Can Land Transfer-In Improve Farmers’ Farmland Quality Protection Behavior? Empirical Evidence from Micro-Survey Data in Hubei Province, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript presents an interesting analysis of the impact of land transfer on farmers' agricultural soil quality protection behaviour in Hubei, China. However, a detailed revision of the manuscript is recommended to improve the argumentative coherence, clarity in the exposition of the results, and accuracy in some statements lacking bibliographical references. All comments can be found in the paper

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you very much for the valuable comments and suggestions provided by the reviewer. We have carefully reviewed the feedback and made revisions accordingly, as detailed in the PDF file. We sincerely appreciate the reviewer’s hard work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper presents a study analysing the impact of the land transfer-in on the farmers’ behaviour towards farmland quality protection. The study is based on the micro-survey in Hubei, China.

Introduction: the authors presented the study background in great detail. It must be underlined that the explanation of transfer-in phenomenon is presented, which can be of great help to readers not familiar with Chinese rural areas.

Theoretical Analysis and Research Hypotheses: Figure 1: the title of this figure is not clear.

The authors posed 4 research hypotheses.

Methods: The study is based on interviews. The authors did not mention the sampling technique nor the representativeness of the chosen sample.

Results and Analysis: The authors clearly presented numerous analysis of the relation between different variables and their impact on farmers’ behaviour. The findings are compelling.

Discussion: This section is well-designed and written. It is based on the study findings.

Conclusions: The authors presented research conclusions and policy recommendations. They are both based on study findings.

Author Response

Thank you very much for the valuable comments and suggestions provided by the reviewer. We have carefully reviewed the feedback and made revisions accordingly, as detailed in the PDF file. We sincerely appreciate the reviewer’s hard work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have adequately addressed the comments made in the previous round. The manuscript has been editorially corrected, redundancies have been eliminated and clarity has been improved. Likewise, additional bibliographical references have been incorporated to strengthen the discussion. I consider that the manuscript has been significantly improved.