Livelihood Strategy and Farmland Use in Xinping County of Yuanjiang Dry-hot Valley

Methods of participatory rural appraisal and mathematical statistics were adopted to study livelihood diversification, livelihood strategy and farmland use of the four types of farmers in Xinping County of Yuanjiang dry-hot valley with field survey data. The results showed as follows： firstly, as farmers are transforming from pure agriculture to non-agriculture, their agricultural livelihood diversification index will decrease, while non-agricultural livelihood diversification index will increase. In term of livelihood activities, pure agricultural farmers are exclusively engaged in agricultural activities, agricultural-dominant and non-agricultural-dominant farmers are engaged in both agricultural and non-agricultural ones, while non-agricultural farmers are basically engaged in off-farm activities. Secondly, as for crops planted, pure agricultural and agricultural-dominant farmers tend to choose those crops with more investment,shorter growth period and higher value, meanwhile non-agricultural-dominant farmers tend to choose crops with less investment, simpler management and longer growth period. Thirdly, to cope with current problems in farming, pure agricultural farmers will adopt measures such as changing planting structure, maintaining or expanding planting scale, increasing planting investment and renting in more land to promote the development of farming; agriculture-dominant farmers will adopt measures such as changing planting structure, reducing planting scale, maintaining planting investment, renting in and taking back the leased land as well as engaging in non-agricultural activities to overcome the difficulties faced; while non-agricultural-dominant farmers will adopt measures such as reducing both planting scale and investment,changing planting structure and engaging in farmland transfer as well as various offfarm activities to avoid livelihood risks.

Division of Farmland Use in East China at County level Based on Landscape Structure and Output Function——a Case of Pingdu City, Shandong Province

[Objective] The aim was to research the relationships among different e- valuation farmland units and conduct division-of farmland use in order to provide scientific references for protection and rational use of farmland at county level. [Method] Using Pingdu City as a case, the research selected land use indices such as farmland use structure, output, geographical location, eta/., and then performed a cluster analysis for farmland use division. [Result] Farmlands in Pingdu can be classified into 4 groups. In groups 1 and 2, it is necessary to strengthen farmland protection, especially for highly-quality farmlands, to guarantee the quantity and quality of local crops. In groups 1 and 3, it is necessary to improve concentration degree and use rate of construction lands and control farmland pollution possibly caused by constructions. In group 4, priority should be given to maintaining diversity of land use patterns, and avoiding aimless farming expansion. [Conclusion] During urbanization process in eastern coastal agricultural regions, it is of importance to prevent fertile farmlands being occupied by construction lands to enhance use rate of construction lands. Furthermore, agricultural non-point pollution should be detected constantly in intensively used farmlands, especially in vegetable fields. Additionally, land use diversity should be well protected by avoiding farmland expansion and im- proving farmland environment.

The Impact of Changes of Property Rights on Farmland Use:An Empirical Study of China during Transition

In China, farmland property rights characterized by the household-responsibility system (HRS) have been improved since the reform and opening-up. The rights of use, transfer and gain become more stable, authorized and complete. This paper firstly analyzes the impact on farmland productivity, which comes from the improvement of farmland property rights. Then, an economet- ric model is built to test the above analysis. It concludes that changes of property rights will affect farmland performance in China. In the end, some policy implications are explored for fur- ther reforms.

Understanding the Nexus between Climate Change, the Shift in Land Use toward Cashew Production and Rural Food Security in Ghana;the Experiences of Farmers in the Transition Zone of Ghana

This study summarises the findings from a study investigating rural small-holding farmers’experiences on the shift from food crop to cashew in the forest/savanna transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana and its impact on rural food security.Using a mix method approach,the study sampled the views of 400 farmers from 9 farming communities in the Wenchi Municipality of Ghana via questionnaire and semi-structured interview and collated statistical data on crop production to trace the nexus between climate change,agrarian land-use decisions and food security.The study found evidence of increasing shift from food crop to cashew production.This was evidenced by increasing cashew cultivation and cashew output and decreasing total land acreage for food crops and increasing food insecurity of farmers.The findings revealed that about 71%of farmers had expanded their cashew farms and another 41.0%have turned their food crops’lands to cashew production.Besides cashew production,(57.0%)has overtaken the traditional food crop-maize(25.5%)production in terms of output.Instructively,the study found that the main motivation for the shift from food crop to cashew production is not only to maximise income in bulk,but also climate change adaptability issues.The study found that the cashew crop is resilient in adapting to the changing climate and less prone to pests’invasion compared to maize in the study District.The study found that food security among rural folks had been seriously compromised by the conversion of farmlands from food crop to cashew farming.Although,the study found that female farmers have higher consciousness to food security yet less motivated to shift from food crop to cashew crop production compared to men.Worryingly,females are the hardest hit group because of their low ownership of or access to farmlands and low voices of women in farmland use decision making in a men-dominant rural extended family setting of the study District.The study concludes that climate change adaptability concern has introduced a new set of risks including crop failure due to changing rainfall pattern and increasing incidence of pest invasions forcing the rural folks to compromise innovative indigenous farming focus and practices that have helped them to navigate extreme food poverty.This study,therefore,argues for improved food crop seeds tailored to the specific climatic context and innovative farming practices that beef-up small-holding farmers’capacity to navigate climate change to continually produce food crop to ensure rural food security and sustainability.