Search Results (8)

The sustainable growth of income for farming households in pastoral areas represents a crucial challenge not only for China but also for other developing nations in the process of transition to ecologically friendly models. The scarcity of assets available for collateral, along with vulnerable production conditions and developmental shortcomings, pose significant barriers to the consistent expansion of herdsmen’s income. This paper analyzes the impact of digital financial inclusion on the income of herdsmen in ethnic minority regions using panel data models from nine major pastoral provinces in China from 2011 to 2022. Through a fixed-effects model approach, the analysis delves into the influence of digital financial inclusion and subjects it to multi-dimensional and robustness tests to ensure the reliability of the findings. Furthermore, the research explores the underlying mechanisms through which digital financial inclusion contributes to income enhancement for herdsmen in these areas, employing mediation effect techniques to provide deeper insights into the relationship between digital financial services and economic upliftment in remote ethnic communities. The research findings indicate that digital financial inclusion has a positive impact on the income of herdsmen in ethnic minority regions. The breadth of coverage, depth of usage, and level of digitalization of digital financial inclusion all play a significant role in enhancing the income levels of herdsmen. In terms of the degree of influence, the impact of digital finance on the income of ethnic minorities follows this order: depth of usage > degree of digitalization > breadth of coverage. Notably, through financial backing that catalyzes a shift in herdsmen’s production methodologies and propels industrial upgrading, there is a profound potential to increase herdsmen’s output efficiency. This, in turn, alleviates the ecological strain on China’s environmentally delicate zones. Moreover, financial backing can condense the breeding periods for herdsmen, thereby ameliorating the ecological degradation associated with excessive grazing in pastoral regions. A mediating-effect analysis reveals that digital financial inclusion can boost economic development in ethnic minority regions by increasing wage income, raising per capita GDP levels, and promoting industrial structure upgrading. This, in turn, leads to an improvement in the income of herdsmen in these regions. This is particularly pertinent in China, where the eco-fragility of pastoral regions coincides with the modest income of herdsmen, underscoring the critical importance of herdsmen’s finance. To foster sustainable progress in these regions, financial backing is imperative to elevate herdsmen’s income and to induce a transformative shift in production approaches and industrial layout, paving the way for the sustainable development of these pastoral regions. Full article

The Chinese government has made the realization of sustainable development in grassland animal husbandry an important policy objective, and achieving a reasonable input of production factors is the key to realizing that goal. Based on the assumption of “rational economic man”, this study measures the economically optimal inputs and actual input bias of production factors, and constructs an econometric model focusing on analyzing the impact of operation scale on the factor input bias. The results indicate that herdsmen deviate from the economically optimal production input levels in forage, labor, and machinery, with the degree of bias decreasing as the livestock size or pasture size expands. Furthermore, it is established that market risk plays a role in mediating the impact of operation scale on the bias of variable production factors. Overall, large-scale herding households have a smaller bias in factor inputs, and should be promoted to operate on an appropriate scale, while paying attention to the prevention of market risk and the enhancement of information symmetry between herders and factor markets. Full article

National parks have implemented restrictive measures on human activities to protect the ecological environment, which has changed the livelihood dependence and strategies of farmers and herders. Exploring the impact of livelihood strategies on the human well-being of farmers and herdsmen within the national park construction area can help to better develop livelihood intervention measures to achieve sustainable livelihoods for farmers and herders. A total of 329 farmers and herders in Qilian Mountain National Park in China were investigated, and one-way ANOVA and ordinary least squares were employed to analyze the impact of farmers’ and herders’ livelihood strategies on human well-being in different periods of national park construction. Our results show that the livelihood strategies of farmers and herders play an important role in their well-being. Farmers and herders adopted diversified livelihood strategies after the National Park System Pilot officially launched (after 2015). The well-being advantage of adopting a diversified livelihood strategy became evident over time. Specifically, farmers and herders adopting the settlement diversification livelihood strategy were able to better adapt to the development concept of the national park after the national park pilot was officially established (after 2017). However, nomadic, settled agricultural, and pastoral households were always at a disadvantage in terms of well-being. In addition, distance, nationality, gender, and education level were important factors affecting the well-being of farmers and herders. The results of this study are helpful for improving our understanding of the influence of livelihood strategies on the well-being of farmers and herders and the related challenges they face in the construction of national parks. Full article

Production efficiency is a standard to evaluate the high-quality development of animal husbandry. As an important tool for herdsmen to collect and use information for animal husbandry production and innovation, the internet is not only an inner motivation for improvement of production efficiency but also an important engine for transformation of animal husbandry modernization. It is of practical significance to analyze the impact of internet use on the production efficiency of animal husbandry from the micro-level. This paper, based on the survey data of 340 herdsmen in Inner Mongolia, adopts the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model to measure the production efficiency of animal husbandry and selects the Tobit model and moderation effect model to analyze the relationship between internet use and animal husbandry production efficiency under the influence of different capitals. Results show that the production efficiency of animal husbandry is relatively low and internet use has a positive and statistically significant effect on production efficiency; moreover, social capital and financial capital have a negative moderation effect when internet use affects production efficiency. Our findings suggest that the use of internet technology should be paid more attention in order to increase the production efficiency of grass-based animal husbandry in Inner Mongolia. Full article

