Small-Scale Forest Cooperative Management of the Grain for Green Program in Xinjiang, China: A SWOT-ANP Analysis

Abstract

The Grain for green program (GFGP) has resulted in a large number of small-scale, scattered family forest land operators in China. Small-scale forest cooperative management helps to bring together fragmented reforested land, optimizes the operation level of small-scale forests, and improves the effectiveness and sustainability of the GFGP. We use the Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis network process framework to identify key elements and main strategies associated with small-scale forest cooperative management under the GFGP in Xinjiang, China. Our 5 major findings are: (1) the positive factors associated with small-scale forest cooperative management under the GFGP in Xinjiang are more important than the negative factors, (2) the team of administrators suggests focusing on the structure of rural governance, the development of new types of agri-business, and the reform of collective forest property rights, (3) The team of researchers suggests focusing on the expectation of cooperation from participating farmers, the priorities and core workings of the GFGP, the relevant laws that seem to be out of touch with the demands of farmers, and the second plow risk after compensation, (4) the strategy of small-scale forest cooperative management under the GFGP in Xinjiang should comprehensively integrate the strategies of the teams of administrators and researchers in order to ensure its suitability and operability, and (5) the team of administrators chose the weakness-opportunity strategy, whereas the team of researchers suggested focusing on the strength-threat strategy.