IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i9p1801-d164969.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Village-Scale Livelihood Change and the Response of Rural Settlement Land Use: Sihe Village of Tongwei County in Mid-Gansu Loess Hilly Region as an Example

Author

Listed:
  • Libang Ma

    (College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Shichun Liu

    (College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Yiwen Niu

    (College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Meimei Chen

    (College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

Rural livelihood change has great influence on the scale, structure, and morphology of rural settlement land use, thus bringing new challenges to rural revitalization and settlement reconstruction. Sihe village of Tongwei County in mid-Gansu loess hilly region (China) was taken as an example here. Based on participatory rural appraisal data, we analyzed the structure and allocation of rural households’ livelihood assets as well as their livelihood diversity by using ecological asset, livelihood diversification index, and landscape pattern index models. We aimed to find a response mechanism between rural livelihood change and rural settlement land use change. The results might provide useful information for the selection of new village sites, reconstruction of rural settlements, and creation of livable rural environment. Results indicate that: (1) The total value of the average livelihood assets per household in the Sihe village increased significantly from 0.48 in 1988 to 1.288 in 2016. The four types of livelihood assets including natural, material, manpower, and financial assets changed with time. In 1988, the manpower asset was the most important type of livelihood assets, with value accounting for 76.67% of the total value of livelihood assets. With the extension of time, the proportions of the four types of assets in total livelihood assets became closer to each other. The livelihood diversification index of the Sihe village increased from 2.01 in 1988 to 3 in 2016, indicating the rural livelihoods became diverse; (2) Because of the dual influence of external environmental factors and the rural development policies of the country and the region, the livelihoods changed towards agricultural sector from 1988 to 2008, and the agricultural livelihoods tended to be diverse. The following trend of livelihood strategy change was observed: from diverse non-agricultural production group (IV) to agricultural and non-agricultural production group (III), then to diverse agricultural production group (II) and finally to agricultural production group (I). After 2008, the livelihoods changed towards non-agricultural sector, and the non-agricultural livelihoods tended to be diverse. This trend of livelihood change is opposite to that before 2008; (3) 2008 is the key year of livelihood change. Livelihood change caused changes in the scale, structure, and morphology of rural settlement land use, which eventually led to the change of rural residential land use.

