Research On The Perception And Credibility Of Farmers And Herdsmen On Grassland Policy

Grassland is the largest land resource in China,accounting for about 41%of the country's total land surface.Grassland management policies are important to guarantee resource protection and the development of animal husbandry.The pasture contract system(PCS)is one of the core elements of China's grassland management policy,with the titling of grassland titling(GT)as the latest measure put forward by China.This aims to stimulate the marketization of grassland with clear property rights.At present,research on grassland titling commonly focuses on implementation difficulties and existing problems,while the research on the function of grassland institutions is lacking.However,institutional change-of which titling is an example-needs time,as change occurs in a spontaneous,endogenous fashion,and actors with a purposeful design of institutions(or policies)are likely to fail meeting local socio-economic conditions,or even play an opposing role.In this respect,one may question whether the current stage of development is suited for the implementation of grassland titling.This question is actually a discussion of the function of grassland titling.If one endeavours to have a more in-depth understanding of this issue,the history of China's grassland management policy and pasture contract system needs consideration.The theory of this study involves the theory of property rights school,neoliberalism,balanced ecology and institutional function theory.The theoretical basis of the research is for the institutional function theory.The contribution of institutional function theory lies in three aspects:first,Analyze the social security function of grassland contract and the economic function of grassland right.Rather than focusing on state,private,or common pool resources forms.Second,from the time,space,macro and micro-dimensional analysis of the problem,to avoid the "one size fits all",according to local conditions to solve the problem.Thirdly,people-oriented,all starting with the actors,each person is to use their own perception model to elaborate around the world,and the system through the collective perception of the actors to evaluate the system.The theoretical basis of this study is the theory of institutional credibility,which analyzes the social support for the pasture contract system and grassland titling from,respectively,actors' aggregate perceptions of instituitions and social conflict.Of these two variables,actors' aggregate perceptions of institutions are analyzed by use of the FAT framework;while perceptions of social conflict are analyzed by the frequency of conflict,the source,the outcome,and the manner of resolution.Based on the credibility theory,this paper analyzes the institutional function from three aspects:time,space and level.For space,we selected three regions:Yanchi County in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region;Alxa Left Banner;and Ejin Banner in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.In terms of time,the research focuses on the changes in grassland policy since the founding of the People's Republic,with particular reference to the period of execution of the grassland titling projects in two autonomous regions.In terms of analytical level,the research explores the macro level through the provincial grassland policies,and the micro-level through the county grassland policies.The structure of this thesis is as follows:The first part is the preface,introduces the background of grassland management policy and the content and methods of this research.The second part is constituted by the theoretical and policy review,including the theories on institutional function credibility theory,equilibrium and non-equilibrium ecology,the property rights school,neoliberalism.The third part summ:arizes the status-quo of the research on the PCS and GT policies.In the fourth to sixth sections-in effect,the main part of this study-are devoted to a detailed analysis of the grassland policy changes and its function in the three research areas:Yanchi County,Alxa Left Banner and Ejin Banner.We relied on literature review,and mixed methodology involving questionnaires and in-depth interviews.The total valid questionnaires were 479.The total Interview records were 55,20,20,and 15 respectively.Among them,grassland titling function analysis in Yanchi County,with participatory observation research,for a period of 1 month of information collection.In the seventh chapter,the variance analysis and correlation analysis are used to study the differences between the farmers and herdsmen in the three regions and the influencing factors of grassland policy perception.The last part of this thesis comprises the conclusion and policy recommendations.The following main conclusions can be drawn:firstly,for the first time,we apply the FAT institution analysis framework and Credibility scales and intervention(CSI)checklist to the research on the desertification grassland,and improved and verified the theory of institutional function.At the same time,it also proved the limitations of neoliberalism,privatization and balanced ecology to explain grassland management.Secondly,Pasture Contract System in desertified grassland area still plays the role of social security,but the three research areas of production mode have their own characteristics.Pasture Contract System is still credible to farmers and herdsmen.1)The credibility of the grassland contract system in Yanchi County is low,but the farmers and herdsmen have the inherent demand for the grassland contract system,and the grassland contract system still has the social security function.May cause problems due to policy deviations in the implementation process.2)The grassland contract system under the perspective of Alashan Zuoqi has a high degree of credibility and does not need to be systematically intervened.From the target of the contract,90%of the respondents considered the grassland contract certificate is very important,71.4%of the respondents believe that the grassland contract system in the area is successful.3)Prairie contract system has high credibility in Ejinaqi area,and higher than Zuoqi and Yanchi,this area does not need to system intervention system.In the actual case of contracting,90.8.0%of the grassland syndicates were interviewed,93.3%of the respondents answered the contract form correctly,and 72.4%of the respondents were able to correctly answer the contracted years.From the rights of the herdsmen,97.6%of the farmers and herdsmen think that the grassland card is important,and 66.6%of the respondents give a positive evaluation of the contract system.Third,On the whole,from the economic function of the grassland to be realized,the results of the three regions show that the desertification grassland is not suitable for the promotion of grassland titling.Although the results of the three research areas are consistent,but to guard against the "one size fits all" policy implementation,the results of the study of the three regions of the farmers and herdsmen perception there are still differences.For instance,farmers and herdsmen willing to support the grassland titling in Yanchi county.Although it does not understand the contents of the grassland right policy,and the herdsmen have a good basis for the grassland policy in the Ejin Banner,with the "do not want"grassland right,the two cases exist in essence the difference.In more detail:1)Grassland titling rallies a low credibility in Yanchi County,with resistance coming from farmers at the grassroots and the local government.Althou,gh up to 87%of the farmers and herdsmen are willing to do GT,paradoxically,those that "do not want" or are "very reluctant to" grassland transfer account for 31.3%of the total number of respondents.With regards to grassland mortgage,59.1%of the farmers and herdsmen have no intention to mortgage after titling,while another 19.6%of the farmers and herdsmen do not know.2)The credibility of Alxa Left Banner's grassland titling is slightly better than Yanchi County,yet still encounters resistance from farmers and herdsmen.62.1%of the respondents were "reluctant and very reluctant to" transfer the grasslands,and 54.2%were reluctant to mortgage grassland.3)Although herdsmen in Ejin Banner pastoral area have a better view on the credibility of grassland policy,there is still insufficient support for titling.The main resistance came from the herdsmen.The survey shows that the percentage of respondents that "do not want" to transfer grassland is 77.0%,while those that do not intend to use it as collateral accounts for 62.2%.For the herdsmen,grassland transfer and mortgage are not needed,and the titling of grassland rights does not have any function.Finally,the following suggestions are provided:For farmers and herdsmen,it is the best to respect their willings and find out their demands.In order to cultivate their awareness,it also need regular publicity.For government staff:First,strengthen leadership and improve the overall quality of workers.Second,take seriously to do grassland titling and report to the superior objectively.For grassland policy:1)Establish the concept of sustainable development with grassland as the main body.2)Establish and improve grassland laws,improve the social security system.3)Improve the grassland management system theory.4)Develop a system of differentiation and avoid "one size fits all".5)Under the current social and economic conditions,the desert grassland area is not pursuing the grassland titiling.