The estimation of long term impacts of China's key priority forestry programs on rural household incomes

We use a large unique household panel dataset spanning 16 years to estimate the impacts of three Key Priority Forestry Programs (the KPFPs) in China on household incomes. The programs are the most significant of China's forest policies namely the Sloping Land Conversion Program (the SLCP), the Natural Forest Protection Program (the NFPP), and the Desertification Combating Program around Beijing and Tianjin (the DCBT). A fixed effect model with clustered standard errors is used to identify programs’ impacts based on variation in participation across households and time. In addition to estimating the total impacts of these programs, individually and in combination, we disaggregate the effects by income source, stage of policy implementation, and duration of participation. Overall, the impacts of the KPFPs on rural households’ income vary with time of enrollment and policy stage. We observe that the KPFPs in their initial stages of implementation, and for the early years of household participation, had negative, or at best neutral impacts on household incomes, in particular incomes from land. However, the later stages of the SLCP and the DCBT have tended to raise land-based incomes, and the NFPP has ceased to have a negative effect. This is likely to be in part the result of adjustments made by rural households over time in response to changes in the programs, as well as in market and environmental conditions.     

Strategies to increase agricultural productivity and reduce land degradation: evidence from Uganda

This paper estimates a structural econometric model of household decisions regarding income strategies, participation in programs and organisations, crop choices, land management, and labour use, and their implications for agricultural production and soil erosion; based upon a survey of over 450 households and their farm plots in Uganda. Many factors have context-specific impacts and involve trade-offs between increasing production and reducing land degradation. Government agricultural extension and training programs contribute to higher value of crop production in the lowlands, but to soil erosion in the highlands. By contrast, non-governmental organization (NGO) programs focusing on agriculture and environment help to reduce erosion, but have less favourable impacts on production in the lowlands. Education increases household incomes, but also reduces crop production in the lowlands. Poverty has mixed impacts on agricultural production, depending on the nature of poverty: smaller farms obtain higher crop production per hectare, while households with fewer livestock have lower crop production. Population pressure contributes to agricultural intensification, but also to erosion in the densely populated highlands. Several household income strategies contribute to increased value of crop production, without significant impacts on soil erosion. We find little evidence of impact of access to markets, roads and credit, land tenure or title on agricultural intensification and crop production and land degradation. In general, the results imply that the strategies to increase agricultural production and reduce land degradation must be location-specific, and that there are few 'win-win' opportunities to simultaneously increase production and reduce land degradation.     

Household-level effects of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program under price and policy shifts

This study examined how agricultural households involved in China's Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) could respond to expected changes in environmental and livestock policies and changing commodity prices. We calibrated a farm household model using 2009 survey data collected in northeast Gansu Province, China, and examined the responses of four different household groups. Household groups were distinguished based on the resources they possessed for either cropping, livestock husbandry or off-farm employment. We also calculated the opportunity cost of converting sloping land from grain crop production to perennial grass production and included the net value of the replacement crop in these calculations. Our model simulations indicated that subsistence-oriented households were most likely to participate in the SLCP, and that SLCP payment reductions could have large negative income effects for this group. Reductions in SLCP payments increased income inequality among households in the study area. Migration- and cropping-oriented households have fewer incentives to participate in the SLCP. With rising commodity prices, SLCP payments need to rise to avoid that subsistence-oriented households reconvert their land from perennial grasses to annual grain crops. Local government policies related to livestock production are being devised in Gansu as a method to lift incomes, and these policies could also have positive environmental benefits by increasing grass production on sloping land. The introduction of these livestock promotion policies had modest income effects but did not alter the area grown with grasses under the SLCP.     

Adoption and Impacts of Sustainable Agricultural Practices on Maize Yields and Incomes: Evidence from Rural Zambia

This paper uses a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model and data from a sample of over 800 households and 3,000 plots to assess the determinants and impacts of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on maize yields and household incomes in rural Zambia. Results show that adoption decisions are driven by household and plot level characteristics and that the adoption of a combination of SAPs raises both maize yields and incomes of smallholder farmers. Adoption of improved maize alone has greater impacts on maize yields, but given the high cost of inorganic fertiliser that limits the profitability of adoption of improved maize, greater household incomes are associated rather with a package involving SAPs such as maize–legume rotation and residue retention.     

