A Study on Herders’ Satisfaction with the Transfer of Grassland Contracting Rights and Its Influencing Factors

Abstract

Grassland transfer is of great significance in promoting herders’ income, improving the ecological environment, promoting the socio-economic development of pastoral areas, and solving grass–animal conflicts. This paper takes West Ujimqin Banner, which is located in the typical grassland of Inner Mongolia, as a typical case, and analyzes the influencing factors of herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights through the field research data of herdsmen using a regression model and ROC curve. The study shows that herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights is high; the ROC curve test logistic model has a better prediction effect; and the factors that have a significant effect on herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights are gender, total annual income, annual non-herding income, whether the grassland is fully transferred, the rents, the satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy, whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer, and other variables. Among them, gender has a small effect on herders’ grassland transfer satisfaction; variables such as rents, satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy, and whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer have a medium effect on herders’ satisfaction; and variables such as total annual income, annual non-herding income, and whether the grassland is fully transferred have a large effect on herders’ satisfaction.

1. Introduction

Grassland in China is mainly distributed in the northern and western border areas of the motherland, accounting for 2/5 of the total area of the country, which is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in China and the main source of production and life for pastoralists in the pastoral areas [1]. Due to natural factors such as climate, soil, and biology, as well as anthropogenic reasons such as overloading and overgrazing and bias in grassland management policies, grasslands have been degraded in large areas, which has triggered a series of livelihood and ecological environment problems. For example, grassland ecosystems have been damaged to varying degrees, and the development of pastoral animal husbandry in pastoral areas has been impeded [2]. Natural factors cannot be changed, but anthropogenic factors can mitigate the impact on grasslands by adopting a reasonable and orderly way to ensure their perpetual and reasonable use [3,4].

The grassland of Inner Mongolia is an important ecological function area in the north of China, and the degraded area of grassland reached 31.77% of the total area of grassland in the whole region by 1999 [5]. In order to reduce the area of grassland degradation and improve the production capacity, the regional government has adopted measures such as grassland fencing [6,7] and a grassland bonus policy [8,9,10]. With the development of the social economy and the diversification of employment forms, most laborers in pastoral areas choose to go to the city to work, change their jobs, and engage in non-pastoral work [11], which provides conditions for large-scale grassland transfer. It has been proven that grassland transfer is a necessary way to integrate the small-scale operations of grassland, and it is a necessary basic condition to realize rural revitalization and the modernization of the pastoral industry. In order to realize the large-scale management of grassland, improve the modernization level and competitiveness of the pastoral industry, and alleviate the pressure of grassland grazing, the state has begun to encourage the transfer of grassland. And, relying on the “three rights of separation” [12] and the grassland confirmation of the rights [13,14], a herdsman can trade grassland in order to obtain rent. Grassland transfer can realize the reasonable and optimal allocation of grassland among different subjects and promote the concentration of dispersed and fragmented grassland into the hands of large-scale operators so as to improve the productivity of grassland [15], expand the utilization rate [16], and maintain grassland ecological security [17].

The grassland contracting right transfer policy has been implemented for more than 20 years [18]. At present, for most scholars, promoting grassland transfer mainly from the transfer of willingness and transfer behavior are two aspects of exploration. In the grassland transfer willingness, herders’ personal characteristics, family resource endowment [19], livestock breeding [20], external environment [21], livelihood strategy [22], and other aspects have a significant impact on herders’ grassland transfer willingness. In the study of grassland transfer behavior, factors such as social network [23], grassland type [24,25], geographic location [26,27], financial support [28], government intervention [29,30], and grassland ecological rewards [31,32] and income effects [33] significantly influence herders’ grassland transfer behavior. In addition, some scholars have also found that there is an inconsistency between grassland transfer willingness and behavior, and when the internal factor of family characteristics and external factors such as market, management, society, and nature interact with each other, the probability of inconsistency between grassland transfer willingness and behavior will be increased or decreased [34]. The continuous expansion of the marginal output level of grassland between herdsmen is an effective measure to promote the transfer of willingness to transfer behavior [35].

Willingness focuses on ex ante attitudes, while satisfaction focuses on ex post attitudes, and the study of ex post attitudes is more useful for policy maintenance and improvement [36,37]. Currently, academics have mainly explored the satisfaction of arable land transfers. Chen et al. (2017) established a farmer satisfaction index framework from the subjective feelings of farmers and used quantitative analysis methods to conduct a study, and the results showed that farmers’ personnel interactions in land transfer are effective factors affecting satisfaction, impression perception and government image are important factors, reliability is a key factor, and perceived quality is a decisive factor [38]. Chen et al. (2018) found that farmers’ expectations of various types of risks in the process of agricultural land transfer, the process of implementation of agricultural land transfer policy, and its effects are the determining factors affecting their satisfaction with the transfer of agricultural land; farmers should show more significant economic rationality for the transfer of agricultural land; and the gender of the farmers, the level of education and the annual income of the family have a significant positive effect on their satisfaction [39]. Niu et al. (2020) conducted a study on the relationship between risk perception, transfer characteristics, and farmers’ satisfaction, and the results showed that the impact of farmers and family characteristics on land transfer satisfaction is small, the impact of land transfer characteristics on land transfer satisfaction is at a medium level, and the impact of farmers’ perception of the risk of land transfer on land transfer satisfaction is very significant [37]. Ma et al. (2015) found that the cultural level of farmers and the cognitive level of land transfer policy are important factors affecting satisfaction, profit drive is a significant factor, and a sound preventive mechanism for land transfer can improve farmers’ enthusiasm for land transfer [40].

The research on herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer is mainly focused on the satisfaction aspect of grassland ecological compensation policy at this stage, and its variable selection mainly focuses on the levels of herders’ social characteristics [41,42,43], behavioral response [44,45], external conditions [46,47], and income influence [48,49,50,51]. Hu et al. (2016) concluded that the implementation of a grassland ecological compensation policy has improved the ecological environment to a certain extent and that the grassland ecological compensation standard needs to be adjusted depending on the region [52]. Zhou et al.’s (2019) study showed that there is a difference in the satisfaction of farmers and herdsmen with the grassland ecological compensation policy in grassland–animal balance areas and forbidden grazing areas [53]. Sun et al. (2018) concluded that cadre efficiency and procedural fairness are closely related to herders’ satisfaction with grassland subsidy policies [54].

