Address the challenge of cultivated land abandonment by cultivated land adoption: An evolutionary game perspective

Cultivated land abandonment constitutes a global phenomenon that poses a significant threat to both the ecological environment and food security . The cultivated land adoption model emerges as an innovative agricultural business paradigm designed to address the challenges of cultivated land abandonment. To scrutinize the intrinsic mechanisms and conditions conducive to effective implementation, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model. It analyzes the synergistic cooperative behaviors and evolutionary stable equilibrium among urban residents, farmers, and the local government within the cultivated land adoption project. The findings reveal the potential for achieving six evolutionary stable equilibrium under specific conditions. Active government regulation, urban residents' adoption, and farmers' cooperation emerge as the ideal scenarios for effective regulation, promoting a substantial reduction in cultivated land abandonment. The government's regulatory conduct assumes a pivotal role in the success of cultivated land adoption project. A government with elevated political efficacy, reduced regulatory costs, significant penalties, and substantial subsidies demonstrates increased motivation and willingness to regulate effectively, thereby fostering cooperation between urban residents and farmers. The equitable distribution of benefits between urban residents and farmers emerges as a critical factor influencing cultivated land adoption initiatives. Urban residents exhibit greater motivation and willingness to participate when afforded increased green preference benefits, local sentiment preference benefits, and additional economic gains through cultivated land adoption. Similarly, farmers are more motivated and willing to cooperate with urban residents when presented with enhanced income opportunities from cultivated land adoption. The findings of this paper contribute to the refinement of land resource management theory and not only synthesize and integrate China's experience with cultivated land adoption but also offer a valuable management model for other countries to address the issue of land abandonment. • Utilizes an evolutionary game model to analysis cultivated land adoption. • Explores the impact of government regulation, urban engagement, and farmer collaboration. • Highlights the government's pivotal role in cultivating land adoption success. • Emphasizes equitable benefit sharing between urban dwellers and farmers. • Provides a scalable model to tackle global cultivated land abandonment.