Rural Household Income Research Articles

A roadmap to sustainable management of commercial medicinal and aromatic plants, fungi, and lichens in Nepal.

Thousands of plants, fungi, and lichen species are traded every year. Although sustainable use is critical for livelihoods and biodiversity conservation, insufficient data prevent detailed sustainability assessments for most species. How can the sustainability of trade in such data-deficient species be enhanced? We considered a country-level example of 300 medicinal and aromatic plant, fungus, and lichen species traded in tens of thousands of tons worth tens of millions of US dollars in and from Nepal annually. Past interventions have not ensured sustainable trade, leaving species vulnerable to commercial harvesting and threatening rural household incomes, the processing industry, and government revenues. Building on documented evidence and stakeholder involvement, we used a theory of change approach to develop a sustainable management approach. We produced a draft plan (roadmap) by combining interventions proposed at annual key stakeholder dialogue meetings with recommendations extracted from a literature review on the trade and conservation of commercial medicinal and aromatic plants, fungi, and lichens in Nepal. The draft roadmap was discussed at a national workshop with sector-wide stakeholder representation to derive the final roadmap. The literature review showed the 41 causal assumptions and theoretical explanations for actions and outcomes. Feedback mechanisms included 6 bundles of mutually reinforcing actions, such as the relationship between increased cultivation and decreased wild harvesting. The roadmap has 5 pathways: increase cultivation, strengthen local management, support domestic businesses, improve sector governance, and increase international collaboration. Each pathway is associated with 2-5 actions (e.g., hand over high-elevation areas to local communities) that lead to outputs (2-5) (e.g., an increased area under local management) and outcomes (2-6) (e.g., less overharvesting). Accordingly, the roadmap offers stakeholders a structured approach to implement future activities and investments to enhance sustainable trade. The approach can be replicated for other countries and products.

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Pesticide and Fertilizer Pollution on Household Income

In agricultural production, agricultural non-point source pollution threatens the safety of water supply and food safety, restricts the sustainable development of the agricultural economy and rural ecological environment, and is the bottleneck of agricultural development in China. To explore the impact of this situation on the real income of rural households, the paper is based on the data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2018. With the pollution status in agricultural production as the explanatory variable and the total value of household agricultural and sideline products as an explanatory variable, a fixed effect model was established to estimate the influence of fertilizer and pesticide application on labor income level. The results show that the income brought by pesticide and fertilizer input is low efficiency, and some farmers have achieved high yields with low input. In addition, the education level of the agricultural population and the size of the family had no significant effect on this. Considering the output problem, the application of pesticides and fertilizers is necessary, but the cognition that pesticides and fertilizers can increase crop yield and income makes the application of pesticides continue to increase, which is not conducive to the increase of agricultural output value. It is necessary to attach importance to new methods of increasing agricultural production based on the application of small amounts of fertilizers and pesticides and use technological reform and professional agricultural education to promote the rational use of pesticides and fertilizers and achieve rapid development of agriculture.

Pathways to common prosperity: unraveling the effect of government-driven rural tourism development on household income in China

ABSTRACT The government-driven Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism Demonstration County (LARTDC) policy provides a good quasi-natural experiment to determine the causal effect between rural tourism development and household income in China. Using the staggered difference-in-differences (SDID) method, we find that LARTDC policy implementation leads to a 10.82% increase in rural household income in China. To ensure the robustness of the SDID results, we conduct additional tests, such as the parallel trend assumption, Bacon decomposition, and placebo tests. Mechanism tests indicate that this income effect can be partially attributed to entrepreneurial behaviours, social networks, and infrastructure advancements. Moreover, we discover the inclusive nature of rural tourism development through heterogeneity analysis. Results show that rural tourism development benefits some disadvantaged groups, including households in less-developed regions and those with lower educational attainment, poorer health, higher dependency ratios, and limited assets.

Impact of the Sloping Land Conversion Program on Rural Household Income in China

As the largest Payment for Environmental Services (PESs) program in China, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) has exerted a profound impact on both the ecosystems and rural households’ livelihoods. However, the direct impact and indirect impact mechanism of the SLCP on income remain poorly understood. To bridge this research gap, a unique dataset was used in this study, comprising more than 1200 sampled rural households from 1995 to 2016. An estimation was conducted regarding the direct impact of the SLCP and its subsidy changes in different implementation stages on rural household income, as well as the indirect impact mechanism of the SLCP on income. Our results provided twofold findings. First, participation in the first round of the SLCP increased rural household’s income by 4.63% compared with non-participation. However, in the transition period, the SLCP had no significant effect on the total income of rural households. In the subsidy extension and subsidy expiration stages, participation in the SLCP increased rural household total income by 12.53% and 11.77%, respectively. Second, the variables, including farmland area, forestland area, land-based production expenditure, land-based labor input, and off-farm labor input, had significant mediation effects on the impact of the SLCP on rural household income. To improve the implementation of the SLCP, policymakers could pay attention to more integrative approaches, such as forestland transfer, reduction in forestland fragmentation, and promotion of off-farm job opportunities.

