Influence Of Cultivated Land Fragmentation On Farmers' Livelihood Strategy In Impoverished Mountainous Areas

As a phenomenon of arable land utilization which can not be ignored in agricultural development,fragmentation of cultivated land has been paid more and more attention by scholars.In the early 1980s,the implementation of the national household contract responsibility system greatly liberated the rural productive forces and aroused the enthusiasm of farmers.However,the degree of fine fragmentation of cultivated land in China was increased especially in the poor mountainous areas.The phenomenon of fine fragmentation of cultivated land is more obvious due to the influence of topography and geomorphology which has a great impact on the production and life of farmers in mountainous areas.To detect the effects of different of cultivated land fragmentation degrees on the regional variance of household's livelihood strategy choices,which may provide reference for the sustainable development of farmers' livelihood and targeted poverty reduction in study areas.Empirical research method,correlation analysis and geographical detector model were adopted to analyze the data.The results show that:In the study area,87 villages of 4 towns in Qing Zhang River Basin of Zuoquan County,the livelihood strategies could be divided into the pure agricultural type,the part-time farming type and the migrant type.There are regional differences in the choices of farmers' livelihood strategy,and the dominant factors are elevation,average plot area,land density,irrigation capacity and mechanical access ability.The main factors that affect the regional differentiation of pure farm households'livelihood strategies include elevation,average plot area,plot density,irrigation capacity and agricultural machinery accessibility.Q values are 0.265?0.308?0.123?0.165 and 0.137.The main factors affecting the selection of the livelihood strategies of peasant households include elevation,average plot area and irrigation ability.Q values are 0.157?0.213 and 0.129.The main factors affecting the selection of livelihood strategy of migrant workers include elevation,the average plot area and the density of the land.Q values are 0.2660.154 and 0.165.Affected by the fragmentation of cultivated land,farmers with minimal land fragmentation are more inclined to tillage,farmers with medium land fragmentation are more inclined to part-time farming,farmers with high land fragmentation are more inclined to migrant work.The different farmers' livelihood strategy choices could be divided into the pure agricultural area,the part time farming area and the migrant area,then specific measures of poverty alleviation strategy for each region are put forward.The fragmentation of cultivated land has a great influence on the regional variance of household's livelihood strategy choices in impoverished mountain areas.