Influencing Factors Of Herdsmen’s Breeding Behavior Response Under The Rangeland Ecological Subsidy And Award Policy

In 2011,China established a rangeland ecological subsidy and award scheme(RESAS),in order to achieve the dual goals of rangeland ecological restoration and livelihood guarantee for herdsmen.As the decision-making body of livestock breeding,understand the behavior response of herders under RESAS policy is an important basis for improving the policy measures and increasing their effectiveness.First,under the restriction of the RESAS policy,the most direct response of herdsmen is to reduce the number of livestock.Secondly,considering the need for long-term livelihood security and income increase,under the circumstance of limited grassland resources and livestock,some herdsmen use new models such as stallfeeding to increase yields to maximize returns.Therefore,this study focuses on the two kinds of breeding behavior responses of herdsmen under the RESAS policy,that is,reducing livestock and adopting the stallfeeding model,and explores the influencing factors and mechanisms of its formation.It is of great significance to further improve the RESAS policy and promote the sustainable development of pastoral areas.Combining relevant theoretical basis and previous research results,this paper utilizes the survey data of pastoral households in Qinghai Province.With stocking rate as the dependent variable,the influencing factors of livestock reduction behavior were discussed in detail from the perspectives of livestock breeding production characteristics,compensation and social capital.The study found that:(1)The available grassland area and the degree of concurrent occupation have a negative impact on the stocking rate,while the net income of animal husbandry has a positive impact on that.(2)There is a U-shaped relationship between the stocking rate and the compensation amount of the RESAS policy.(3)Social capital mainly affects the stocking rate through the mechanism of information transmission and resource acquisition,but there are differences between various network paths.Herdsmen’s access to policy information and stallfeeding skills through social networks can help reduce stocking rates,but the access to grazing experience,funds and mechanical equipment has the opposite effect.Secondly,refer to the theory of planned behavior,the affecting factors and action paths of adoption behavior of stall-feeding model were discussed.The study found that:(1)Herdsmen’s behavioral intentions significantly and positively affect their adoption behaviors.The stronger the behavioral intention of the stall-feeding model,the greater the possibility of actual adoption.(2)The behavioral attitude and perceived behavioral control of herdsmen has a significantly and positively impact on the adoption intention of stallfeeding,and the latter has the greatest effect.The influence of subjective norm on adoption intention is not significant.(3)Economic rationality is the main driving factor in behavioral attitude.Financial support and skill support are the main driving factors in perceived behavioral control.(4)There are pairwise correlations among behavioral attitude,subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.Combined with the research results and investigation,this paper proposes the following schemes and suggestions:(1)Improve the mechanism of grassland circulation and non-animal husbandry employment transfer mechanisms.(2)A regressive area-based compensation scheme is suggested to replace current constant standard approach,giving more weight on compensating small-scale herders,so as to defuse the risk of increasing income gap caused by the difference of family pasture area.(3)Attach importance to construction of the relationship network between primary-level organizations and individual households in pastoral areas,and strengthen the communication and cooperation between the herders.(4)Strengthen financial subsidies for the practice of stall-feeding and broaden the financing channels for herders.Expand the planting scale of artificial grassland,and ensure sufficient supply of forage.(5)Establish training points for the promotion of stall-feeding technology to help herdsmen learn relevant knowledge and skills.(6)Publicize RESAS policy and promote the stall-feeding model through multiple channels.