Differential Evolution of Farmers’ Livelihood Strategies since the 1980s on the Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

Understanding the evolution of farmers’ livelihood strategies (FLS) is crucial for maintaining the sustainable development of farmers’ livelihoods, especially on the arid Loess Plateau, China. This study constructed a novel analytical framework for analyzing the evolution of FLS and the critical influencing factors. Changwu County, an apple cultivation region, was selected as a case study. The results suggest that four types of livelihood strategies (crop-planting, apple-planting, work-oriented, and part-time comprehensive) have emerged since the 1980s. The evolutionary process of leading FLS varies across geographic location. In the loess tableland region and economic fringe region, this evolution followed a progressive path from the crop-planting type to the apple-planting type to the work-oriented type, while in the loess gully region, loess ridge region, and economic core region, FLS jumped directly from the crop-planting type to the work-oriented type. The geographic location, training opportunities, garden area, cultivated land area, production and living materials, loan opportunities, and education level were found to be the critical factors influencing the differentiation and development of FLS. The analytical framework proposed here is also applicable for studying the evolution of FLS in other counties on the Loess Plateau, considering the representativeness of the selected case.

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“…The contributions of this study are primarily reflected in the following three dimensions: First, unlike most previous studies that were only focusing on livelihood capital or livelihood strategies [3,53], we examined different effects of lease-out on rural household livelihood including on livelihood capital and livelihood strategies. The results confirm both hypotheses and previous studies [54].…”

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Livelihood strategies of farmers in Loksado District, Hulu Sungai Selatan Regency, Indonesia

“…Livelihood strategies refer to farmers combining and using different forms of livelihood capital to achieve livelihood goals or pursue active livelihood outcomes [15][16] [17]. The adoption of livelihood strategies not only affects the efficient use of livelihood capital but is also the key to livelihood stability outcomes which play an important role in the sustainable and stable operation of all livelihood systems [18] [19].…”

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“…Wamalwa found that some elements of Jatropha farming as an agricultural strategy can improve farmers' livelihoods [23]. Through a study on agricultural development and farmers' livelihoods on the Loess Plateau, Wu et al found that fruit production was one of the important reasons for the differentiation of farmers' livelihood strategies [24]. Global industrialization and urbanization have promoted the development of non-agricultural industries in rural areas in developing countries, which in turn has promoted the development of farmers' livelihoods [25,26].…”