Household Livelihood Strategy Changes and Agricultural Diversification: A Correlation and Mechanism Analysis Based on Data from the China Family Panel

Abstract

Social and economic transformations have a profound impact on farmers’ livelihood strategies, and changes in these strategies, in turn, deeply impact the agricultural system. Based on four waves of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) tracking data, this paper uses a Markov transfer probability matrix to explore changes in farmers’ livelihood strategies and builds multiple logit and fixed-effect models to empirically analyze the impact and lag effect of these changes on agricultural diversification. The results show that (1) farmers who choose not to shift away from an agricultural livelihood show no significant change in agricultural diversification. Compared with households showing an increase in the agricultural diversification index, households showing a decrease in this index are more inclined to diversify if they choose to maintain an agricultural livelihood either part-time or full-time. For households with an unchanged agricultural diversification index, their index value is more likely to remain unchanged if they choose to maintain a part-time or full-time agriculture-oriented livelihood. Moreover, (2) the impact of livelihood strategy changes on agricultural diversification displays regional heterogeneity. The index value of farmers in the central region shows no statistically significant change over the sample period, while the index value of farmers in the eastern region increases. Farmers in the eastern and central regions with unchanged index values are more inclined to show persistent index values. (3) Changes in farmers’ livelihood strategies have a lag effect on agricultural diversification that becomes significant at two lag periods.

Divergence between Willingness and Behavior of Farmers to Purchase Socialized Agricultural Services: From a Heterogeneity Perspective of Land Scale

“…Meanwhile, the mean value of the sample farmers' operation size wa (Table 3). In longitudinal comparison with other studies in nongrain pro [52,53], the sample farming households in this study have an overall higher the same time, the average land scale is similar to other studies in other ma ducing areas [54,55]. This result indicates that the sample of this study can fu characteristics of agricultural production in the major grain-producing area representative.…”

“…It is due to the heterogeneity of farm Meanwhile, the mean value of the sample farmers' operation size was 10.2243 mu (Table 3). In longitudinal comparison with other studies in nongrain producing areas [52,53], the sample farming households in this study have an overall higher land scale. At the same time, the average land scale is similar to other studies in other major grain-producing areas [54,55].…”

Developing strategies for stabilizing the livelihood of smallholder farmers through non-farm activities: the application of the SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis

“…Income diversification for rural families is a key approach in that the income of agriculture alone does not suffice for the livelihood of most agricultural families and the income from diverse livelihood sources can be used for the family's welfare and for investment in crop production, which will, in turn, enhance the revenue of the agricultural activities (Bojnec and Knific, 2021;Savari and Moradi, 2022). The social, economic, and environmental developments in recent decades have deeply affected farmers' livelihood strategies, which has, in turn, influenced the agricultural sector profoundly (Savari et al, 2020;Shokati Amghani et al, 2022;Zhu et al, 2022), so farmers obviously have no way but to change to their livelihood strategies (Shivakoti and Schmidt-Vogt, 2008). In the last decades, many farmers in the world have resorted to different income choices to diversify their income sources as a means of avoiding risks, gaining social support, and above all, funding agricultural operations.…”

“…In general, stabilizing the livelihood of the orchard owners against late spring chilling would, based on the results, have various ramifications for the target community, including sustainable productivity, the establishment of social justice, livelihood sustainability, sustainable market management, and economic sustainability. Zhu et al (2022), who studied agricultural diversity and changes in family livelihood strategies, revealed that farmers who decided not to step away from agricultural livelihood would not make significant changes in their agricultural diversity. Compared to families with an increase in the agricultural diversity index, the families that had a decrease in this index would exhibit more willingness toward livelihood diversity if they were selected for preserving agricultural livelihood in a part-time or full-time manner.…”

Influence of Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Development on Stakeholders’ Views, Concern and Reactions in Papua New Guinea

“…Abdallah et al (2021) state that sustainable agricultural practices increase farm income and food security. Zhu et al (2022) also emphasis about social and economic transformations that have a profound impact on farmers' livelihood strategies, and changes in these strategies... These sustainable strategies in farming further contribute towards minimum environmental impact through environmental and ecological friendly approach for resource development by compliance with relevant laws that safeguard business operation.…”