Impacts on farmers' livelihood of the upland conversion project in Yangtze river watershed, Sichuan province, PR China | |
| Author | Shao, Wen |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.NR-03-09 |
| Subject(s) | Farmers--China--Sichuan--Social conditions Farmers--China--Sichuan--Economic conditions |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. NR-03-09 |
| Abstract | Sustainable upland development has been emphasized in China; the Upland Conversion Project is one of the main strategies to improve the ecological environment to achieve sustainable development of the western regions. The project works on transferring farmland into forestland through tree plantations, including economic trees and protection trees, subsidized by central government. However, the subsidies will be removed after five to eight years after tree plantation. The project has been implementing in the study area, Nanjiang County, Sichuan Province, since 2000, due to the environmental degradation in Yangtze River watershed. This study analyzed the present impacts on farmers' livelihood of the Upland Conversion Project, though comparing the sources and strategies of their livelihood before and after the project implementation, at the same time, the main productive activities of annual crop farming, vegetable cultivation, livestock raising, and non-farming activities have been emphasized. Moreover, it also summed up the possible impacts on farmer' livelihood in near future through sensitivity analysis. The bottom limit for nuts production volume is 38.56% to 59.7% of the standard nuts productivity, while the bottom limit for nuts price is 1.74-2.71 yuan/kg, which are two essential indicators to check whether the farmers can recover all the costs. In addition, the constraints and needs in agricultural development were identified so that necessary facilitation would be given to address the difficulties by the various stakeholders. Finally, SWOT of the project has been carried out as well, to summarize the opinions of farmers involved in tree plantation, as well as the farmers' attitude to the project and the problems and difficulties in agricultural production have been identified. The study concludes that competitiveness of the farmers involved in the project must be enhanced in order to sustain their livelihood in near future after the remove of subsidies, while the active support system must be built as well through improved coordination and cooperation among the main stakeholders including building the self-organization of farmers. The guidance from both central and local governments and government agencies are significant for individuals and farmer groups, the conscious coordination of the differentiated agencies at different levels involved in UCP ensures them to function and work together harmoniously to make sure the accomplishment of UCP. Regarding the improvement in production, postproduction and marketing, it is necessary for the farmer groups to cooperate with some other stakeholders and set up the different partnership or alliance to achieve the success in production and marketing. Additionally,. the cooperation between the stakeholders is also significant, good cooperation shall reduce conflicts and thus the institutions and agencies work together harmoniously so as to achieve the common goal in the whole process. Consequently, the supporting system of UCP can be ensured and consequently the efficient implementation of UCP. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. NR-03-09 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Zoebisch, Michael;Shrestha, Rajendra; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ford Foundation;Asian Institute of Technology; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003 |