The Analysis On The Social And Economic Factors Affecting The Adoption For Raising Sheep In Folds In The Semiarid Loess Plateau

With the theoretical analysis of ecological economics, econometrics, regional economics, new institutional economics, and the quantitative analysis, in view of the optimum effect for a farmer household to be a micro-economic individual, based on a survey of765farmer’s families in four typical regions, the paper evaluates the determinants of farmers’decisions to adopt raising sheep in folds (RSFs) in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. The paper selects key variables in order to provide micro-theoretical support for achieving the economic diversification and sustainable development in the semiarid areas. Some concludes and suggestions are as follows:RSFs would be popularized through four stage:beginning, development, popularization and matureness in succession, among the farm households in the semiarid Loess Plateau.The families with more adult female members and less children were more likely to adopt RSFs. The results showed that RSFs were very consistent with the demographics of farming families in the semiarid Loess Plateau, in which there were more adult women who stayed home to do farmwork while hundreds of millions of adult men moved from rural areas to urban areas in search of a better life.Households with higher grain yields were more likely to adopt RSFs. In contrast, farmers who sold more potatoes were less likely to adopt RSFs. Alternative cropping patterns to impose restrictions on the unsustainable expansion of potato cultivation areas were contribute to improve the sustainability of crop livestock farming systemsIn the areas where RSFswould be in its beginning stage, the total cultivated area of various leguminous forage grasses, including alfalfa is positively related to the adoption of RSFs. In the areas where RSFs would be in its development stage, this pasture can no longer carry such a large number of sheep, so short forage already become a bottleneck for RSFs. Because the annual average aboveground biomass of alfalfa was significantly lower than that of cereal crops such as maize and wheat, it is not helpful for adequate supplies of forage to further develop the "Grain for Green", the cultivated area of leguminous forage grasses was not correlated with farmers’ adoption of RSFs. The key link for popularization of RSFs among the farm households in the semiarid Loess Plateau would be to increase crop yield and to establish farming systems that rotate or intercrop cereal crops and leguminous forage grass integrated with RSFs.The analysis showed that farmers with more experience raising sheep or goats were more likely to adopt RSFs. The probability of adopting RSFs was higher for farmers who have contact with extension agencies working on animal husbandry technologies. Adoption of RSFs could be further promoted through the development of alternative policies encouraging rural youths with more education to shift labor allocation in favor of farm production and the founding of smooth marketing channels.The paper measures information transaction costs resulted from marketing sheep and potatoes in small-scale farmers in the study areas, respectively, and draw a conclusion that farmers faced higher transaction costs for marketing sheep than marketing potatoes, indicating that high transaction costs were among key factors affecting the benefits derived from RSFs to producers. Imperfect sheep markets are considered to be responsible for the difference.This paper suggested that establishing rural economic organization is helpful to reduce the transaction costs and promote the adoption of RSFs. Company+cooperative+farmers can be a more appropriate mode of economic organization of farmers to protect the economic interests of the productioner of RSFs and achieve economic development and eco-environmental improvement simultaneously.