The Impact of the Grain for Green Program on Farmers’ Well-Being and Its Mechanism—Empirical Analysis Based on CLDS Data

Abstract

This paper found the optimization direction of ecological compensation project from the perspective of farmers’ well-being. Based on the data of 2016 China Labor Force Dynamic Survey (CLDS2016), this paper uses the ordered Probit model to investigate the impact of the Grain for Green Program on farmers’ subjective well-being. The study found that the Grain for Green Program significantly reduced farmers’ subjective well-being. Further research found that the Grain for Green Program ultimately inhibited the subjective well-being of farmers by reducing the subjective perception of air, soil and noise pollution, intensifying the subjective perception of water pollution and reducing the per capita income of households. In the new round of the Grain for Green Program in the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, it is advisable to increase the intensity of income compensation, strengthen supervision to ensure the payment of compensation to households, and control the scale of the project based on ecological foundation, so as to improve the well-being of farmers.

Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Farmers and Herders and Their Human Well-Being in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

“…Persistent threats to resource access for a long period can cause farmers to face the poverty trap [52], especially smallholders who depend solely on the land for survival. Under the effects of this position, relying on land alone will ultimately depress farmers' well-being [53]. Our findings based on ANOVA are consistent with these studies, indicating that nomadic, settled agricultural and agropastoral households are disadvantaged in terms of well-being.…”

Achieving Sustainable Earth Futures in the Anthropocene by Including Local Communities in Critical Zone Science

“…The knowledge and concerns of smallholder farmers in the CZOs were sought to facilitate links between CZ scientists, their outputs and the key environmental and economic pressures experienced by rural residents of the CZOs. Knowledge was gained about how local people are affected directly by the changing environment, whether policy recommendations would be understood and implemented by farmers, and the potential impact on local livelihoods (e.g., You et al., 2022).…”

“…In doing so, it showed the power of human ingenuity including resilience measures already employed to sustain livelihoods in the studied CZOs and how this in turn can help interpret CZS data. These actions, especially if also supported financially (You et al., 2022), can accelerate delivery of environmental, but also human‐centered SDGs (Table 1b).…”

“…In doing so, achievement of SDGs will be promoted, ultimately improving the resilience of social‐ecological systems in degraded rural landscapes (see Section 3). This is particularly valuable where top‐down policy approaches (e.g., national environmental restoration programmes such as China's “Grain for Green” program) deliver environmental benefits but are considered to have reduced local well‐being and livelihoods by the local farming communities themselves (You et al., 2022).…”

The influence mechanism of forestry industry development in mountainous areas on urban-rural income gap: Based on the perspective of the mediating effect of employment and income

“…1 期 孔凡斌 等：山区林业产业发展对城乡收入差距的影响机制 相关研究对林业产业发展 [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] 和林业产业增收效应 [22][23][24][25][26][27] 进行了探讨，城乡收入差距更 是国内外学者关注的热点，并从多个视角和维度 [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] 其是山区经济发展和社会公平的重要自然支撑 [40] 。林业产业是依托和经营森林资源促进 城乡协调发展和社会公平的重要民生经济部门，这是由于林业产业发展与农村经济发 展和农村居民收入增长及其生计改善紧密相关 [41,42] 。一方面，林业产业作为农业产业的 重要组成部分，在推动农村经济发展和农村居民家庭总收入增长中发挥着重要作用。 林业产业发展提供林业副产品、生物能源、饲料等物质产品改善农村居民生计，农村 居民还能通过出售林产品获得经济收入。不仅如此，林业产业发展还为农村居民提供 新的就业岗位，例如农村居民通过参与林木种植、管护、采伐、运输、加工业和森林 旅游等获得工资性收入。随着森林康养、林下经济、林业电商等林业新业态的蓬勃发 展，农村居民能够从中获得林地和房屋场地出租租金等财产性收入。不断增长的政府 森林生态补偿资金则可以为农村居民带来稳定的财政转移性收入。另一方面，农村居 民从林业产业发展中获得更多的工作机会，这将推动农村劳动力的优化配置，提高农 村劳动力市场的效率 [43] ，为农村居民收入的持续增长创造有利条件。林业产业发展能够 推进城乡一体化发展进程。具体而言，城市居民通过购买农村产出的林业产品支持农 村经济和农村居民收入增长，加强了城乡间的经济联系，有助于畅通城乡经济。同 时，城市工商资本进入农村加速了城市中各种要素如资金、信息、技术和人才等向农 村的流动并与森林资源要素紧密结合，推动农村林业产业技术更新、产业结构的转型 升级与高质量发展 [44] ，从而提供就业机会和工作岗位，山区农村居民因此获得更多的增 收致富渠道。当前，城镇居民收入的增长速度跟不上农村居民收入的增长速度 [45] ，城乡 收入差距将有望不断缩小。由此，提出假说 1： H1：林业产业发展有利于农村居民增收，将能够直接缩小城乡收入差距。 1.2 山区林业产业发展增加就业对城乡收入差距的影响 配第-克拉克定理认为，产业中心将随着经济发展而出现变动，随着人均国民收入 39 卷 自 然 资 源 学 报 水平的提高，劳动力的转移首先会出现在第一产业、第二产业之间，第一产业国民收入 和劳动力的相对占比逐渐下降，第二产业国民收入和劳动力的相对占比上升，随着人均 国民收入水平进一步提高，第三产业国民收入和劳动力的相对占比也开始上升 [46] 。从现 实看，林业产业发展无疑是农村居民就业增加促进收入增长的重要前提。具体而言，林 业产业在发展过程中，林业相关产业被不断拓宽，直接影响产业的就业行为。就业所带 来的工资收入将直接影响农村居民收入，进而影响城乡收入差距。林业产业规模扩大涉 及到种植、养殖、加工、销售等多个环节 [47] ，尤其是林产品的加工、销售和维护等环节 需要大量的从业人员，可以有效增加林业第二产业和第三产业的从业人数。在促进农村 居民就业方面，如上所述，林业产业发展能够增加造林、营林及管护的就业机会 [48] ，拓 宽林区农村居民增收渠道，为其提供较稳定的收入来源。在促进非农就业方面，就林业 第二产业就业而言，其发展能够增加木材采伐、加工业等林产工业的就业机会 [48] 。就林 业第三产业就业而言，其发展能够激发当地森林资源潜力，发挥...…”