In summary, domestic scholars have extensively discussed the promotion of grassland flow in pastoral areas and have achieved relatively fruitful results. However, the following deficiencies exist: First, the limitations of the research theme. Academics’ current research on land transfer satisfaction mainly focuses on arable land transfer satisfaction, while direct research on pastoralists’ grassland transfer satisfaction is relatively scarce. Second, the fragmentation of satisfaction research. A small number of existing satisfaction studies have focused on grassland ecological protection policies; for example, although Hu et al. (2016) [52] and Zhou et al. (2019) [53] explored the impact of ecological compensation standards on herders’ satisfaction, the object of their studies was grassland ecological protection policies, not grassland transfer itself. Third, the limitations of the research method. Simply using a logistic regression model to analyze and predict the influencing factors of herders’ grassland transfer satisfaction has limitations in its significance, while introducing an ROC curve to optimize the prediction threshold setting is necessary and scientific. Fourth, the current literature on the promotion of grassland transfer in pastoral areas is mostly based on transfer willingness and behavior, so the research on herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer can play a complementary role. To address the above deficiencies, this paper selects West Ujimqin Banner, a typical grassland area in Inner Mongolia, as the study area. Variables are selected from herders’ personal characteristics, family characteristics, resource endowment, grassland transfer characteristics, policy perceptions, risk expectations, etc., and the method of combining the logistic model and ROC curve is used to study herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights and its influencing factors, and the research results of this paper are useful for promoting herders’ income, promoting grassland transfer, realizing the sustainable use of grassland resources, and maintaining the stability of the border areas of the motherland has important practical significance.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area and Data Sources

The data for this study came from a field study conducted in July–October 2022 on herders in West Ujimqin Banner. West Ujimqin grassland is a typical area of Xilingol grassland, the only area that brings together nine major types of grassland in Inner Mongolia, and as early as the 1980s after the start of the implementation of the Grand Package, 87.13% of the collective grassland of the whole flag was contracted to households, and a family-based management system was implemented. West Ujimqin Banner is one of the pilot banners and counties in Inner Mongolia for the reform of the transfer of grassland contracting rights. In order to realize the moderate-scale operation of grassland and to cultivate the new-scale operation main body, West Ujimqin Banner actively carries out the reform of the grassland transfer mechanism and has formulated a number of supporting documents, such as ‘Management Measures for the Transfer of Grassland Contracting Right of West Ujimqin Banner’, ‘Management Measures for the Prohibition of Animal Husbandry and Grass-Livestock Balance of West Ujimqin Banner’, and so on. Therefore, the study area selected for this paper has good representativeness and typicality. The location of the study area is shown in Figure 1.

In order to fully understand the current situation of the study area and herdsmen’s satisfaction with the flow of grassland contracting rights, herdsmen’s survey work is divided into three stages to carry out. In the first stage, the positioning and development status of the research sample point gacha was understood through communication with the cadres of the sumu (town) (Sumu is a unique township-level administrative area in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. The administrative status of Sumu is the same as that of streets, towns, townships, ethnic townships, ethnic sumu, and county precincts, and it belongs to the township-level administrative area, which is under the jurisdiction of the municipal precincts, county cities, counties, flags, and autonomous banners) and gacha (Mongolian administrative villages are called gacha. Under the administrative establishment of the flag belonging to the relevant league or city in Inner Mongolia, there is a gacha (at the same level as an administrative village)) in the form of talks so as to grasp the overall situation. In the second stage, a combination of structured and semi-structured interviews was used to conduct a random sample survey of grassland transfer herders to collect quantitative and detailed information on herders and gain an in-depth understanding of herders’ satisfaction. In this research, in order to verify the reasonableness of the questionnaire, ensure the accuracy of the research results, and avoid large deviations in the formal research, five grassland flow herders in Wulanhalaga Sumu were firstly selected for the pre-survey, and the comprehensiveness and logic of the questionnaire were adjusted. In the official research, due to the flag government seat, Balagargole town is a community, and the General forestry farm is mainly forest land, so there is no grassland flow, so the other 4 towns and 2 sumus of 30 gacha launched the research. The following measures were taken to avoid bias in the selection of respondents: (1) Avoiding the researcher’s own characteristics affecting the selection, therefore randomly selecting herders for interviews to ensure the representativeness of the sample. (2) Maintain neutrality during the research process and avoid providing personal opinions to ensure herders express their views freely. (3) In order to reduce herders’ concerns, the questionnaire used confidentiality, thus obtaining more realistic data. Five gacha were randomly selected in each sumu (town), and 6 to 8 questionnaires were randomly distributed in each gacha, for a total of 200 questionnaires, and after eliminating samples missing important indicators, 177 valid questionnaires were finally obtained, with the validity rate of the questionnaires being 88.5%. In the third stage, the information obtained in the first two stages is supplemented with research on the basis of which the characteristics of the study area and the existence of practical problems are further explored. The sample distribution is shown in

Table 1. Distribution of the research sample.

Research on Soums (Towns)	Survey and Investigate a Monastery	Sample Proportion/%
Gaorihan	Bayandele; Baoribaolage; Tulaga; Geriletu; Baorihushu	18.64
Bayanhua	Wulantuga; Bayanhubo; Bayandurige; Hanwula; Sarulabaolage	19.77
Wulanhalaga	Sarulatuya; Daburitu; Bayannaoer; Erihetuaobao; Arihushu	12.99
Haoletugaole	Alatangaole; Yarigaitu; Bayanhari; Wuritugaole; Bayanerihetu	13.56
Bayanhushu	Buridun; Chaidamu; Shutu; Bayanchagan; Hariatu	18.09
Jirengaole	Xianagayinbaolage; HuhexiliZhagesitai; Bayanhonggeer; Bayantala	16.95

.

