IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v10y2021i7p763-d597558.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Livelihood Capital Influence the Livelihood Strategy of Herdsmen? Evidence from Western China

Author

Listed:
  • Manyu Wang

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    College of Economics, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, China)

  • Min Li

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Bei Jin

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Lan Yao

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Hao Ji

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

Abstract

The deterioration of grassland ecology is threatening the livelihood of herdsmen and increasing their rates of poverty. This study aims to explore the characteristics of herdsmen’s livelihood and the impact of livelihood capital and environmental perception on livelihood strategy selection. Based on 453 herdsmen households in the Province of Gansu and Qinghai, five types of livelihood capital were measured under the sustainable livelihoods framework. The influence of herdsmen’s livelihood capital on their decisions regarding their livelihood strategies was evaluated in multiple logistic functions. Meanwhile, hierarchical regression analysis and grouping regression methods were used to explore the moderating effects of two dimensions of environmental perception: ecological consciousness and sense of responsibility. The following results were obtained: First, all types of livelihood capital have a significant influence on the livelihood diversification of herdsmen; second, the direction and strength of these effects differ among types of livelihood capital. Moreover, environmental perception played a negative moderating role in the relationship between herdsmen’s livelihood capital and livelihood strategies. Therefore, it is expected to introduce policies ensuring the development of herdsmen’s livelihood capital and improve their environmental cognition, which can help realize the coordinated economic and ecological development of grassland.

