Effect of farmer entrepreneurship on rural poverty alleviation in China

Abstract

Aim: In recent years, entrepreneurship is considered as an alternative pathway to reducing poverty in developing and emerging economies. This paper mainly examines the effect of farmer entrepreneurship on rural poverty alleviation in China by assessing the influence of three capabilities of farm entrepreneurs namely; education, economic and socio-culture on farmer entrepreneurship growth, and how this in turn affects alleviation of rural poverty. Materials and methods: Household survey data was taken from 363 employees of farmer entrepreneurial firms in four deprived communities in two Provinces of China. Structural equation modeling was employed for the data analysis using AMOS 21.0, alongside SPSS 20.0 Results: The results indicate that there is a positive and statistically significant effect of farmer entrepreneurship on rural poverty alleviation in China. The qualitative growth of farmer entrepreneurship has stronger positive influence (β=0.70) on rural poverty than quantitative growth (β=0.12); and respondents’ socio-cultural capabilities exert greater influence on quantitative growth of farmer entrepreneurship (β=0.42) than on qualitative growth (β=0.39). Conclusion: There is a positive and significant effect of farmer entrepreneurship on rural poverty alleviation in China. The paper suggests the government of China helps to equip farmers in poverty-stricken areas with entrepreneurial skills to establish their own entrepreneurial firms to improve their living conditions.