Suggested Citation

  • Libang Ma & Shichun Liu & Yiwen Niu & Meimei Chen, 2018. "Village-Scale Livelihood Change and the Response of Rural Settlement Land Use: Sihe Village of Tongwei County in Mid-Gansu Loess Hilly Region as an Example," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:1801-:d:164969
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1801/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1801/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ellis, Frank & Mdoe, Ntengua, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1367-1384, August.
    2. Tian, Guangjin & Qiao, Zhi & Zhang, Yaoqi, 2012. "The investigation of relationship between rural settlement density, size, spatial distribution and its geophysical parameters of China using Landsat TM images," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 25-36.
    3. Ellis, Frank & Bahiigwa, Godfrey, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 997-1013, June.
    4. Yu, Zhenning & Wu, Cifang & Tan, Yongzhong & Zhang, Xiaobin, 2018. "The dilemma of land expansion and governance in rural China: A comparative study based on three townships in Zhejiang Province," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 602-611.
    5. Liu, Yansui, 2018. "Introduction to land use and rural sustainability in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-4.
    6. Dovie, Delali B. K. & Witkowski, E. T. F. & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2003. "Direct-use value of smallholder crop production in a semi-arid rural South African village," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 337-357, April.
    7. Babulo, Bedru & Muys, Bart & Nega, Fredu & Tollens, Eric & Nyssen, Jan & Deckers, Jozef & Mathijs, Erik, 2008. "Household livelihood strategies and forest dependence in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 147-155, September.
    8. Jagath C. Edirisinghe, 2015. "Smallholder farmersù household wealth and livelihood choices in developing countries: A Sri Lankan case study," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(c), pages 33-38.
    9. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    10. Niehof, Anke, 2004. "The significance of diversification for rural livelihood systems," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 321-338, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chuangxin Zhao & Manping Tang & Houjian Li, 2022. "The Effects of Vocational-Skills Training on Migrant Workers’ Willingness to Settle in Urban Areas in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Hong Tang & Jian Liu & Xiaowen Dai & Yun Zhang & Wendai He & Qi Yin & Feng Huang & Ruiping Ran & Yunqiang Liu, 2022. "Household Groups’ Land Use Decisions Investigation Based on Perspective of Livelihood Heterogeneity in Sichuan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-26, August.
    3. Yao Qian & Qingyuan Yang & Haozhe Zhang & Kangchuan Su & Huiming Zhang & Xiaochi Qu, 2022. "The Impact of Farming Households’ Livelihood Vulnerability on the Intention of Homestead Agglomeration: The Case of Zhongyi Township, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Libang Ma & Meimei Chen & Xinglong Che & Fang Fang, 2019. "Farmers’ Rural-To-Urban Migration, Influencing Factors and Development Framework: A Case Study of Sihe Village of Gansu, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chuan Liao & Christopher Barrett & Karim-Aly Kassam, 2015. "Does Diversification Improve Livelihoods? Pastoral Households in Xinjiang, China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1302-1330, November.
    2. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron & Naieni, Mohammad Saeid Noori & Shamekhi, Taghi, 2012. "Poverty, sustainability, and household livelihood strategies in Zagros, Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 60-70.
    3. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    4. Martin, Sarah M. & Lorenzen, Kai, 2016. "Livelihood Diversification in Rural Laos," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 231-243.
    5. Xiaolan Wang & Li Peng & Dingde Xu & Xuxi Wang, 2019. "Sensitivity of Rural Households’ Livelihood Strategies to Livelihood Capital in Poor Mountainous Areas: An Empirical Analysis in the Upper Reaches of the Min River, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Babigumira, Ronnie & Angelsen, Arild & Buis, Maarten & Bauch, Simone & Sunderland, Terry & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Forest Clearing in Rural Livelihoods: Household-Level Global-Comparative Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 67-79.
    7. Mackenzie, Catrina A. & Ahabyona, Peter, 2012. "Elephants in the garden: Financial and social costs of crop raiding," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 72-82.
    8. Santotomas Licimaco Aguilar-Pinto & Julio Cesar Quispe-Mamani & Dominga Asunción Calcina-Álvarez & Nelly Jacqueline Ulloa-Gallardo & Roxana Madueño-Portilla & Mindi Fabiola Lizárraga-Álvarez & Adderly, 2023. "Public Services in the Household and Their Effect on Poverty, Analysis for the Peruvian Case, 2021," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-23, June.
    9. World Bank, 2009. "The Urban Transition in Tanzania," World Bank Publications - Reports 18604, The World Bank Group.
    10. Marwan Benali & Bernhard Brümmer & Victor Afari‐Sefa, 2018. "Smallholder participation in vegetable exports and age‐disaggregated labor allocation in Northern Tanzania," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 549-562, September.
    11. Phiri, Isaac, 2020. "The effect of access to finance on commercialisation of smallholder maize farmers in Eswatini," Research Theses 334755, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    12. Bello, Lateef Olalekan & Baiyegunhi, Lloyd & Mignouna, Djana & Adeoti, Razack & Donstop-Nguezet, Paul Matin & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Manyong, Victor & Bamba, Zoumana & Awotide, Bola Amoke, 2021. "Impact of Youth-in-Agribusiness Program on Employment Creation in Nigeria," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315135, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Frederic Vermeulen & Selma Walther, 2021. "Where did it go wrong? Marriage and divorce in Malawi," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(2), pages 505-545, May.
    14. Laibuni, N. & Kirui, L., 2018. "Transforming Livestock Production through Systems Thinking Approach: the case of West Pokot and Narok Counties," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276020, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Khan, Qaiser & Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ambel, Alemayehu, 2017. "Blending Top-Down Federalism with Bottom-Up Engagement to Reduce Inequality in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 326-342.
    16. Timothy R. Silberg & Robert B. Richardson & Maria Claudia Lopez, 2020. "Maize farmer preferences for intercropping systems to reduce Striga in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 269-283, April.
    17. Christophe Béné & Richard M. Friend, 2011. "Poverty in small-scale fisheries," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 11(2), pages 119-144, April.
    18. Quang Tran, Tuyen, 2012. "A review on the link between nonfarm activities, land and rural livelihoods in Vietnam and developing countries," MPRA Paper 55850, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Nov 2013.
    19. Horman Chitonge, 2014. "Land Redistribution and Zero Hunger Programs: Can South Africa Reap a Triple Dividend?," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(4), pages 380-406, December.
    20. Maia Green, 2015. "Making Africa middle class: From poverty reduction to the production of inequality in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 295-309, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:1801-:d:164969. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.