Suggested Citation

  • Manyu Wang & Min Li & Bei Jin & Lan Yao & Hao Ji, 2021. "Does Livelihood Capital Influence the Livelihood Strategy of Herdsmen? Evidence from Western China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:7:p:763-:d:597558
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/7/763/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/7/763/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghilardi-Lopes, Natalia Pirani & Turra, Alexander & Buckeridge, Marcos S. & Silva, Amanda Cristina & Berchez, Flávio Augusto de Souza & de Oliveira, Valéria Marques, 2015. "On the perceptions and conceptions of tourists with regard to global environmental changes and their consequences for coastal and marine environments: A case study of the northern São Paulo State coas," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 85-92.
    2. Huanxin Yang & Kai Huang & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2021. "Livelihood Capital and Land Transfer of Different Types of Farmers: Evidence from Panel Data in Sichuan Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Kemkes, Robin J., 2015. "The role of natural capital in sustaining livelihoods in remote mountainous regions: The case of Upper Svaneti, Republic of Georgia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 22-31.
    4. Dingde Xu & Zhixing Ma & Xin Deng & Yi Liu & Kai Huang & Wenfeng Zhou & Zhuolin Yong, 2020. "Relationships between Land Management Scale and Livelihood Strategy Selection of Rural Households in China from the Perspective of Family Life Cycle," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Sigit Sudarmadi & Shosuke Suzuki & Tomoyuki Kawada & Herawati Netti & Soeharsono Soemantri & A. Tri Tugaswati, 2001. "A Survey of Perception, Knowledge, Awareness, and attitude in Regard to Environmental Problems in a Sample of two Different Social Groups in Jakarta, Indonesia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 169-183, June.
    6. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    7. Ahmed, Nesar & Troell, Max & Allison, Edward H. & Muir, James F., 2010. "Prawn postlarvae fishing in coastal Bangladesh: Challenges for sustainable livelihoods," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 218-227, March.
    8. Hanna Nel, 2015. "An integration of the livelihoods and asset-based community development approaches: A South African case study," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 511-525, July.
    9. Orduño Torres, Miguel Angel & Kallas, Zein & Ornelas Herrera, Selene Ivette, 2020. "Farmers’ environmental perceptions and preferences regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation actions; towards a sustainable agricultural system in México," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Trinh, Thoai Quang & Rañola, Roberto F. & Camacho, Leni D. & Simelton, Elisabeth, 2018. "Determinants of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in agricultural production in the central region of Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 224-231.
    11. Kuang, Foyuan & Jin, Jianjun & He, Rui & Wan, Xinyu & Ning, Jing, 2019. "Influence of livelihood capital on adaptation strategies: Evidence from rural households in Wushen Banner, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Dil Bahadur Rahut & Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb & Akhter Ali, 2018. "Rural Livelihood Diversification Strategies and Household Welfare in Bhutan," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(4), pages 718-748, September.
    13. Ellis, Frank & Bahiigwa, Godfrey, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 997-1013, June.
    14. Niehof, Anke, 2004. "The significance of diversification for rural livelihood systems," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 321-338, August.
    15. Miyuki Iiyama & Patrick Kariuki & Patti Kristjanson & Simeon Kaitibie & Joseph Maitima, 2008. "Livelihood diversification strategies, incomes and soil management strategies: a case study from Kerio Valley, Kenya," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 380-397.
    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. Zexian Li & Yuejian Wang & Lei Wang & Liping Xu & Huanhuan Chen & Chenglong Yao, 2024. "Study on the Impact of Rural Tourism Construction Projects on Farmers’ Livelihood Capital and Livelihood Options," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Hui Xiao & Jianxiu Xiao & Fangting Xie, 2022. "Impact Assessment of Farmland Lease-Out on Rural Households’ Livelihood Capital and Livelihood Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Yueyue He & Tanveer Ahmed, 2022. "Farmers’ Livelihood Capital and Its Impact on Sustainable Livelihood Strategies: Evidence from the Poverty-Stricken Areas of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Hejie Wei & Jiaxin Zheng & Dong Xue & Xiaobin Dong & Mengxue Liu & Yali Zhang, 2022. "Identifying the Relationship between Livelihoods and Land Ecosystem Services Using a Coupled Model: A Case Study in the “One River and Two Tributaries” Region of Tibet," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, August.
    5. Mengyuan Lu & Bin Guo & Jianna Li, 2024. "Using the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Explore the Effect of Farmer Differentiation on Their Intention to Revitalize Idle Homesteads: Empirical Evidence from Shaanxi, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-21, September.
    6. Kongsen Wu & Dongyan Kong & Xinjun Yang, 2023. "The Impact of Rural Industrial Development on Farmers’ Livelihoods—Taking Fruit-Producing Area as an Example," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Jue Wang & Haiwei Jiang & Yuan He, 2023. "Determinants of Smallholder Farmers’ Income-Generating Activities in Rubber Monoculture Dominated Region Based on Sustainable Livelihood Framework," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Han Yu & Kun Chen & Qingying Zhu & Baishu Guo, 2024. "Farmland Transfer Mode and Livelihood Capital Endowment Impacts on Income Inequality: Rural Survey Data of Hubei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.

    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. Martin, Sarah M. & Lorenzen, Kai, 2016. "Livelihood Diversification in Rural Laos," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 231-243.
    2. Sarker, Md Nazirul Islam & Wu, Min & Alam, GM Monirul & Shouse, Roger C, 2020. "Livelihood diversification in rural Bangladesh: Patterns and determinants in disaster prone riverine islands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    3. Xue Yang & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2021. "Livelihood Adaptation of Rural Households under Livelihood Stress: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-19, May.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Wenfeng Zhou & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2021. "Livelihood resilience and strategies of rural residents of earthquake-threatened areas in Sichuan Province, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 106(1), pages 255-275, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Xiaonan Zhao & Feng Lan, 2023. "The Impact of Livelihood Capital Endowment on Household Poverty Alleviation: The Mediating Effect of Land Transfer," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, July.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. World Bank, 2009. "The Urban Transition in Tanzania," World Bank Publications - Reports 18604, The World Bank Group.
    14. 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.
    15. Xueqi Wang & Zhongguo Xu & Guan Li & Yuefei Zhuo & Wei Zou, 2023. "Farmland Transfer and Income Distribution Effect of Heterogeneous Farmers with Livelihood Capital: Evidence from CFPS," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, July.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:7:p:763-:d:597558. 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.