2.2. Basic Characteristics of the Sample

The research only targets grassland transfer herders and sets up questionnaire contents around six dimensions, including herders’ personal characteristics, family situation, grassland condition, grassland transfer situation, policy perception, and risk expectation. After the survey, 131 herders were satisfied with the grassland transfer, accounting for 85.31%, and 46 herders were dissatisfied, accounting for 14.69%.

Personal characteristics: Male herders account for the largest proportion of the sample, and members of the Communist Party of China account for fewer herders; nearly 60% of the herders are 41–60 years old, and there is a clear trend of aging among grassland herders; illiteracy, elementary school, and junior high school education account for 84.18% of the total number of herders, and the level of education is generally low; nearly 34% of the herders have less than 10 years of experience in livestock breeding, and the field research found that most herders who lacked farming experience had a stable job in the city, such as running a farmhouse, working in the service industry, manufacturing, and a few herders worked in schools, the government, and other organizations.

Family situation: The sample herders’ families consisting of 3–4 people are the most numerous, accounting for 51.41%; non-herder families in the grassland transfer account for 63.84% of the total samples; there are more families with a total annual income of CNY 60,000–100,000, and the proportion of families with annual non-herding income of CNY 10,000–50,000 reaches half of the total sample. The number of households whose annual non-livestock income is less than 30% of their total income is 22, between 31% and 60% is 37, and more than 60% is 118; the family per capita grassland area is generally less than 100 hm², of which the proportion of those with less than 50 hm² is as high as 61.02%; 72.32% of the families have 1–2 grassland blocks. The proportion of households with grassland transfer rents of 150 CNY/hm² and below, 151–300 CNY/hm², 301–450 CNY/hm², and 451 CNY/hm², and above was 12.43%, 52.54%, 28.81%, and 6.21%, in that order. In pastoral areas, there is no clear standard for grassland transfer rent as a reference, and the research found that the transfer rent mainly depends on the transfer use, geographic location grassland quality, and other factors.

Social factors: Grassland transfer is carried out most among relatives and friends, accounting for more than 90% of the total; 49.71% of herders believe that grassland transfer can improve family income, while 43.50% say there is no change; 42.37% of herders have knowledge of grassland transfer policy, but 16.95% do not know about grassland transfer policy.

Reasons for herders to transfer grasslands: In order to accurately understand the main reasons for herders to transfer grasslands, this is set as a multiple-choice question, and the reasons indicators are shown in

Table 2. Reasons for herders to transfer grassland.

Main Reasons	Frequency	Relative Frequency/%
Need money urgently	58	32.77
Lack of labor in the family	65	36.72
Flow with the others.	1	0.56
Migrate to a city for work	27	15.25
Raising livestock is hard work.	3	1.69
else	68	38.42

. A total of 32.77% of herders chose the option of “urgent need for money”; 36.72% chose the option of “lack of labor at home.” The proportion of herders who chose the option of “following others to transfer” was 0.56%; the proportion of herders who chose the option of “going to the city to work” was 15.25%; the proportion of herders who chose the option of “raising livestock is very hard” was 1.69%; and those who chose “other” accounted for 38.42%.

2.3. Research Hypothesis

The idea of rational economic man was first introduced by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, where he postulated that man is always rational and self-interested and pursues his subjective goals optimally [55]. This theory is the most basic premise assumption in Western economics, and the rational economic man assumption is based on the assumption that economic man has a certain self-interest, effective judgment, and behavioral rational thinking [56]. Therefore, this paper assumes that every herdsman involved in grassland transfer is rational, and all of them are to exchange their minimum economic cost for maximum economic benefits. For herders, grassland transfer is a transaction between supply and demand parties, and their satisfaction with grassland transfer depends on the degree of satisfaction compared with the perceived effects and expected expectations of grassland transfer. The internal factors of herders play a key role in the satisfaction of grassland transfer. Based on this, this paper selects variables and puts forward the following hypotheses from herders’ personal characteristics, family characteristics, resource endowment, grassland flow characteristics, policy cognition, and risk expectations with reference to relevant studies:

H1: Herders’ personal and family characteristics directly affect grassland transfer satisfaction, and there are differences in the effects of different characteristics on herders’ satisfaction. Due to the differences in physical and psychological conditions, male herders are more employable than female herders and therefore, have a higher level of satisfaction with grassland transfer. In general, under the influence of traditional thinking, most of the older herders are more conservative in their thinking and have a higher degree of dependence on grassland, but due to the decline in working ability caused by their age, they have no choice but to transfer the grassland, and therefore their satisfaction level decreases [57]. Highly educated herders are more capable of adapting to the external environment, have a variety of job opportunities, and are less dependent on the grasslands, and therefore have a higher level of satisfaction [58]. Members of the China Communist Party play an important leading role in realizing the Party’s policies, routes, guidelines, platforms, and so on, and so Party members are more satisfied with grassland transfer compared to ordinary herders. The labor force is the backbone of the family, and families with more labor force transfer grassland because of higher expectations of non-herding income, so the variable positively affects the dependent variable. In pastoralist areas, herders’ sources of income are diversified, so families with a high annual income have their satisfaction with the grassland transfer increase [59]. With the increase in non-herding income, herders’ dependence on grassland for security and subsistence gradually decreases, so the variable positively affects the dependent variable.

H2: Herders’ resource endowment and grassland flow characteristics have a greater impact on herders’ satisfaction. In pastoral areas, good-quality grassland with fertile soil and excellent natural conditions can save herders’ time and labor costs both in grazing and haying, so this indicator positively influences the dependent variable. Whether the grassland is fully transferred or not is directly related to the degree of dependence on the grassland by the herder households [60], the fully transferred households’ mainly rely on non-herding income, so the intensity of their dependence on the grassland is weaker compared to the non-fully transferred households, but the fully transferred households have higher household incomes [61,62], and therefore would be satisfied. When the grassland transfer rent meets or exceeds the herders’ psychological expectations, the herders’ satisfaction increases, so the rent and satisfaction are in positive correspondence [63]; herders, as rational economic beings, will decide the transfer period after comparing the income status before transferring grasslands, so whether from the degree of grassland transfer income or from the stability considerations, the transfer period is in the medium and above level [64].

