Research On The Sustainable Livelihood Of Farmers In Minority Areas From The Perspective Of Targeted Poverty Alleviation

China’s poverty alleviation and development program entered the "targeted poverty alleviation" stage in 2014.After several years of poverty alleviation,the rural areas of ethnic minorities in Yunnan have undergone earth-shaking economic and social changes.The farmers in poverty-stricken areas have improved their living standards and achieved leapfrog development from poverty to adequate food and clothing to overall well-off life.As more and more farmers move out of the mountains and villages and into the cities to seek new development opportunities,their livelihoods have significantly changed.In the process of maintaining the survival,reproduction and development of a nation,the way of livelihood is always in the process of constant change,there is no fixed pattern,and it is always adapted to the culture,ecological environment and social structure of some ethnic groups,and plays an important role.Therefore,the impact of the implementation of the targeted poverty alleviation policy on the livelihood of farmers is not only related to the economic,social and cultural development of minority areas,but also of great significance for the realization of ethnic unity,social stability and harmonious development.Based on anthropological theories and methods,this paper discusses how farmers achieve sustainable livelihood in a poverty-stricken village in Yunnan’s ethnic minority areas through reallocation of family labor resources and cultivated land resources in the process of targeted poverty alleviation,so as to achieve the goal of poverty alleviation and development.Before the implementation of targeted poverty alleviation,the village was basically a relatively closed moral small-scale peasant economy system.For a long time,the farmers mainly relied on traditional agriculture to make a living.The single way of livelihood,scarce cultivated land resources and other constraints make the farmers in Shuanglong village can only maintain the basic life,difficult to integrate into the modern society,and the poverty problem is increasingly prominent.After the introduction of targeted poverty alleviation and development policies,the economy and society of Shuanglong Village have entered the stage of rapid development,and the market economy and modern society have had a profound impact on the traditional concepts of farmers.The purpose of farmers’ production labor has changed from the survival rational standard which focuses on maintaining the basic survival of the family to the economic rational standard which focuses on maximizing the economic benefits of the family.The labor force has also changed from the traditional agricultural livelihood to the labor livelihood.Due to the differences in the resource endowments of farmers’ families,such as land and labor force,the policies and support for poverty alleviation are also different.Due to the differences in the allocation of poverty alleviation resources,different farmers show different action logic and efforts on the road of poverty alleviation and development,which further affects the choice and behavior of farmers’ livelihood.Before targeted poverty alleviation,poor households chose their livelihood more out of "survival rationality" than "economic rationality".In order to maintain the survival needs of the whole family,poor families are reluctant to go out for work even if they have enough labor force.Instead,they stick together with their families to resist the risks of production and life.This is a last resort for smallholders.The implementation of the targeted poverty alleviation policy has greatly reduced the family risks of poor peasant households.At this time,the life goal of peasant households has gradually shifted from maintaining livelihood to pursuing family development,and their economic rational behavior ability has been gradually enhanced.Improve the ability of farmers to act rationally and make the economic behavior of the poor more "rational" and able to respond rationally to the signals sent by the state power and market system.On the whole,although the economic rationality consciousness of poor households has been improved,it does not mean that this kind of rationality consciousness has occupied the absolute dominant position.For them,the mode of moral smallholder and rational consciousness of survival are still very important.The poverty alleviation policy has reduced the cost and difficulty of migrant workers for poor households.Under the employment assistance policy,most poor households choose the mode of living of semi-working and semi-farming,while only a small number of poor households choose the mode of living of abandoned migrant workers.For them,land is not only the most important property and means of production,but also an important life guarantee for them to return to the traditional livelihood under the unstable situation of migrant work.The livelihood choice of non-poor households is more due to the consideration of "economic rationality" than "survival rationality".The members of these households are in relatively good health and have a plentiful labor force,although families are also on the brink of poverty.The implementation of targeted poverty alleviation and previous poverty alleviation policies has improved the infrastructure of Shuanglong Village.In particular,the unimpeded road connecting the village has made various resources flow in a wider range,and the originally closed countryside has gradually opened up.Because they cannot enjoy all kinds of support for poor households,nonpoor households have a stronger willingness to change their living conditions subjectively than poor households.They changed their ideas more rapidly,reconfigured their household labor force based on the principle of economic rationality,and guided their production and consumption behaviors based on the concept of market economy.The mode of livelihood will be changed to the semi-working and semi-farming mode in which the young and middle-aged workers go out to work and the elderly or women stay behind in the countryside.Some peasant households even give up their agricultural livelihood completely and go out for work when their income is high enough.Under the condition that land resources remain stable for a long time,peasant households can achieve poverty alleviation and development in the labor market by changing the allocation of family labor resources.No matter the young,middle-aged or the old and children left behind in the countryside,the life of farmers in Shuanglong Village has changed a lot in the change of livelihood.Young and middle-aged workers are the active creators of changes in livelihood;The elderly and children are more passive recipients of changes in the social,economic and cultural environment brought about by changes in livelihood.In the process of promoting targeted poverty alleviation and promoting the harmonious development of society,a series of problems caused by the change of livelihood should be addressed through the adaptation and adjustment of social culture.The traditional rural society is still playing an important role to a large extent through the adaptation and adjustment brought by the impact on the way of livelihood.Poverty in ethnic minority areas is more fragile and unstable.After the targeted poverty alleviation phase is over,how to avoid returning to poverty and realize the sustainability of livelihood for the farmers in Shuanglong Village is the key issue.From the perspective of farmers’ livelihood decision-making,in order to maintain sustainable income increase of livelihood capital,it is necessary to ensure diversified household income.A single way of livelihood will lead to excessive reliance on agriculture or employment as the source of household income,which will aggravate the vulnerability of household livelihood and bring risks to the sustainable development of the family.In addition,we should take the initiative to improve the level of human capital,actively participate in employment training,learn professional skills,invest in children’s education,and break the intergenerational transmission of poverty,so that family members can have the ability of self-development and enhance their own development momentum,and finally achieve the goal of sustainable livelihood development.From the perspective of risk prevention,by joining the social security system or buying commercial insurance,risks can be effectively prevented,and the vulnerability of families can be reduced by changing from relying solely on families to relying on the common security of families and the society to resist risks.In addition,poverty is also a psychological problem,when resources are scarce due to the "poor" internalization is embedded into the humanistic spirit of the farmers in the gene that makes the farmers into intractable poverty "thinking",and therefore need to farmers from heart for a better happy life yearning of endogenous power,can we truly maintain a livelihood sustainability,avoid falling into a vicious cycle of poverty-out of poverty-poverty.