Research on the Effect of the Rural Wealth-Leader on Poverty Reduction of Farmers—Based on the Questionnaire Survey in China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Thank you for your paper which is concerning the rural wealth-leader on poverty reduction.
The title is too long, please reduce it.
Please explain the meaning of rural wealth leaders. I would like to know exactly what is the role, position etc of the rural wealth-leader.
The countries in the title maybe can be changed into regions? And please make the title shorter.
Line 56 – is it really important that information? „Xi Jinping solemnly announced” – this is a scientific paper, not political. The next lines also are political, not scientific. And this wording: of my country – please don’t use it.
Line 72 – What does it mean? 3.2 people had been trained
Line 80, Line 113 - Please don’t use such wording: in Our country
Please, explain the meaning of altruism in this case. Authors wrote: farmers' income is bidirectional, with "altruism" as the main factor.
Moreover, what is the meaning of „elite capture”? Authors wrote: In the process of development-oriented poverty alleviation, the rural wealth-leaders, as an important part of the rural elite, are characterized by "profit-seeking". They complete production accumulation through independent operation and "elite capture", and can obtain more resources through "elite capture".
Line 209 – please check the grammar of this sentence.
Line 362 – the paper will be published in the international journal, so please explain this: (200- 362 500 yuan) and the fourth range (1000-2000 yuan)
I didn’t find verification of H4.
Please make a separate section: recommendation instead of conclusion and Policy suggestion.
I hope that after changing it will be easier to understand.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: The title is too long, please reduce it.
Response 1: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! After communicating with the co-authors, we have simplified and modified the title. The revised content is shown in the paper.
Point 2: Please explain the meaning of rural wealth leaders. I would like to know exactly what is the role, position etc of the rural wealth-leader.
Response 2: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! After communicating with the co-authors, we believe that the addition of this part will help non-Chinese readers to understand the rural wealth-leader. Therefore, we have added relevant statements about the explain of rural wealth-leader in the abstract part.
Point 3: Line 56 – is it really important that information? „ Xi Jinping solemnly announced” – this is a scientific paper, not political. The next lines also are political, not scientific. And this wording: of my country – please don’t use it.
Response 3: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! We have cut and modified the content of the part in this paragraph, in order to focus on the main purpose of the article.
Point 4: Line 72 – What does it mean? 3.2 people had been trained.
Response 4: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! The original text is that there is 3.2 people had been trained in each village, for the sake of understanding, we round the number.
Point 5: Please, explain the meaning of altruism in this case. Authors wrote: farmers' income is bidirectional, with "altruism" as the main factor.
Response 5: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! The original text is that the rural wealth-leaders' influence on farmers' income is bidirectional, with "altruism" as the main factor. The rural wealth-leaders' industries are localized and form a community of interests with local capital and labor, thus possessing the motivation of "altruism". Meanwhile, the rural wealth-leaders are those who have deep feelings for the countryside and have a strong sense of dedication. We have added relevant statements in the article.
Point 6: Moreover, what is the meaning of „elite capture”? Authors wrote: In the process of development-oriented poverty alleviation, the rural wealth-leaders, as an important part of the rural elite, are characterized by "profit-seeking". They complete production accumulation through independent operation and "elite capture", and can obtain more resources through "elite capture".
Response 6: Elite capture is a concept of developing sociology, generally refers to behavior of elite populations to occupy, misappropriation and control of public resources. This article refers to the advantages of rural elites using capital, power and social relationship, and the occupational behavior of rural specific resources and extrusion behavior of other groups.
Point 7: Please make a separate section: recommendation instead of conclusion and Policy suggestion.
Response 7: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! We split the conclusions and recommendations.
Point 8: Other details need to be modified.
Response 8: We have modified some details of the expression in the paper.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The presentation reflects the present state of knowledge. The paper is very well structured. The Introduction section is good, in this section the authors presents clearly the objectives and the main contributions of the study. The authors had provided sufficient background and include relevant references. The research design is innovative and appropriate. The method is adequately described. The results are clearly presented. The conclusions must be improved, clearly indicating the main conclusion, and relating it to the literature supporting the paper ("according to (...), or" unlike (...) ").
Author Response
Point 1: The presentation reflects the present state of knowledge. The paper is very well structured. The Introduction section is good, in this section the authors presents clearly the objectives and the main contributions of the study. The authors had provided sufficient background and include relevant references. The research design is innovative and appropriate. The method is adequately described. The results are clearly presented. The conclusions must be improved, clearly indicating the main conclusion, and relating it to the literature supporting the paper ("according to (...), or" unlike (...) ").
Response 1: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! We split the conclusions and recommendations. Besides, some modifications have been made to the conclusions.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Journal: Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050)
Manuscript ID: sustainability-1629652
Type: Article
Number of Pages: 14
Title: An empirical study on the effect of individual characteristics of the rural wealth-leader on poverty reduction and income increase of farmers--Based on the questionnaire survey of 10 cities and 21 counties in China.
