Research On Household Regime Shifts And Life Satisfaction Of Farmers Under The Background Of Rural Transformation

This paper assess the of the significance and value of household regime shifts under the background of rural transformation through farmer's life satisfaction.Binzhou City,Xunyi county and Changwu county,the typical apple-rich areas in the Loess Plateau,was used as a case study to explore the process and main dynamics of rural transformation.Based on the484 interviews of local farmers and social statistics yearbook,the factors influencing household regime shifts and farmers' life satisfaction have been discovered,according to the logic of measurement of rural transformation degree and change rate—state identification of household regime—influencing factors of farmers' life satisfaction—suggestions.Results are as follows:(1)The rural regime has shifted,and apple tree area is just the key driving force of the shifts.Local land use landscape changed from traditional grain crops to orchard and greenhouse since farmers began to grow apples in the 80 s last century.With a massive increase in orchard area and apple production,rural transformation and household regime shift accelerate,which result to a rural transformation trend of decrease—gradual rise—slow decrease—steady rise.(2)Household livelihood strategy will change the labor distribution and land use structure.As time changes,they will eventually change the household system or state of the farmer households.Farmers are divided into three types according to the proportion of household income,they are non-agriculture production,agriculture production and apple production.(3)The household regime shifts shows differentiation and polymerization phenomenon:divergence is from traditional agriculture system to the new agricultural system(apple planting)and non-agricultural system,and polymerization is from the traditional agriculture system and new agricultural system(apple planting)to non-agricultural system.Different types of farmers lead to different system or state.Household regime shifts are influenced by both internal and external factors,some key factors include household type,family generations,family population,householder's age,social network,fixed assets quantity,housing area,labor,total cultivated acres,householder's education level.(4)The life satisfaction degree is above middle level,over 50% population feel satisfied or much satisfied about their lives.Different types of farmers show different degrees,from high to low,which is non-agriculture production>agriculture production>apple production.Factors influencing the life satisfaction significantly involve householder's age,labor force proportion,annual income per capita,apple production annual income,fixed assets ratio,homestead quality,agricultural technology training opportunities,living environment,social security and government work efficiency.