The impact of protected areas on the rural households’ incomes in Ethiopia

Protected areas are cornerstones for biodiversity conservation, yet they can be controversial because of their potential impact on the livelihoods of local people due to restrictions on agricultural land use and the extractive use of natural resources. This study evaluates the impact of PAs on households’ livelihoods, as measured by total household income (THI) and livestock income (LI). We use a survey and a quasi-experimental design to gather socioeconomic and biophysical data from households living within, adjacent to and outside three national parks (NPs) in Ethiopia and employ matching methods to isolate the impact of NPs. Our findings suggest that there is no evidence that the establishment of NPs adversely affects local livelihoods. Instead, we find that households within and in adjacent areas to NPs have higher incomes compared to those living outside. Understanding the heterogeneity of the effect of NPs on local livelihoods can help in designing well-targeted policy interventions that improve conservation goals while also addressing livelihood concerns of resource-dependent local communities.     

Responses to climate change and farming policies by rural communities in northern China: A report on field observation and farmers’ perception in dryland north Shaanxi and Ningxia

To address land degradation and rural poverty the Chinese government has put in place a series of land conversion programmes in the Loess Plateau area in northern China. In addition to problems arising from unsustainable land use, water resource availability driven in part by climatic forcing is also a threat to livelihoods in this region. To understand climate impacts on farming practice in poor areas of China, field observation and village reconnaissance took place in the summer of 2009 in three selected counties of Shaanxi and Ningxia Province, northern China. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with householders in rural communities aiming to explore the impacts of recent climate and environmental changes and the role of land management practices on individual and community livelihood incomes as well as individual understanding and engagement with these concepts. The findings were complemented with secondary agricultural, economic and climatic data from the study regions. Respondents argued that land conversion programmes improved income potential, sustainability of livestock grazing and environmental quality in the region. However, water availability was thought to increasingly limit agriculture and human wellbeing in some of the regions with water resources becoming notably scarcer. Understanding of climate change as a concept varied amongst farmers potentially hampering the ability to adapt existing farming practices to maximise livelihood incomes sustainably. Positive effects of the government's land management schemes were unevenly distributed within villages and amongst regions, often linked to a lack of knowledge transfer and shared resources resulting in marginalised households and/or communities. Off-farm labour (in many cases relating to young adult rural to urban migration) appears a crucial source of income for households in the study region. Respondents in Ningxia expressed reservations about the future prospect of productive farming if the water availability continued to diminish.     

农户禀赋对农户融入农产品供应链意愿及方式的影响基于西南地区的农户调查

目的 通过对微观农户调查数据的分析，探究人力资本禀赋、社会资本禀赋、经济资本禀赋和自然资本禀赋对农户融入农产品供应链意愿及方式的影响。方法 文章运用二元Logit模型分析农户禀赋各变量对农户融入农产品供应链意愿的影响，运用多项Logit模型分析农户禀赋各变量对“农户+合作社”“农户+公司”和“农户+合作社+公司”3种融入方式影响。结果 缺乏经营经验、农业收入高、不能筹资、耕地面积小的农户融入农产品供应链的意愿较低。户主受教育程度高、学习能力强、耕地面积大的农户更倾向以“农户+合作社”方式融入供应链。学习能力差、家庭人口少、家里有村干的农户选择以“农户+公司”方式融入供应链的可能性较大。有经营经验、培训经历、亲戚数量少、家庭收入高、农业收入低、能筹资的农户更倾向以“农户+合作社+公司”方式融入供应链。交通便利及靠近乡村旅游地区的农户对所有融入农产品供应链的方式均不感兴趣。结论 要破除农户融入农产品供应链的禀赋障碍，科学引导农户以合适的方式融入农产品供应链，重视条件适宜地区农户进行农产品直销的优势和意愿。     

Impact of off‐farm income on food expenditures in rural Bangladesh: an unconditional quantile regression approach

This study examines the effects of off‐farm income on food expenditures of rural Bangladeshi households. Our analysis yields unbiased estimates of the unconditional impact of off‐farm income on food expenditures and reveals the heterogeneous effects that occur across the distribution of total food consumption expenditures. The findings suggest that the impacts of off‐farm income are uniformly positive across the unconditional quantile regression and significantly increase food consumption expenditures for all quantiles, except for the 25th quantile. In addition, we found that schooling, experience, and location of the household increase the food expenditures of rural households. Most importantly, this article argues that female‐headed rural households in which the female works off the farm tend to have significantly lower food expenditures.     

