farmers from the Perspective of Industrial Agglomeration: Empirical Evidence from National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Counties. Economic Survey, 2026, 43(2): 048.
2026, Vol. 43 
