Household Groups’ Land Use Decisions Investigation Based on Perspective of Livelihood Heterogeneity in Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

Land use decision-making is a vital livelihood strategy associated with the rational collocation of livelihood asset endowments by rural households. Based on the perspective of livelihood heterogeneity, this paper collected the data from 540 farm households in 27 villages in three Sichuan Province counties to identify the land use decision-making characteristics of the household groups. A land use decision-making framework (LUDF) based on the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) was established and dynamic and dual indicators were developed to divide the sample into six household groups. The household livelihood capital, livelihood strategies, and livelihood diversity were then analyzed at the regional and household group level, and the land use decisions of these household groups were explored, from which the following was found. (1) Overall livelihood capital in the study area was low, and except for human assets, there were few other assets, with households in the survey areas being more inclined to engage in non-farming livelihood activities; however, households in Nanjiang and Qionglai had greater livelihood activities choices than Luxian. (2) The LL-type household was the chief household group; the household group distribution in Qionglai was well-proportioned but uneven in Nanjiang and Luxian; and the HL-type, ML-type, and LL-type household livelihood strategy choices were polarized. (3) Most households were involved in land self-cultivation, followed by land transfer-in, land transfer-out, and land abandonment households. Specifically, there were more households that cultivated fragmented landholdings than specialized households with large-scale landholdings, the land transfer rate was relatively low, the transfer-in land area was far greater than the transfer-out land areas, and a small number of households that had abandoned their land were still involved in agricultural production. (4) There were obvious discordant human–land relationships and inefficient land uses in the study area. Based on these findings, relevant policy recommendations are given to improve farm household livelihood capital, optimize livelihood strategies, and assist in land use decision-making.

Cultivated Land Input Behavior of Different Types of Rural Households and Its Impact on Cultivated Land-Use Efficiency: A Case Study of the Yimeng Mountain Area, China

“…Nonetheless, II PTRH did not increase its investment in agricultural production due to the non-agricultural employment of family members. The extant literature supports this view that non-agricultural employment reduced the input of labor, capital, and other factors per unit of land, causing a change in the original intensive farming pattern [ 49 , 50 ]. On the one hand, this result may arise from non-agricultural income being mainly used for non-productive expenditures, such as improving the livelihood of rural households and purchasing durable goods [ 51 ].…”

What role does information capacity play in the tourism livelihood of farm households in ethnic villages?

“…In addition, some scholars have studied the relationship between livelihood capital and adaptive decision-making, and found that natural capital, social capital, human capital and physical capital will promote farm households to adopt climate change adaptation decisions, while financial capital will hinder farm households to adopt climate change adaptation strategies (Kuang et al, 2019). In addition, some scholars have studied the relationship between livelihood capital and land use decisions, and found that the diversity of livelihood capital has little impact on farm households' land transfer decisions, and the stock of livelihood capital will affect farm households' land transfer-in and self-cultivation (Tang et al, 2022).…”

“…By reviewing the existing relevant literature, it is found that there is a large space to expand the research on the impact of livelihood capital and information capacity on farm households' tourism livelihood. First, most of the existing studies study the role of livelihood capital on farm households' livelihood decision-making from a linear perspective (He and Ahmed, 2022;Huang et al, 2021;Kuang et al, 2019;Tang et al, 2022). However, from the perspective of non-linear livelihood capital arrangement, there are few studies on the portfolio utility of livelihood capital to its livelihood decision making.…”

The Impact of Government-Led Farmland Construction on Market-Oriented Farmland Transfer—Evidence from Shandong, China

“…At present, academic research on the effects of HSFC is mainly interested in the economic effects of promoting grain production [ 11 , 12 ], increasing farmers’ income [ 13 ], the social profitability of driving regional development [ 14 ], and reducing carbon emissions [ 15 ]. As for the factors influencing farmland transfer, existing research has mainly focused on property rights [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], agricultural socialized services [ 19 ], human capital [ 20 ], social capital [ 21 ], and fragmentation [ 22 ]. In 2022, Chen and Hong conducted a study exploring the impact of HSFC on farmland transfer with Jiangxi Province as the sample [ 23 ].…”