H3: Policy perceptions and risk expectations have a strong impact on herders’ grassland transfer satisfaction. When herders understand the grassland transfer policy, they can have a more rational understanding of grassland transfer and will, therefore, be satisfied. The formulation of the grassland contract management right transfer policy provides a legal basis for the transfer of both parties as well as a standardized contract, and the supervision and management of the transfer process provides peace of mind for the grassland transfer households, so the variable positively affects the dependent variable. When the transferring party overgrazes the grassland in order to make short-term gains, it will cause degradation of the grassland, destroying the structure of the grass group, and then a series of problems, such as grassland sanding, soil exposure, vegetation degradation, etc., will occur. When the transferring party overgrazes the grassland for short-term interests, it will cause degradation of the grassland and destroy the grass group structure, followed by a series of problems such as grassland sanding, soil nudity, vegetation degradation, and so on. The degree of dependence on the grassland decreases when the work performed by herders after transferring the grassland is stable, and the degree of dependence on the grassland increases when there is job instability and unemployment, so this variable negatively affects the herders’ satisfaction [65].

2.4. Description of Variables

Explained variables: Herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer—drawing on the practice of scholars in agricultural land rights [66,67] and land transfer satisfaction [36,37,38,39,40], herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer is taken as the dependent variable, and the answer of the respondent is taken as 1; otherwise, it is taken as 0.

Explanatory variables: There are more factors affecting herders’ grassland transfer satisfaction; according to the research hypothesis, this paper selects independent variables from six aspects of herders’ personal characteristics: family characteristics, resource endowment, grassland transfer characteristics, policy perceptions, and risk expectations (

Table 3. Model variables and descriptions.

Variable Classification	Coding	Variable Name	Description of Variables	Maximum Values	Minimum Values	Average Values	Standard Deviation	Intended Direction
Herders’ personal characteristics	X1	Gender	0 = women; 1 = male	1	0	0.64	0.48	+
	X2	Age (years)	1 = 18–30 years old; 2 = 31–40 years old; 3 = 41–50 years old; 4 = 51–60 years old; 5 = Age 61 and above	5	1	3.1	1.05	−
	X3	Educational attainment	1 = not attending school; 2 = junior high school; 3 = junior high school; 4 = senior high school; 5 = College or above	5	1	2.5	1.15	+
	X4	Whether a member of the Communist Party of China	0 = NO; 1 = Yes	1	0	0.08	0.27	+
family characteristics	X5	Number of laborers	numeric variable	4	0	1.64	0.99	+
	X6	Total annual income (ten thousand)	1 = 1–5; 2 = 6–10; 3 = 11–15; 4 = 16–20; 5 = 21 and above	5	1	2.19	1.1	+
	X7	Annual non-herding income (ten thousand)	1 = 1–5; 2 = 6–10; 3 = 11–15; 4 = 16–20; 5 = 21 and above	5	1	1.78	0.97	+
resource endowment	X8	Grassland quality	1 = Good; 2 = Average; 3 = Poor	3	1	2.47	0.76	+
	X9	Whether the grassland is fully transferred	0 = No; 1 = Yes	1	0	0.7	0.46	+
Grassland transfer characteristics	X10	Rents (CNY)	1 = 150 and below; 2 = 151–300; 3 = 301–450; 4 = 451–600; 5 = 601 and above	5	1	2.31	0.81	+
	X11	Fixed number of years	numeric variable	12	1	3.78	1.48	+
policy perceptions	X12	Level of understanding of grassland transfer policies	1 = don’t know; 2 = know a little; 3 = knowledgeable; 4 = well known	4	1	2.54	0.94	+
	X13	Satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy	1 = very dissatisfied; 2 = not too satisfied; 3 = fairly satisfied; 4 = more satisfied; 5 = very satisfied	5	1	3.95	0.89	+
risk expectations	X14	Is there a fear of overgrazing by the other side after the transfer	1 = Yes; 2 = Somewhat; 3 = No	3	1	2.3	0.92	−
	X15	whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer	1 = Yes; 2 = Somewhat; 3 = No	3	1	2.41	0.88	−

).

2.5. Model

2.5.1. Logistic Model

There are two types of herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer: “satisfied” or “dissatisfied”. This is essentially a binary choice problem. Therefore, a binary logistic model is used for analysis. The basic form of the binary logistic model is as follows:

$$\mathrm{p}=\mathrm{P}(\mathcal{y}=1|{\mathrm{X}}_{\mathrm{i}})={\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+{\mathrm{e}}^{-\mathcal{y}}}}$$

(1)

$\mathcal{y}$ in Equation (1) represents herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer, $\mathcal{y}$ = 1 indicates that herders are satisfied with grassland transfer, and $\mathcal{y}$ = 0 indicates dissatisfaction. p represents the probability that herders are satisfied with the grassland transfer, and X_i is defined as the factors that may affect herders’ satisfaction with the grassland transfer.

In Equation (1), $\mathcal{y}$ is a linear combination of variables X_i (X₁, X₂, ……, X_p), i.e.,

$$\mathcal{y}={\mathsf{\beta }}_0+{\mathsf{\beta }}_1{\mathsf{\chi }}_1+\dots {\mathsf{\beta }}_{\mathrm{p}}{\mathsf{\chi }}_{\mathrm{p}}$$

(2)

β_i (i = 1, 2, ..., n) in Equation (2) is the regression coefficient of the i-th explanatory variable. β_i is positive, indicating that the i-th factor positively affects herder satisfaction, β_i if it is either this or that the i-th factor negatively affects herder satisfaction.

Transforming Equations (1) and (2), the logistic model for the ratio of herders’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction with grassland transfer is obtained as follows:

$$\mathrm{l}\mathrm{n}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{p}}{1-\mathrm{p}}}\right)={\mathsf{\beta }}_0+{\mathsf{\beta }}_1{\mathsf{\chi }}_1+\dots {\mathsf{\beta }}_{\mathrm{p}}{\mathsf{\chi }}_{\mathrm{p}}+\mathsf{\epsilon }$$

(3)

In Equation (3), β₀ is a constant term, ε is a random error, and $\mathrm{l}\mathrm{n}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{p}}{1-\mathrm{p}}}\right)$ takes on a range of values, so the independent variable X₁, X₂, …, X_p takes on an arbitrary interval.