Total income and ecosystem service sustainability index: Accounting applications to holm oak dehesa case study in Andalusia-Spain

This research develops the novel concept of an economic ecosystem service sustainability index from the perspective of total income theory, and presents its empirical application at the spatial unit scale of the agroforestry farm. This paper compares the results accrued from applying the refined standard System of National Accounts (rSNA) and the authors’ Agroforestry Accounting System (AAS). The AAS extends the rSNA to capture economic activities without manufactured production costs and substitutes the production cost valuations for exchange values revealed/stated by consumer willingness to pay for consumption of final products without market prices, the aim being to provide more comprehensive figures for total and environmental incomes of the agroforestry farms. Both accounting frameworks are applied to a case study of sixteen large, non-industrial, privately-owned holm oak dehesas (agroforestry farms) in Andalusia-Spain. This dehesa application provides estimates for the economic ecosystem service, total income factorial allocation, total capital and economic ecosystem service sustainability index for the aggregate and individual economic activities of the dehesa, distributed between accounts for the farmer and government institutional sector economic activities. The AAS explicit measurements of the hidden rSNA ecosystem services and environmental incomes of the dehesa allow us to further our scientific understanding of the current and future contributions of environmental income from nature to the total income of society as well as to provide information to the policy makers so that action can be taken to mitigate the depletion and degradation of environmental assets. This dehesa application reveals that environmental income measured by the AAS accounts for 67 % of total income in 2010. The dehesa AAS and rSNA ecosystem services share 34 % and 26 % of total product consumptions, respectively. Coupled with the AAS economic ecosystem service sustainability index of 0.5 and the rSNA economic ecosystem service sustainability index of 0.2, these figures indicate total product over-consumption in 2010. The dehesa case study shows that the AAS ecosystem services and environmental incomes are 2.5 and 8.4 times higher than those of the rSNA, respectively. Once the theoretic robustness of non-market product consumption simulated transaction value is accepted, as in the AAS methodology, the expected official economic ecosystem accounting framework will mainly depend on its ongoing standardization by the United Nations Statistical Division and implementation by individual governments. Thus, the challenge of standardizing and implementing such a framework is more closely linked to governmental policy measures than to the current scientific weakness of non-market product consumption valuations.     

Quantifying rural livelihood strategies in developing countries using an activity choice approach

This article uses a quantitative activity choice approach, based on identification of activity variables and application of latent class cluster analysis, to identify five major rural livelihood strategies pursued by households (n= 576) in Bolivia, Nepal, and Mozambique. Income sources and welfare outcomes are compared across strategies and household differences in asset holdings are analyzed using multinomial logit regression. Findings reveal that income diversification is the norm, that a higher degree of specialization does not characterize more remunerative livelihood strategies, that nonfarm income significantly contributes to higher income earnings, that environmental reliance does not vary across strategies, and that small‐scale farmers are the largest and poorest livelihood group. Some livelihood strategies are superior to all other strategies in terms of income earned; access to more remunerative livelihood strategies is determined by land ownership, education, and ethnic affiliation. Finally, the article also highlights that additional work is required to determine the most suitable methods for livelihood strategy identification.     

基于农户家庭资源禀赋的灵山县农地流转成因分析

[目的]分析农户土地流转行为与家庭资源禀赋之间的关系,为提高农地节约利用水平提供一定科学参考价值。[方法]文章选择灵山县为例,采用7个行政村4个居委120个农户的抽样调查数据,从劳动力、收入水平和土地资源等方面分析了流转农户家庭资源禀赋特征,并简要分析了流转地块规模及其地理位置特征,最后通过建立二元logistic模型,解析了农户家庭资源禀赋对农地转入行为和转出行为的影响。[结果](1)农户家庭非农收入占家庭收入比重大;家庭劳动力以非农业为主;户主文化程度主要以小学初中为主;距离集市较远的农户家庭耕地总面积比集市周边农户多。﹙2﹚流转耕地主要是破碎,偏远,较贫瘠的地块。﹙3﹚农户转出行为与外出家庭劳动力数,户主文化程度及年龄与呈正相关;地块类型及面积,位置呈也正相关。农户转入行为与农户家庭种植业,畜牧业收入比,农业机械呈正相关,与农户劳均耕地地面积,距离集市距离等因素呈负相关。[结论]目前与农户耕地流转相关最重要的是农户家庭劳动力数,农户非农收入占比和农户家庭地块大小的自然特征,尤其是地块地理位置对农户流转有重要的推动作用。     