In the context of China’s implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, it is essential to study the total factor productivity of animal husbandry in pastoral areas under the grassland ecological compensation policy, which is essential for promoting the harmonious development of animal husbandry production and grassland ecology in pastoral areas and helping the rural revitalization strategy. Based on the survey data of pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia, this paper measured and comparatively analyzed the differences in the changes in total factor productivity of pastoral households in each region and its convergence and discussed the main factors driving the total factor productivity of animal husbandry. The results of the study show that: (1) Except for Ulanqab City, the annual average total factor productivity of animal husbandry in the region as a whole and in each region is greater than 1, indicating that the animal husbandry production level of herdsmen has been improved to some extent during the policy implementation period. From the phased situation, the overall total factor productivity of animal husbandry in the Inner Mongolia region shows a characteristic of decreasing first and then increasing, while each region shows a different trend of change. (2) In terms of convergence, there is a certain degree of convergence during the policy period for both the region as a whole and each region, indicating that as the grassland compensation policy advances, the spatial differences in herdsmen total factor productivity in animal husbandry show a trend of gradual reduction, and the overall sample represents the sample of all the investigated areas. (3) In terms of driving factors, herdsmen education level, the degree of travel convenience, the degree of by-business, whether they participate in the subsidy policy, and whether they are fined have significant positive effects on their total factor productivity in animal husbandry, while the family dependency ratio and the degree of government regulation have significant negative effects on total factor productivity in animal husbandry. This paper takes the total factor productivity of animal husbandry in pastoral areas as the starting point, providing a new perspective for the research on the effect of the grassland ecological compensation policy. At the same time, it expands the driving factors of total factor productivity in animal husbandry. The conclusion provides a reference for improving the grassland ecological compensation policy and coordinating the harmonious development of production, life, and ecology in pastoral areas. Full article

The deterioration of grassland ecology is threatening the livelihood of herdsmen and increasing their rates of poverty. This study aims to explore the characteristics of herdsmen’s livelihood and the impact of livelihood capital and environmental perception on livelihood strategy selection. Based on 453 herdsmen households in the Province of Gansu and Qinghai, five types of livelihood capital were measured under the sustainable livelihoods framework. The influence of herdsmen’s livelihood capital on their decisions regarding their livelihood strategies was evaluated in multiple logistic functions. Meanwhile, hierarchical regression analysis and grouping regression methods were used to explore the moderating effects of two dimensions of environmental perception: ecological consciousness and sense of responsibility. The following results were obtained: First, all types of livelihood capital have a significant influence on the livelihood diversification of herdsmen; second, the direction and strength of these effects differ among types of livelihood capital. Moreover, environmental perception played a negative moderating role in the relationship between herdsmen’s livelihood capital and livelihood strategies. Therefore, it is expected to introduce policies ensuring the development of herdsmen’s livelihood capital and improve their environmental cognition, which can help realize the coordinated economic and ecological development of grassland. Full article

The Grassland Ecological Protection Award Policy was implemented to address severe grassland degradation in China. This policy utilizes grassland subsidies as an incentive to control the number of livestock and has become the largest payment for ecosystem services program. Although many studies have analyzed the performance of this policy, it remains controversial as to whether grassland subsidies are effective at reducing the number of livestock; moreover, there is still a lack of quantitative studies on the roles of household livelihood assets and livelihood strategies in reducing the number of livestock. On the basis of the sustainable livelihood framework, this paper constructed an analytical framework to research how grassland subsidies affect the number of livestock under the effects of different livelihood capitals and local socioecological contexts. After choosing the Pumqu River Basin of the Tibetan Plateau as the research area, this study classified sample households on the basis of grassland sizes and then examined the effects of grassland subsidies on the number of livestock of different groups of rural households by considering livelihood capital. The results showed that (1) for all the sample households, grassland subsidies caused herdsmen to raise more livestock, which was contrary to the expectation of the grassland protection policy. The invalidation of grassland subsidies was mainly caused by the poor design and implementation of the policy at the local level. (2) In addition, for rural households with different grassland sizes, the subsidies could be effective in reducing the number of livestock for households with small grassland sizes while increasing the number of livestock for households with large grassland sizes. This indicates that some supporting policies and measures for households with smaller grassland sizes should be provided to stimulate the reduction in the number of livestock, and for households with large grassland areas, grassland circulation should be encouraged to promote the large-scale production of livestock husbandry. The finding of this study can help governments to formulate policies tailored towards appropriate subsidies for addressing grassland degradation. Full article

The security and quality of livelihoods for peasant households is the core issue for rural areas in China. A stable livelihood contributes to the harmonious development of related polices, poverty eradication and sustainable use of resources. In Qinghe County, located in the extremely arid zone of Northwest China, 238 validated surveys were conducted. The analysis focuses on the importance of livelihood capitals for the selection of on- or off-farm livelihood strategies among beneficiaries of different kinds of ecological compensation packages. The goal is to see if different groups of beneficiaries are better able to pursue off-farm livelihoods activity, which reduces pressure on the resource base, and whether specific capitals are especially effective in helping households pursue off-farm livelihoods, which benefits their well-being. The findings show that proportionally more herdsmen (who participated in a pastureland rehabilitation program) were able to pursue off-farm livelihoods than farmers (who participated in the cultivated land reforestation program), and especially agro-pastoralists (who participated in both programs). Further, models of livelihood strategy show that human and financial capitals facilitate off-farm livelihoods, while productive capital tends to lead to on-farm livelihoods. These findings indicate that there is no single determinant of livelihood strategy, and future policies must consciously differentiate among beneficiaries to reach the desired result. Full article