2.5.2. ROC Curve

ROC (receiver operating characteristic curve) is a subject operating characteristic curve that is widely used in the assessment of the predictive effect of logistic models [68] and is recognized by academics as the best method for evaluating logistic models. The quality and accuracy of the model predictions can be judged by the plotted graphs [69]. The curve is plotted with “1-specificity” as the horizontal coordinate and “sensitivity” as the vertical coordinate, and the two are regarded as continuous variables. As shown in

Table 4. Confusion matrix for ROC curve classification results.

The Real Situation
Projected results		Standard practice	Counter-example	Add up the total
	Standard practice	TP	FN	TP+FN
	Counter-example	FP	TN	FP+TN
	Add up the total	TP+FP	FN+TN	TP+FP+FN+TN

, in a dichotomous problem, TP is the number of correctly predicted positive cases, FN is the number of false positives, FP is the number of missed positives, and TN is the number of correctly predicted negative cases.

After entering the data into the MedCalc-version 20.305 software and running it as required, the area enclosed by the horizontal and vertical coordinates and the ROC curve (denoted as AUC) is obtained, which measures the operational effectiveness of the model [70]. In general, an AUC between 0.5 and 0.7 is of low model quality, between 0.7 and 0.9 is of moderate model quality, and greater than 0.9 indicates high model quality.

To determine the optimal threshold of the ROC curve, we need to calculate the Youden’s index, also known as the correctness index; the larger the Youden’s index is, the better the model prediction is, and at the same time, the value of the test variable that corresponds to the maximum value of the Youden’s index is the optimal threshold of the ROC curve. The formulas for the “sensitivity”, “1-specificity”, and “Youden” indices in the ROC curve are as follows:

$$\mathrm{S}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{v}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{y}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{P}}{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{P}+\mathrm{F}\mathrm{P}}}$$

(4)

$$1\text{-}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{f}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{y}=1-{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{N}}{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{N}+\mathrm{T}\mathrm{N}}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{N}}{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{N}+\mathrm{T}\mathrm{N}}}$$

(5)

$$\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}’\mathrm{s}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}=\mathrm{s}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{v}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{y}+\mathrm{s}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{f}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{y}-1$$

(6)

2.5.3. Combination of Logistic Model and ROC Curve

Logistic regression is a linear regression model that studies whether multiple characteristic variables affect the target variable, and the model is trained on the data to obtain the prediction probability, which in turn determines the prediction result based on a certain probability threshold. On this basis the ROC curve is plotted using the predicted probability values of the model, the AUC values are labeled on the plotted curve, the optimal threshold is found by adjusting the TP and FP on the curve, and finally, the classification performance of the binary logistic model is interpreted based on the ROC curve and AUC values. In this paper, the logistic model analyzes the influencing factors of herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights, while the ROC curve focuses on the classification performance of the logistic model, and the combination of the two more comprehensively evaluates the effectiveness of the model’s application in the actual problem so as to provide a scientific basis for the grassland management and policy formulation.

3. Results

3.1. Redundancy Analysis of Variables

Taking the field research sample as an example, considering that if there is a high degree of correlation between independent variables, it will lead to unstable regression coefficients, the Origin 2022 software was used to analyze the correlation of 15 independent variables and calculate their Spearman correlation coefficients, and the results of the calculation were that the degree of covariance was within an acceptable range (

Table 5. Rank correlation coefficients of explanatory variables.

	X1	X2	X3	X4	X5	X6	X7	X8	X9	X10	X11	X12	X13	X14	X15
X1	1.0000	−0.1700	0.1700	0.0430	0.0690	0.1800	0.1100	0.1500	−0.1000	0.1300	−0.0530	0.1800	0.0940	−0.0027	0.0780
X2	−0.1700	1.0000	−0.4100	0.1400	−0.1900	−0.2700	−0.1600	0.0440	0.1500	−0.1300	−0.0660	−0.0820	−0.0500	0.1500	0.1200
X3	0.1700	−0.4100	1.0000	0.1800	0.1700	0.2400	0.3200	−0.0800	0.0490	0.0270	−0.0039	0.0550	0.0079	0.0620	−0.1200
X4	0.0430	0.1400	0.1800	1.0000	0.0860	0.1900	0.1300	−0.0100	0.0088	−0.0670	0.0290	0.1400	0.0063	−0.0560	0.1200
X5	0.0690	−0.1900	0.1700	0.0860	1.0000	0.4400	0.3100	0.0470	−0.2500	0.1700	0.0550	0.1000	0.0260	−0.0970	0.1500
X6	0.1800	−0.2700	0.2400	0.1900	0.4400	1.0000	0.6700	0.1500	−0.3200	0.3000	−0.0076	0.2200	−0.0078	−0.0240	0.1800
X7	0.1100	−0.1600	0.3200	0.1300	0.3100	0.6700	1.0000	0.0500	0.1200	0.1700	0.0440	0.1500	−0.0190	−0.0400	−0.0420
X8	0.1500	0.0440	−0.0800	−0.0100	0.0470	0.1500	0.0500	1.0000	−0.0670	0.1600	0.0330	0.0930	0.0340	0.0450	0.1100
X9	−0.1000	0.1500	0.0490	0.0088	−0.2500	−0.3200	0.1200	−0.0670	1.0000	−0.1800	0.0450	−0.0570	0.0190	0.0230	−0.2800
X10	0.1300	−0.1300	0.0270	−0.0670	0.1700	0.3000	0.1700	0.1600	−0.1800	1.0000	−0.1300	0.1800	0.1200	0.0570	0.0820
X11	−0.0530	−0.0660	−0.0039	0.0290	0.0550	−0.0076	0.0440	0.0330	0.0450	−0.1300	1.0000	−0.1400	−0.1100	0.0096	−0.0990
X12	0.1800	−0.0820	0.0550	0.1400	0.1000	0.2200	0.1500	0.0930	−0.0570	0.1800	−0.1400	1.0000	0.3900	0.0025	0.0930
X13	0.0940	−0.0500	0.0079	0.0063	0.0260	−0.0078	−0.0190	0.0340	0.0190	0.1200	−0.1100	0.3900	1.0000	0.0420	0.0870
X14	−0.0027	0.1500	0.0620	−0.0560	−0.0970	−0.0240	−0.0400	0.0450	0.0230	0.0570	0.0096	0.0025	0.0420	1.0000	0.1500
X15	0.0780	0.1200	−0.1200	0.1200	0.1500	0.1800	−0.0420	0.1100	−0.2800	0.0820	−0.0990	0.0930	0.0870	0.1500	1.0000