Digital Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth ––Empirical evidence based on the China Household Panel Survey

As an innovation in traditional inclusive finance, digital inclusive finance is an important way to coordinate the income gap between urban and rural areas, popularize financial products and services, and promote the digitalization process. Therefore, this study matches the digital inclusive finance index with the Chinese household tracking survey, uses a panel data econometric model, a mediation effect model, and a moderation effect model to control for the characteristics of heads of households and families, and explores the impact mechanism of the development of digital inclusive finance on inclusive growth in urban and rural areas in China, with a view to providing a scientific basis and policy suggestions for promoting inclusive growth. The study finds that: First, digital inclusive finance has a significant income-increasing effect on both urban and rural households, among which it has a greater impact on rural households, which is conducive to narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas; Second, digital inclusive finance improves rural household income and narrows the income gap between urban and rural areas by promoting rural household entrepreneurship and business activities and alleviating the formal credit constraints of rural households; Third, digital inclusive finance can generally promote families with access to the Internet, a strong ability to use digital tools, and small information constraints to start businesses and obtain formal credit. This study innovatively incorporates entrepreneurial quality into the research of the transmission mechanism; three theories of the "digital divide" are put forward and tested. Research value: Clarifying the transmission mechanism of digital inclusive finance to promote inclusive growth, and providing policy suggestions for the development of digital inclusive finance.

Fungicidal Potentials of Leaf and Bark Extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum on Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) Seed Fungi

In Nigeria, Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp) is an important grain legume which besides being a food crop serves as a major source of income for rural households. The action of pathogens on stored seeds causes huge post-harvest and economic losses to cowpea farmers in Nigeria. This research was aimed at isolating and identifying the spoilage pathogens of cowpea seed and testing the potentiality of ethanol extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum on the isolates. Spoilt cowpea seed samples were purchased from different markets in Anambra State. They were transported to Alpha Research Laboratory, Awka in sterile polythene bags for microbial isolation. The spoilage organisms were isolated from the seeds through microbial culture. The media used for the isolation were Sabouraud Dextrose Agar and Potato Dextrose Agar. Pathogenic fungi were isolated from the spoilt cowpea seeds. The findings indicated that Aspergillus aculeatus, Fusarium solani, Penicillium citrinum, Rhizopus stolonifer, and Aspergillus flavus were present. The pathogenicity test also showed that the above organisms were responsible for cowpea spoilage. These isolates were tested for their in-vitro antifungal activity against the leaf and bark extracts of Bryophyllum Pinnatum. The antifungal activity ethanol extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum on the isolated microorganisms were investigated using the disc method. Three different concentrations (25%, 50%, 100%) of extracts were used for the test. Fusarium solani showed the highest percentage of inhibition with antifungal medication while Penicillium citrinum showed the least percentage of inhibition with antifungal medication. The antifungal potential of Bryophyllum pinnatum extract on spoilage pathogens of stored cocoyam corms encourages more research on the active ingredient of the plant for easy use by farmers as alternative to commercial/ synthetic fungicides.

Household food security contextualised: A comparison of Ambros and Maramanzhi villages, South Africa

Smallholder agriculture plays a crucial role in achieving food security, particularly at the household level. However, fallow fields are progressively increasing in former homelands of South Africa. While substantial efforts have been devoted towards addressing food insecurity, access to arable land has not translated to sustainable crop production for smallholder farmers in former homelands of the country. This paper analyses household food security in the context of deagrarianization in two villages, Ambros (Eastern Cape) and Maramanzhi (Limpopo). Using a mixed-method approach, a total of 106 semi-structured questionnaires were administered through face-to-face interviews with household heads. Descriptive statistics were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0 computer program. Meanwhile, qualitative data was coded and content analysis was conducted on NVivo 12 software. The key findings revealed that the primary household income in the study area was earned from social grants. Furthermore, home gardens, with an average size of 4100m2 in Ambros and 4400m2 in Maramanzhi village, played a crucial role in supporting household crop production. However, food insecurity threatened the sustainability of rural livelihoods because the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) indicator highlighted that a majority of 54% of households in Ambros and 69% in Maramanzhi were mildly food insecure. Food insecurity challenges varied between the two villages but these were mainly perpetuated by food shortages caused by insufficient monthly income and waning household crop production. Although acquiring food was rated as a very important reason for cultivating in both villages, deagrarianization eroded opportunities for increased crop production. Among other solutions, this study recommends that the government improve the delivery of basic services such as water to promote household crop production and the revitalization of fallow fields. These transformations can potentially enhance food security, income and employment opportunities for rural households, contributing to the sustainability of rural livelihoods.

