Sensitivity of livelihood strategy to livestock production and marketization: An empirical analysis of grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

Recent researches have primarily focused on the relationship between livelihood strategies and livelihood capital, with few empirical studies on the sensitivity of livelihood strategies to livestock production and marketization in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. This study used an income distribution approach to categorize livelihood strategies of the respondents (n ​= ​394) into three types, i.e., herder livelihood strategy (LS1), petty-herder livelihood strategy (LS2), and non-herder livelihood strategy (LS3). Using the multinomial logistic regression model, we compared livestock production and marketization across the three livelihood strategies. Our findings showed that (1) livestock production and marketization tended to favor LS1; (2) an increase in the land asset (contracted and rented grassland) and off-take rate increased the probability of households choosing LS1; (3) stocking rate was higher for LS1; and (4) the higher critical market-related risks perceived by herders were animal price and hay and corn price. Moreover, higher livestock price acted as a deterrent to diversifying into other livelihood strategies (LS2 and LS3). Finally, this study advocates for policies that will promote the land transfer market, adopt modern techniques in animal husbandry, improve the medium for disseminating market information to herders, and provide incentives for long-term livelihood transformation.