山区农村劳动力转移对农地退耕的影响——以武陵山区为例

[目的]农地退耕是土地利用变化的重要组成部分,明晰农地退耕的影响因素可以为山区生态恢复提供新的路径。[方法]文章基于武陵山区180份农户调查数据,采用多元线性回归模型分析影响山区农地退耕的因素,重点分析山区农村劳动力转移对农地退耕的影响。[结果](1)研究区劳动力转移现象明显,85%的农户家庭存在不同程度的劳动力转移,劳动力转移比例达到51.61%,户均转移劳动力数量占家庭总人口的29.90%;(2)研究区农户退耕较为普遍,退耕农户占样本农户的55%,户均退耕面积0.31hm2;(3)非农收入和农业劳动力比例对农户的退耕面积产生了显著的正向影响,同时家庭女性劳动力数量、家庭总人数、承包地面积、种植耕地的总块数、两个地区哑变量——万木乡和丁市镇也显著影响了农户的退耕地面积。[结论]山区农村劳动力转移带来的非农收入增加促进了农户的农地退耕,但是劳动力转移带来的农业劳动力供给减少又降低了农户的退耕地面积,最终两者的作用相互抵消,使得农村劳动力转移对农户的退耕地面积产生了不可确定的影响。     

Livelihood roles of cattle and prospects for alternative land uses at the wildlife/livestock interface in South Africa

The emergence of wildlife ranching as an alternative land use option to agriculture, in Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), has cast renewed interest on the role of cattle farming in rural livelihoods in areas close to wildlife parks. This study analysed the contribution of cattle to livelihoods and relationships between cattle and potential wildlife land uses in rural areas near Kruger National Park. Data were collected through household surveys, key informant interviews and community workshops. About 11% of households studied owned cattle, and cattle income constituted 29% of total household income. Benefits from cattle were also derived by households without cattle. About 71% of households had at least three sources of income, reflecting diversity of livelihoods. Wildlife related land uses were perceived by some households as threatening cattle production, whilst others viewed them as opportunities for alternative livelihoods. We conclude that cattle production has important livelihood roles, but is not sufficient as a driver of economic development in these areas. Incentives to encourage diversification of livelihoods at the wildlife/livestock interface, with possibilities for rural communities to explore wildlife based land uses should be put in place. In addition, land use policy and planning in such areas should focus on creating institutional mechanisms through which programmes integrating conservation and rural development goals can benefit rural communities.     

Household‐level Impacts of Dairy Cow Ownership in Coastal Kenya

This study uses heteroskedastic Tobit and Censored Least Absolute Deviations models to examine the impacts of dairy cow ownership on selected outcomes for a sample of 184 households in coastal Kenya. The outcomes examined include gross household cash income, gross non‐agricultural income, consumption of dairy products, time allocated to cattle‐related tasks, number of labourers hired and total wage payments to hired labourers. The number of dairy cows owned has a large and statistically significant impact on household cash income; each cow owned increased income by at least 53% of the mean total income of households without dairy cows. Dairy cow ownership also increases consumption of dairy products by 1.0 litre per week, even though most of the increase in milk production is sold. The number of dairy cows has no significant effect on total labour for cattle‐related tasks. However, in contrast to previous studies, labour allocation to cattle by household members decreases and labour requirements for dairy cows are met primarily by an increase in hired labour. Dairy cow ownership results in relatively modest increases in payments to hired labourers and the number of hired labourers employed. The large positive impacts on income and the substitution of hired for household labour in cattle care suggest that intensification of smallholder dairying can be beneficial as a development strategy in the region if disease and feed constraints are addressed.     

The importance of the savings device in precautionary savings: Empirical evidence from rural Bangladesh

We test if precautionary behavior in the consumption decisions of rural households differs across the forms of savings. Using monthly panel data from Bangladesh, we find that, on average, the savings device does not matter but that the effect of income on savings indeed depends on the savings device. Precautionary savings in the form of staple grain are relatively constant across income quartiles, while nongrain precautionary savings vary across income quartiles. Previous studies, which treat these two types of savings devices as fungible, misdiagnose the reasons for, and by extension the market failures behind, a large percentage of the precautionary savings held by rural households.     