How does temperature affect rural income: Channels and implication of adaptation

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of daily temperature variations on rural income per capita and evaluates the effectiveness of adaptation based on China's county‐level socioeconomic statistics and household survey data. We find that high temperatures have significant negative effects on rural income per capita. Relative to the physically comfortable reference temperature between 10 and 15°C, an additional day with a daily average temperature above 30°C reduces the rural income per capita by 0.12% in the year. Evidence from micro‐data indicates that agricultural income of rural households is sensitive to high temperatures relative to other components of household income, such as wage income and transfer income, which leads to a reallocation of rural laborers across sectors. In addition, we indeed find some evidence of adaptation, but we conclude that the current adaptation pattern of rural households probably magnifies the threat of future climate change to China's agricultural sector.

Proportion of land transfer proceeds for rural development, the rural household income, and the debt risk of the rural households in China

Proportion of land transfer proceeds for rural development, the rural household income, and the debt risk of the rural households in China

The nexus of electricity infrastructure investment, household income, and carbon emissions in rural China

This study analyzes the nexus of electricity infrastructure investment (EII), rural household income, and household carbon emissions (HCEs) using panel data from China's 30 provinces from 2003 to 2020. Firstly, we consider the impact of EII on the direct HCEs (DHCEs) caused by the direct consumption of fossil fuels and investigate the mediating effect of income level and income variance. The empirical results show that the growth of EII reduces rural DHCEs through the transmission channels of income level, whereas income variance limits the negative relationship between EII and DHCEs. Then, we estimate the emissions embodied in household expenditure on goods and services of different income groups, that is, indirect HCEs (IHCEs), and develop a counterfactual scenario to assess the effects of EII on the total HCEs (the sum of DHCEs and IHCEs) in 2017. The scenario analysis indicates that without increased EII in 2017, the total national HCEs would increase by 0.9%, mainly due to the increased per capita HCEs of low-income groups (+11.6%). Besides, the total HCEs in ten provinces are influenced significantly by the change of income distribution driven by the change of EII, with Guangdong experiencing the largest decrease of HCEs (2.6 Mt) due to the movements of residents from the lower-income group to the lowest-income group. Thus, there is a trade-off between HCE reduction and poverty alleviation when developing EII in rural China.

Rural financial institutions, access to credit and production inputs of rural households

This paper studies the impact of rural financial institutions on farmers' production input from the perspective of rural bank branch adjustment and rural household credit access. Based on the data of rural bank outlets and China Household Income Survey (CHIP) in 293 prefecture-level cities in China from 2013 to 2018, the results show that rural financial outlets have a significant positive impact on farmers' production input, and each unit increase in the number of bank outlets will increase farmers' production input by 0.24 units, and the proportion of consumer expenditure will decrease by 0.071 units. The number of bank outlets has significant heterogeneity of household head and region on the production input of farmers, and the bank outlets have a greater impact on the production input of farmers with high education level. The increase in the number of bank outlets in the eastern region can significantly increase the production input of farmers, but the increase in the number of bank outlets in the central and western regions will reduce the production input of farmers. The mechanism analysis shows that the increase of branches of rural financial institutions improves farmers' access to credit, which is an important channel affecting farmers' production input. This study provides a reference for the reform of rural financial institutions and the revitalization of rural industries in China.

Transformation of the Rural Nonfarm Economy During Rapid Urbanization and Structural Transformation in Developing Regions

This article reviews the past 25 years of empirical research on the rural nonfarm economy (RNFE) in developing countries; that literature has evolved in ways that track and mirror the rural transformation itself. Since 2000, rapid urbanization, structural transformation, and a sharp series of economic, climate, and disease shocks have influenced trajectories in the RNFE. It has grown to become, on average, the predominant source of income for rural households in developing countries. Both segments of the RNFE—activities linked to agricultural value chains as well as those unrelated to the agricultural sector—have grown. Understanding how each component of the RNFE influences rural incomes, employment, resilience, women, youth, and farming and natural resource management practices is, therefore, more important than ever.

Modeling the importance of physician training in practice location for Ohio otolaryngologists.

