Abstract
Due to its alpine geography and harsh environment, the pastoral region of Qinghai Province is widely recognized as one of China’s concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken regions, while climate change, market competition and grazing control exert further pressure on the income security of herders. After more than 1000 years of nomadic practice, cooperation and reciprocity have been entrenched in the culture of pastoral ethnic minorities, in which a well-developed social network may play a crucial role in herders’ social and economic activities, including their financial and production behaviors. Based on a questionnaire survey of 278 households in two counties of Qinghai, this study empirically examined the effects of herders’ social network on their livestock production income and the mediation function of fund loans therein. The social network was found to exert a significant positive impact on household income, and loans had a positive mediation effect. By comparison, the mediation effect of formal borrowing channels was statistically significant while that of informal channels was not, which may be attributed to the relative degree of maturity of the two disparate financial markets. It is suggested that a closer and more inclusive social network should be fostered, the quality of bank financial services should be improved, and the regulation on informal credit activities should be reinforced, so as to fully exploit the positive roles of the social network and fund loans for income growth of herder households in vast pastoral areas of China.
Highlights
Situated at the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the Qinghai Province of China has a rangeland area of4.19 million hectares, accounting for 60.20% of the total area of the province, most of which is alpine meadow
Considering the long-standing norms of cooperation and reciprocity entrenched in the culture of pastoral regions, we argue that the well-developed herder social network plays a crucial role in herders’ livestock production and fund loan activities
In light of the long-standing strong social norms of mutual trust and valuing reputation that have been entrenched in the culture of pastoral ethnic minorities, we argue that such an invisible supervisory and punishment function wielded by herder social network should not be ignored, and is sometimes even of vital importance
Summary
Situated at the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the Qinghai Province of China has a rangeland area of. 4.19 million hectares, accounting for 60.20% of the total area of the province, most of which is alpine meadow. Animal breeding is traditionally the most important, if not the only, source of income for millions of herdsmen of ethnic minorities, including the Tibetan, Tu, and Mongolian [2]. Its alpine geography and harsh environment mean that the production conditions for animal husbandry in Qinghai are extremely hostile, and the Chinese government has identified this pastoral region as one of China’s concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas. Market competition and the urbanization process have resulted in a continuous increase in production cost of animal husbandry and remarkable volatility in sales prices, making it more difficult for herders to secure their income [5]. Since the end of the last century, the Chinese government implemented several nation-wide rangeland protection initiatives, including the Returning Grazing Land to Grassland
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