Under-forest Economy Industry Development And The Influence Of Farmer Households Research

With the focus of forestry development transiting from wood production to comprehensive forestry ecological construction, and with the completion of the main task of "clarifying property rights and contracting to households" of collective forest tenure reform, the development of under-forest economy is of great significance to protecting forest resources, increasing employment opportunities and income of farmers, meeting social demands, promoting economic development, and consolidating the fruits of forest tenure reform. Therefore, this study, based on previous researches, intends to investigate the development of under-forest economy as an industry from a macro perspective and the influence of under-forest economy on households from a micro perspective. From the macro perspective of industry, it examines the status quo of the development of under-forest economy, the contribution and industrial structure of under-forest economy, the industrial layout and regional competence of under-forest economy, and the influencing factors of under-forest economy. From the micro perspective of households, this study probes into the households’ perception of under-forest economy, the influence of under-forest economy on the households’ income, as well as the households’ intention of operating under-forest economy.In terms of macro analysis of the industry, this study, based on the status quo of the development of under-forest economy, firstly employs the method of grey correlation analysis to analyze the structural correlation between sub-industries of under-forest economy; secondly, by setting up an indicator system and using the methods of principal component analysis and cluster analysis, this study analyzes the industrial layout of under-forest economy and the regional competence of different provinces; thirdly, this study uses the method of grey correlation analysis to analyze the influencing factors of under-forest economy from various angles, such as the macro-economic environment, the input of factors of production, the development of consumption market, the forestry policies and so on. With regards to micro analysis of households, this study chooses six research regions, including 1) Yiyang County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province,2) Qingliu County, Sanming City, Fujian Province,3) Guzhang County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province,4) Shuangyang District, Changchun City, Jilin Provicne,5) Kai County, Chongqing City, and 6) the neighborhoods surrounding Taibai Mountain Nature Reserve. Based on analysis of the main forms of under-forest economic development in sample districts and counties and the research results of 368 households, this study firstly analyzes the incentives, existing difficulties and demands of households in operating under-forest economy; secondly, this study analyzes the influence of under-forest economy on the income of households by employing one-way analysis of variance, Lorenz Curve and Gini coefficient; lastly, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and by using Factor Analysis and Binary Logistic Regression, this study probes into the households’intention of operating under-forest economy and its influencing factors.The research results show that:from the macro perspective of industry, domestic under-forest economy develops at a rapid speed and its industrial structure presents an ascending trend; meanwhile it is confronted with problems like small scale of wild animals feeding industry, slow development of under-forest planting industry and regional imbalance in the development of under-forest economy, and the development of under-forest economy is influenced by a variety of factors. From the macro perspective of households, good economic benefits is an important reason for households’ intention of operating under-forest economy, while the lack of land, capital and labor force is a big obstacle to the development of under-forest economy; on the one hand, under-forest economy has a significant influence on increasing the income of households, but on the other hand, it widens the income gap between households; the households are more willing to operate under-forest economy when they belong to a younger age group, spend shorter time working as migrant workers, have a better market and higher prices for their under-forest products, own more forest lands after the forest tenure reform, achieve less production cost, have stronger awareness and sense of responsibility of protecting forest resources, gain more government support and more sufficient labor force, have better market expectations, and when they believe under-forest economy is beneficial to environmental protection and under-forest products are ecological friendly.In the conclusion part, the study investigates domestic polices related to under-forest economy and the problems exist in current polices, and puts forward a series of suggestions from both perspectives of industry and household, such as optimizing the industrial structure and layout of under-forest economy, improving regional competence and organizational efficiency of under-forest economy, further clarifying property rights, regulating and guiding the transfer of forest tenure, strengthening forestry financial support system and so forth.