Cash crop choice and income dynamics in rural areas: evidence for post‐crisis Indonesia

In this article we investigate the factors affecting levels and growth of incomes in rural Indonesia following the crisis of 1997–1998. In particular, we investigate the relative roles of nonfarm incomes and productivity improvements achieved via changes in crops versus improvements on the same crops on income dynamics. Framing the article in the context of an optimal labor allocation model, relying on unique household panel data from Central Sulawesi, and using advanced panel econometric methods, we find that local innovations related to the adoption and intensification of new cash crop varieties, more specifically the shift from coffee to cocoa production, can explain a substantial part of the observed post‐crisis developments. Causal estimates of the effect of growing cocoa suggest that households were on average able to achieve about 14% higher income levels during the post‐crisis period compared to the planting of other crops, most notably coffee. Also, our results demonstrate the importance of engagement in nonfarm activities for household income growth. Comparative analyses using a nationally representative survey suggest that similar processes are at play in other parts of Indonesia.     

The Role of Ownership in Determining the Rural Economic Benefits of On‐shore Wind Farms

The development of the wind energy sector is often promoted as a means of supporting rural economies. This paper focuses on how the ownership structure of on‐shore wind power plants (external, farmer or community) affects the size and distribution of impacts within the rural part of a region. Empirical analysis is based on a regional computable general equilibrium model of North East Scotland with the results compared to those generated from a standard social accounting matrix multiplier analysis. With no local ownership, while rural GDP increases, there is almost no effect on household incomes due to the limited direct linkages of the on‐shore wind sector. Local ownership increases the household income benefits but there are still limited positive spill‐over effects on the wider economy unless factor income is re‐invested in local capital. With re‐investment, farm household ownership gives rise to the largest increase in total household income but community ownership gives rise to the largest increase in rural (non‐farm) household incomes and welfare. The results contribute to the on‐going debate about the opportunity cost of external asset ownership in rural areas.     

Does participation in the conservation reserve program impact the economic well‐being of farm households?

This study uses U.S. farm household survey data to examine how participation in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) affects farm household economic well-being. Further, the study also examines the effects of CRP participation on farm household consumption, income, and imputed savings. In contrast to previous studies that assume the relationships are homogenous across the population, quantile regression is used to investigate the association between CRP participation across the entire distribution of farm household consumption and income. Empirical findings suggest that the effect of CRP participation on household economic well-being differs across the income and consumption distribution. For households in the lower percentiles of the distribution, the CRP participation is associated with an increase in household consumption, but a decrease in farm household income and savings. In contrast, farm households at the median and higher income and consumption quantiles, participation in CRP is associated with lower levels of household consumption and income, but with higher levels of savings.     

Farm Level Costs of Agri‐environment Measures: The Impact of Entry Level Stewardship on Cereal Farm Incomes

Applying a difference‐in‐difference approach with propensity score matching, we examine the impact of participation in the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme on cereal farm incomes in eastern England. We assess the extent to which impacts are related to a) the source of income affected – whether only from agricultural or total business income; b) the channel of the impact – through land use and/or labour input; and c) the level of impacts through time. In addition, we assess the appropriateness of the level of the ELS payment. We find that: a) entering the ELS scheme could negatively affect cereal farm incomes – in particular, the total business income; b) that negative impacts arise primarily in relation to the use of land resources; c) that impacts may diminish over a relatively short period of time; and d) that the ELS payment broadly compensates for losses without providing over compensation. Given the diminishing negative impact over time, the level of ELS payment might need to be reviewed in the longer term, although policy evaluation should consider the wider implications for efficiency of alternative payment levels. We also discuss some limitations of the approach and potential extensions.     

退耕还林工程对西部农户收入的影响:对西安周至县南部山区乡镇农户的实证分析

研究目的:分析研究退耕还林工程对西部山区农户收入的影响和作用。研究方法:利用西安交通大学人口与发展研究所2008年4月在周至南部山区的农户生计调查数据,建立统计回归模型,分别采用多元线性和分位数回归分析方法,定量分析退耕还林工程对西部山区农户收入的影响。研究结果:参与退耕还林对农户家庭纯收入有着显著的正向影响,尤其是对于中低收入农户,但参与退耕通过户耕地面积和农业劳动时间变化对中低水平的农户收入也仍有一定的负面作用。研究结论:为巩固退耕工程成果,当地政府应提供信息,提高农户的社会资本,积极发展外出务工等非农生产活动。