). After entering the sample data into the SPSS26 software for regression, the chi-square value of the coefficients of the model built up from the 15 variables was 57.948, the significance was 0.000 (less than 0.05), the −2 log-likelihood value was 144.873a, and the values of the Cox&snell R² and the Nagelkerke R² were 0.279 and 0.409, respectively, which generally showed a better fit and were ready for interpretation and analysis (

Table 6. Estimation of the model of herder satisfaction.

	B	S.E	Wals	Sig	Exp(β)
Gender *	−0.892	0.482	3.421	0.064	0.410
Age	0.108	0.243	0.197	0.657	1.114
Educational attainment	0.315	0.229	1.890	0.169	1.370
Whether a member of the Communist Party of China	1.177	1.256	0.878	0.349	3.243
Number of laborers	−0.291	0.242	1.445	0.229	0.748
Total annual income ***	3.258	0.946	11.855	0.001	25.990
Annual non-herding income ***	−2.808	0.895	9.830	0.002	0.060
Grassland quality	−0.249	0.288	0.749	0.387	0.780
Whether the grassland is fully transferred ***	1.572	0.567	7.688	0.006	4.815
Rents **	0.813	0.318	6.533	0.011	2.255
Fixed number of years	0.019	0.139	0.018	0.893	1.019
Level of understanding of grassland transfer policies	0.087	0.244	0.127	0.722	1.091
Satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy **	0.645	0.265	5.936	0.015	1.905
Is there a fear of overgrazing by the other side after the transfer	−0.006	0.240	0.001	0.982	0.995
whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer **	0.516	0.243	4.490	0.034	1.675
Constant	−6.667	2.059	10.483	0.001	0.001
Sig 0.000	<0.05	Cox&snell R2		0.279
Chi-square	57.948	Nagelkerke R2		0.409
−2 log likelihood	144.873a	Total sample		177

Note: *, **, and *** denote significant at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

).

3.2. Influencing Factors of Herder’s Satisfaction

Using the SPSS 26 statistical software to manipulate the model, the results of the binary logistic regression analysis model of whether the herders were satisfied are shown in Table 6.

“Gender” passed the model test at the 10% level with a regression coefficient of −0.892, which is a variable that has a low impact on herders’ satisfaction, is negatively correlated with the dependent variable, and does not meet the research hypothesis. The results show that female herders are more satisfied with grassland transfer compared to male herders, which may be related to the geographic location of the study area. Due to West Ujimqin’s peculiar ecology, numerous humanistic landscapes, and abundant tourism resources, the local government has included tourism as one of the three major industries for socio-economic development. Through the research, it is understood that most local herders choose to rely on tourism for income. Due to differences in physical condition, most male herders are engaged in manual labor, although they have more experience in working, while female herders are mainly engaged in services such as housekeeping, entertainment, catering, and tailoring, and some of them run ethnic businesses, lodging houses, and nomadic cultural experiences.

The variable “total annual income” passed the model test at the asymptotic 1% level and had a high impact on herders’ satisfaction, with a β-value of 3.258 and an Exp(β) value of 25.990, which positively affects the dependent variable and is consistent with the research hypotheses, as the probability of herders being satisfied with grassland transfer increases with each increase in the current year’s total income 25.990 times, indicating that the higher the household income, the more satisfied herders are with grassland transfer. In pastoral areas, herdsmen’s family income is mainly divided into pastoral business income, asset income, wage income, government-related subsidies, etc. Families with high annual incomes have diversified sources of income, and grassland transfer not only raises direct income but also indirectly increases family income through other channels. The results of the research showed that the proportion of herder families with annual household incomes of less than 50,000, 60,000–100,000, 110,000–150,000, 160,000–200,000, 210,000 and above were 28.81%, 42.37%, 14.69%, 9.04%, and 5.08%, respectively, and that the above results were due to the fact that the majority of the families with high incomes were less dependent on grasslands and were, therefore, more satisfied with grassland transfers.

“Annual non-herding income” has a significance level of 1% in the model and has a high impact on herders’ satisfaction, with a regression coefficient of −2.808, which negatively affects the dependent variable contrary to the theoretical assumptions. Generally, the increase in non-herding income contributes to the overall satisfaction of herders, but the opposite result may be related to the lack of employable skills of herders. Through the research, it was learned that herders generally have a low level of literacy, which makes it difficult to adapt to the complex employment environment, resulting in a weaker ability to withstand risks and unstable incomes. In addition, higher non-herding incomes may not lead to improved skills and employment opportunities for herders, but rather increase their financial pressure, so herders will think long-term and be wary of non-herding incomes despite their higher incomes.

The variable “whether the grassland is fully transferred” passed the model test with a Sig value of 0.006, which has a high effect on the dependent variable; a β value of 1.572; and an Exp(B) value of 4.815, which positively affects the dependent variable, which is the same as the hypothesis of the study, and the results show that households with full transfer of grassland have higher levels of satisfaction compared to households with non-full transfer. Grassland transfer has a significant growth effect on herder family income; this is because grassland transfer can make herder family labor transfer to secondary and tertiary industries in order to obtain higher non-herding income. On the other hand, herders can obtain more grassland transfer property income so as to save the cost of pastoral operation, so the income-generating effect of the full-transferring grassland family is more obvious [71,72].

