Does poverty-alleviation-based industry development improve farmers'livelihood capital?

Targeted poverty alleviation is a unique approach adopted in China to help achieve the vision of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and the"Chinese Dream".Industrial development as a means of poverty alleviation is an integral part of the"Five-pronged Poverty Alleviation Measures"Project of targeted poverty alleviation,and a critical foundation for other poverty alleviation measures.In this study,a comprehensive evaluation method was used to measure farmers'livelihood based on the framework of sustainable livelihood.Specifically,the effects of industrial development on farmers'livelihood capital were estimated by employing the propensity score matching combined with the difference-in-differences(PSM-DID)approach.Findings suggest that industrial development had a significantly positive effect on the livelihood capital of farmers.Industrial development can significantly enhance farmers'human,social and financial capital,while it cannot significantly affect the natural and physical capital.Industrial development had heterogeneous effects on farmers'livelihood capital,more efficiently impacting on the non-poor than the poor.The effects on farmers'livelihood capital varied across regions,with Guizhou experiencing a larger effect than Sichuan.However,the effect was insignificant for farmers in Gansu.To improve farmers'livelihood capital,it is necessary to take measures to strengthen their human capital,promote the innovation of financial products,and make good use of their social capital;it is also essential to strengthen the support of industrial development to the poor.

Enriching Farmers through Sharing: Improving People’s Livelihood and Well-Being in the Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas in China

Shared development is an important means by which to improve people’s livelihood and well-being in the new era. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016–2020), China has made great achievements in the three major aspects of targeted poverty alleviation through industrial development, development of special rural areas, and equalization of urban and rural infrastructure and basic public services. In addition, the important experience of multi-agent participation, multi-mode guidance, and multi-line promotion has been accumulated in the individual, regional and urbanrural dimensions. However, there remain some deficiencies, such as low policy efficiency, poor matching ability, and prominent structural problems. At the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025), the task of enriching farmers through sharing has been faced with many challenges, such as major changes in the focus of poverty governance, greater numbers of restraints on the development of special rural areas, and heavy responsibilities of equalizing urban and rural infrastructure and basic public services. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire a profound understanding of the new development concept, and to continuously enrich farmers through sharing in terms of accelerating the improvement of the institutionalized poverty reduction system in the new era, actively building a green development system of agriculture and animal husbandry in special rural areas, and striving to create a fair and complementary urban and rural infrastructure and basic public service system.