Farmers’ income increase and catch-up effect of agricultural organization management：a case study of the rice-crayfish co-culture model

Agricultural organization management is an important approach to promoting farmers’ income growth. Based on micro-survey data of rice-crayfish farmers in Hubei Province in 2023, this study empirically examines the impact and mechanisms of agricultural organization management on farmers’ income, and further explores its catch-up effect of “raising the low and expanding the middle”. The results show that: 1) agricultural organization management has a significant positive effect on farmers’ income, with a coefficient of 0.510, and this conclusion remains valid after addressing endogeneity and conducting robustness tests; 2) by participating in agricultural organization management, farmers achieve significant income growth through human capital accumulation, service scaling, and transaction cost reduction; 3) agricultural organization management effectively reduces the village-level Gini coefficient and the individual income deprivation coefficient, with stronger income-enhancing effects on low-income, middle-aged and elderly, and small-scale farmers, thereby helping to narrow internal income disparities. Therefore, it is necessary to actively promote the improvement of farmers’ participation in agricultural organization management and to leverage its spillover effects in human capital accumulation, service scaling, and transaction cost reduction to facilitate income growth and reduce income inequality.