“Rents” passes the model test at the 5% level and has a medium impact on herder satisfaction, with a positive correspondence, consistent with the expected hypothesis. Herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer increased by 2.255 times when rent increased by one level. Generally speaking, herders’ participation in grassland transfer is the result of comparing costs and benefits, and the transfer rent is herders’ property income, which is stable and less risky and therefore, closely related to herders’ satisfaction. Rental income provides pastoralists with a stable source of income, enabling them to better cope with the uncertainties of life. Since herders are rational economic beings, when the rent is higher or exceeds expectations, herders’ quality of life will be better guaranteed, so herders will choose to transfer the grassland and then find another livelihood, and herders’ satisfaction will increase with the increase in rent.

The variable “satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy” passed the model test and had a moderate effect on herders’ satisfaction, positively influencing the dependent variable, consistent with the research hypothesis. The purpose of the grassland contract management right transfer policy is to alleviate the grazing pressure on the grassland, promote large-scale operation, improve the grassland ecological environment, and promote sustainable use. The grassland transfer policy provides detailed regulations in terms of the principles to be followed by the transferring parties, transferring methods, transferring contracts, transferring procedures, supervision and management, and legal responsibilities. Therefore, the introduction of this policy provides both parties A and B with designated transfer places and standardized contract texts, as well as supervision and management of the amount of livestock carried after the transfer, legal protection, etc. The more herders understand the content of the policy, the less they worry about the transfer, and thus their satisfaction level is also increased.

The variable “whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer” passed the model test and had a medium impact on herder satisfaction, positively affecting the dependent variable, which is inconsistent with the research hypothesis. This may be related to the size of the herders’ contracted grassland area and the continuous improvement of the social security system. On the one hand, West Ujimqin Banner has a large land area and a large per capita contracted grassland area, which means that herdsmen can maintain their livelihoods even if they do not engage in other work and rely solely on income from grassland transfer. Therefore, they may not worry about not being able to find a job after the transfer, as the grassland transfer itself already provides sufficient economic security. On the other hand, with the continuous improvement of the social security system in pastoral areas, the herders’ dependence on the grasslands is gradually weakening. In the past, the grasslands were not only an economic source for herders but also assumed an important social security function. However, with the improvement of the social security system, the protection function of the grasslands has gradually weakened, and the herders’ dependence on the grasslands has also decreased. Herders, therefore, do not have to worry about their livelihood after losing their grasslands, which makes them more satisfied with grassland transfer.

3.3. ROC Curve Analysis and Optimal Threshold Measurement

In this paper, whether herders are satisfied with grassland transfer is taken as the state variable, the prediction probability after binary logistic regression is taken as the test variable, and the ROC curve is plotted after running the MedCalc-version 20.305 software (

Table 7. Area below the curve.

AUC	S.Ea	Sigb	Approaching the 95% Confidence Interval
			Lower Limit	Upper Limit
0.847	0.030	0.000	0.789	0.905

). The AUC (area under curve) is 0.847, p < 0.05, indicating that each sample has a significant predictive effect on whether herders are satisfied or not, and the accuracy of its prediction is 84.70%. The confidence interval of the AUC is (0.789, 0.905) at the asymptotic 95% level, indicating that the model’s prediction accuracy is good.

As shown in Figure 2, the ROC curve plotted is an increasing curve. After calculation, the sensitivity is 0.748, the 1-specificity is 0.196, the Youden index is 55.20%, and the corresponding threshold is 0.7. The influencing factors of herders’ satisfaction are brought into the logistic model, and when the prediction result of herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer is greater than or equal to 0.7, herders will be satisfied with the grassland transfer, or else there will be dissatisfaction.

4. Discussion

Grassland contract management right transfer is an important content of land system reform in pastoral areas in China, which has important practical significance for promoting the sustainable utilization of grassland, promoting the development of animal husbandry, and safeguarding the rights and interests of herders. The study found that herders’ satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights is affected by herders’ personal characteristics (gender, age, educational attainment, and whether a member of the Communist Party of China), family characteristics (number of laborers, total annual income, and annual non-herding income), resource endowment (grassland quality and whether the grassland is fully transferred), grassland transfer characteristics (rents and fixed number of years), policy perceptions (level of understanding of grassland transfer policies and satisfactory status of the grassland transfer policy), and risk expectations (is there a fear of overgrazing by the other side after the transfer and whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer) influenceing together which is consistent with the findings of scholars such as Niu et al. (2020) [37] and Ma et al. (2015) [34]. The empirical results show that male herders tend to be more satisfied with grassland transfer compared to female herders; herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer increases with the increase in total annual income; grassland full-transfer households are more satisfied than non-full-transfer households; rents correspond positively to herders’ satisfaction; and the satisfaction status of the grassland transfer policy significantly and positively affects herders’ satisfaction, which is in line with the research hypotheses, which is the same as the findings of scholars such as Chen et al. (2018) [39] and Yue et al. (2018) [73]. However, the annual non-herding income in herders’ household characteristics negatively affects the dependent variable, and the study shows that herders with high annual non-herding income tend to be dissatisfied with grassland transfer, which is different from the findings of scholars such as Wang et al. (2013) [74] and Zhong et al. (2013) [75], who concluded that the satisfaction with land transfer rises with the increase in non-farm income, which may be related to the differences between pastoral and agricultural areas, and that China’s pastoral areas are located in the Motherland Border areas, the education level of herders is generally low, and herders lack employment skills, which leads to a weaker ability to resist risks. The variable of whether they are worried about not being able to find a job after the transfer in risk expectation positively affects herders’ satisfaction. The results showed that the herders were less worried about employment after transferring grasslands, which is inconsistent with the findings of previous studies [76,77]. Their study concluded that the more worried farmers are about employment risks, the less satisfied they are with the land transfer. The reason may be related to the area of grassland contracted by the herders and the continuous improvement of the social security system in pastoral areas, which led to the weakening of the herders’ dependence on grassland. This study concludes that herders’ family endowment and social-related security functions will significantly increase the herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer.

Compared with previous studies, the ROC curve can evaluate the performance of the logistic model and better test its model robustness, prediction effect, and significance of the prediction threshold. The combination of the two models well analyzes and predicts herders’ satisfaction with grassland contracting and management right transfer and lays the foundation for further orderly promotion of grassland transfer. In addition, West Ujimqin Banner is located in Inner Mongolia’s typical grassland area and is one of the grassland transfer reform pilots. The research data from the pastoral area is first-hand micro-research, and the research results can better respond to the actual herders.