Dear Authors,
It has been for me a great honour, as well as a pleasantly challenging activity, to review the article entitled “An empirical study on the effect of individual characteristics of the rural wealth-leader on poverty reduction and income increase of farmers--Based on the questionnaire survey of 10 cities and 21 counties in China.”
Overall, the article is interesting and easy to read. However, I suggest that the Authors introduce a few corrections (given below).
In my opinion, the Introduction chapter well introduces potential readers to the topics discussed by the Authors. The aim of the paper is clearly stated. However, I would suggest that the Authors better articulate the article’s novelty.
Theoretical Analysis and Research Hypothesis
This chapter is based on well-chosen literature. It’s is divided into three logically following subchapters and is well illustrated with two pictures. The hypotheses are clear. However, I would suggest extending the description of the rural situation factors to the factors that influence livelihood strategies by the influence of the distance from urban areas in which inhabitants of rural areas live. This is discussed e.g. in: MARCYSIAK, T., et al. Life strategies of rural inhabitants of unfixed economic function. In: Agrarian Perspectives XXVI. Competitiveness of European Agriculture and Food Sectors, Proceedings of the 26th International Conference, 13-15 September 2017 Prague, Czech Republic. Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, 2017. p. 212-218.
Materials and Methods
The description of the methods and research procedure is not sufficiently clear. In addition, I would suggest adding methodological literature that would justify the use of the research methods used. I would also like to suggest adding a map showing where the research area was located.
In my opinion, the Results are presented in an understandable way, however, there is no broader discussion of the obtained research results with similar research conducted. This article is a research report (in its current form) rather than a scientific article discussing the obtained research results with the existing literature.
The Conclusions and Policy Suggestions are interesting. But it would be worth mentioning the limitations encountered by the Authors while conducting the research, and indicate how they could have influenced the obtained results and, consequently, the conclusions drawn. I leave it for the Authors' consideration, but I will not insist on that suggestion.
I don't feel competent to comment on linguistic correctness as English is not my mother tongue.
Author Response
Point 1: In my opinion, the Introduction chapter well introduces potential readers to the topics discussed by the Authors. The aim of the paper is clearly stated. However, I would suggest that the Authors better articulate the article’s novelty.
Response 1: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! After communicating with the co-authors, we have replenish the novelty part of the paper. The revised content is shown in the paper.
Point 2: I would suggest extending the description of the rural situation factors to the factors that influence livelihood strategies by the influence of the distance from urban areas in which inhabitants of rural areas live. This is discussed e.g. in: MARCYSIAK, T., et al. Life strategies of rural inhabitants of unfixed economic function. In: Agrarian Perspectives XXVI. Competitiveness of European Agriculture and Food Sectors, Proceedings of the 26th International Conference, 13-15 September 2017 Prague, Czech Republic. Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, 2017. p. 212-218.
Response 2: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! After communicating with the co-authors, we believe that urban distances will affect the livelihood decisions of farmers to a certain extent in some studies, but due to the promotion of Chinese rural resolution, the rural road has been greatly improved, and the distance from the country to the city or county has been greatly reduced, in this article The sample is almost no effect. In addition, this paper mainly considers the farmers of local employment. Therefore, the distance between the country to the city is weaker.
Point 3: The description of the methods and research procedure is not sufficiently clear. In addition, I would suggest adding methodological literature that would justify the use of the research methods used. I would also like to suggest adding a map showing where the research area was located.
Response 3: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! We increased the description of the methodology literature. Since the distribution of data in various provinces is not uniform, and the difference in China's rural villages is small, so we believe that there is no need to make a map display.
Point 4: The Conclusions and Policy Suggestions are interesting. But it would be worth mentioning the limitations encountered by the Authors while conducting the research, and indicate how they could have influenced the obtained results and, consequently, the conclusions drawn. I leave it for the Authors' consideration, but I will not insist on that suggestion.
Response 4: Thank you very much for your valuable comments! Since the topic of the paper is relatively new, there will be more shortcomings, we hope to provide you with a new research and discussion perspective, so we have no specific discussion of the limitations of the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors, can you explain why you wrote a political statement in lines 54-62. I asked you to reduce information that is added to the main core of the research. Maybe you should write that there is a conflict of interest at the end of the paper? If your paper received funds you need to write positive words about the funder?
About other parts of the paper, it is ok.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your valuable comments! Because the rural wealth-leader is generated in the big background of poverty alleviation and the village revitalization in China, we want to explain the relevant policy background to facilitate understanding. Considering that the direct relationship may be insufficient to the papers, we have deleted this part after discussing with the co-authors. In addition, we increase the acknowledgment part in the final part of the article. The revised content is shown in the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The Authors made major revisions of the manuscript and provided sufficient explanations. However, in my opinion, some of these explanations, e.g. about the lower importance of the distance from urban areas in China compared to other countries, could be included in the text of the article and not only in responses to reviews.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your valuable comments! After communicating with the co-authors, we have added relevant explanations in the control variables section. The revised content is shown in the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