For the herders, their understanding of satisfaction with the transfer of grassland contracting rights is mainly reflected in whether the family income has increased after the transfer of grassland, whether the living environment has been improved, and the enhancement of social welfare. In this paper, the research hypothesis that “Chinese Communist Party membership has a significant effect on herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer” enriches the theoretical framework of the study, and if the test results support this hypothesis, it can provide empirical evidence for policymakers. With the development of information technology, the application of digital means in grassland management is becoming more and more widespread. Future research can explore how to use big data, cloud computing, and other modern technological means to improve the efficiency and transparency of the transfer of grassland contractual management rights. Through the establishment of a perfect information platform, herders can more conveniently access the transfer information, and the government can more effectively supervise the transfer process to ensure the legality and fairness of the transfer activities, thus enhancing the satisfaction of herders.

At the same time, there are still some shortcomings in the paper: (1) The paper only studied the satisfaction of grassland-transfer-out herders. Due to the heterogeneity of grassland-transfer-in and grassland-transfer-out herder groups, grassland-transfer-in herders may have a need for large-scale management, while grassland-transfer-out herders are more concerned about social security issues. This difference in motivation may lead to different influencing factors. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to use field research data on grassland transfer in and out of herders to systematically analyze the influencing factors of herder satisfaction. (2) Due to the sparsely populated study area, the research sampling work is very difficult. Through nearly three months of efforts to obtain a valid sample of 177, objectively speaking, the sample size is still insufficient, so it is inevitable that there will be a certain bias in the data. For example, if the sample size is small there may be statistical fluctuations, which will affect the fitting of the model and affect the performance of the ROC curve, so the next step of the study should be to expand the sample size and make the study more accurate. (3) Due to the limited time, energy, and funds, this paper only selected a typical flag county for the study, so the representativeness of the sample may be insufficient, and it is difficult to comprehensively respond to the satisfaction of herders with grassland transfer in different areas. The natural conditions of grassland areas, economic development level, cultural background, and other factors may have significant differences in different regions, and these differences may affect the herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer. Therefore, the next study should be expanded to cover more representative areas in the league and autonomous region so as to better understand the regional differences in herders’ satisfaction with grassland transfer.

5. Conclusions

The study shows that female herders are more satisfied with grassland transfer relative to male herders; the higher the total annual income, the more satisfied they are with grassland transfer; herders with low annual non-herding incomes are satisfied with grassland transfer; herders with full transfer of grassland are more satisfied compared to non-full transfer herders; herders with high rents are also more satisfied with grassland transfer; and herders who have a favorable attitude towards the grassland contracting and management right transfer policy are satisfied with the transfer of grassland to their own families. Employment after grassland transfer is not a factor affecting herders’ satisfaction. The AUC value of the ROC curve is 0.847, corresponding to an optimal threshold of 0.7.

(1)

Herders’ satisfaction with grassland contract management right transfer is higher overall. In the study area, 85.31 percent of the herders are satisfied with grassland transfer, while 14.69 percent are dissatisfied with grassland transfer. Through the transfer of grassland contract management rights, herders are able to increase their incomes, and some herders can work or do business in towns and cities, broadening the sources of family income, which further increases herders’ satisfaction with the transfer, but there are some problems and challenges for herders in the process of non-herding employment, for example, age, low level of education, lack of labor skills, perception of risk, and so on.

(2)

Annual non-herding income is an important factor affecting herders’ satisfaction. Non-herding income can improve the economic stability of herders, so families engaged in non-herding income wanting to obtain higher income must be linked to a wider range of social resources; however, due to the herders’ own reasons for dealing with the job market risk of the ability to resist weakness, if they want to ensure the stability of their non-herding incomes, they must strengthen their employment training to cope with market risks and meet the demands of the employment market so that they can better adapt to changes in the market and thus occupy a favorable position in the employment market.

(3)

The ROC curve tests the better prediction effect of the logistic model. By establishing a binary logistic regression model of herders’ satisfaction, the ROC curve was used to diagnose the predictive effect of the model and determine the critical point of the best predictive probability. The herder satisfaction variables were included in the model for judgment and prediction to understand the herder satisfaction status, and improvement measures were proposed based on the analysis results.

6. Policy Recommendations

Accelerating the transfer of grassland contractual management rights in pastoral areas and giving full consideration to multiple influencing factors on the basis of respecting herders’ satisfaction so as to put forward targeted policy recommendations should, therefore, pay attention to the following aspects:

(1)

Expanding the non-herding employment channels of transferring households and promoting flexible employment for herders. Firstly, the “project introduction” approach shouold be used to increase the number of non-herding employment opportunities for transferring households and to facilitate the centralized management of grasslands by transferring households. Secondly, education and training for herders should be provided to improve the quality of the labor force. Lastly, human capital should be raised and the quality of the labor force strengthened.

(2)

Further improve the relevant security system for transferring households and reduce herders’ worries. Firstly, the social security bureau should communicate with the local government to set differentiated social security payment standards for grassland-transfer-out households, grassland-transfer-in households, and non-transfer households. Secondly, the combination of grassland transfer and social welfare improves the herders’ happiness index and reduces their dependence on grassland.

(3)

Strengthen the publicity of the policy of grassland contract management right transfer and reduce the awareness of herdsmen’s risks. Firstly, publicity will be carried out in different ways and by different means. For example: lectures, meetings, television, posters, and so on. Secondly, play the leading role of the Gacha Committee. Encourage grassroots cadres to set an example and take the lead in learning. Third, strengthen the awareness of herders to participate in grassland transfer. Through guidance, publicity, and regular education, we can eliminate the traditional grassland transfer cognition and promote the formation of herders’ scientific participation in grassland transfer.

(4)

Improve the market for the transfer of grassland contractual management rights and regulate and guide the orderly transfer of grasslands. First, cultivate the grassland contract management right transfer market and promote the market competition mechanism. Second, strengthen the supervision and management of grassland transfer. Third, formulate standards for the transfer of rents.