Underserved communities in southeastern Ohio and Appalachia face significant healthcare accessibility challenges, with the Midwest offering a lower density of healthcare providers compared to coastal regions. Specifically, underserved communities in southeastern Ohio and Appalachia are disadvantaged in otolaryngology care. This analysis aims to identify factors that lead otolaryngologists to a respective practice location, and if any of that influence comes from where otolaryngologists completed their medical education. The proportion of otolaryngologists who performed medical school, residency, and/or fellowship in Ohio was analyzed utilizing a three-sample test for equality. Multivariate logistic regression and Pearson prediction models were produced to analyze the impact of performing medical training (medical school, residency, and fellowship) in Ohio. Going to medical school in Ohio significantly increases the odds of going to an otolaryngology residency in the state (p<0.001). Moreover, between medical school and residency, medical school was a significantly better predictor of otolaryngologists practicing in Appalachia (Δ Bayesian Information Criterion [BIC]>2) and southeast Ohio (ΔBIC>10). Medical school in state was also a better predictor of percent rural and median household income than residency (ΔBIC>10). The multivariate model of medical school and residency was significantly better than either predictor alone for the population (ΔBIC>2). All models predicting percent rural were significantly improved with the addition of a Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) degree (ΔBIC>10). Where physicians complete their medical training (medical school, residency, and fellowship) in state has a significant impact on predicting their future place of practice. This study found that the location of such training has a positive predictive nature as to whether that physician will practice in a rural and underserved area in the future. Notably, the addition of being licensed as a DO also increased the probability of that physician practicing in a rural area.

Impact of Rural E-Commerce on Farmers’ Income and Income Gap

Rural e-commerce, as a new form of digital economy, is of great significance in promoting the income of rural households and realizing common prosperity. Based on the 2021 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS), the impact of rural e-commerce on farmers’ income and the intra-rural income gap is explored using quantile regression. The results found that (1) rural e-commerce can effectively promote the level of farm household income and alleviate the intra-rural income disparity, with this finding still holding after addressing the potential endogeneity problem and conducting robust-type tests. (2) Rural e-commerce has the most pronounced income-generating effect on low-income households in the southern region; participation in rural e-commerce has a more “center-expanding” effect on households in the secondary education and high material capital groups. (3) Saving production and operation costs, shortening the product circulation chain, and improving access to information are channels through which rural e-commerce affects households’ income. It is recommended to actively promote the deep integration and development of rural e-commerce in rural areas, establish a sound mechanism for bridging the “digital divide”, encourage e-commerce “leaders” to build a perfect industrial chain, and guide smallholders to integrate into the rural e-commerce industrial chain to enjoy the digital dividend.

How mobile social networks affect rural household income: evidence from China

How mobile social networks affect rural household income: evidence from China

Unmasking gender disparities in cocoa farming: the case of female land ownership in the Ashanti and Western North regions of Ghana

AbstractGhana's economy relies heavily on agriculture, with subsistence farming being the primary source of income for rural households. Over 50% of the food grown worldwide is produced by women. Land ownership is paramount to be recognized as a cocoa farmer in Ghana, as most land is owned by men following traditional inheritance. This gives men access to, and control over, land for agriculture, thus creating structural gender inequalities. Thereby, women's contribution to agriculture is minimized and roles undermined. This study analyses the challenges faced by women cocoa farmers in the context of land ownership and how they are influenced by social and demographic factors. We focus on ownership including sole ownership. The study, conducted in seven communities across the Ashanti and Western North regions of Ghana, comprises 160 females and 40 males. Results indicate that ownership of cocoa plots, in general, is mostly male dominated, but when female farmers make farmland decisions, they are likely to be sole owners. Marital status and the mode of acquiring lands are very important factors that dictate ownership and sole ownership of land. While the results show the importance of land as a resource that can enhance women's agricultural productivity, it also highlights that policies to reduce gender inequality in agriculture by advancing land rights are needed.

The Impact of Location of Labor Migration on Rural Households’ Income: Evidence from Jiangxi Province in China

With the increasing occurrence of labor migration (LM), off-farm employment has emerged as a crucial means to augment the income of agricultural households, bridge the urban-rural divide, and achieve rural regeneration. This study utilized a multiple linear regression model and quantile regression model to examine the effect of LM location on rural households’ income. The analysis is based on research data from Jiangxi Province in 2018. The outcomes reveal that both intra-country LM and outside-of-county LM could make a substantial contribution to the increase of overall household income. However, the coefficient of impact for outside-of-county LM is greater. The findings of this study successfully passed the rigorous tests for robustness and endogeneity. Furthermore, the quantile regression analysis indicates that the greatest income-generating impact of intra-county LM occurred at the 90% quantile, whereas the highest income-generating impact of outside-of-county LM appeared at the 75% quantile. The study aims to determine if there is a variation in the income impact of LM in samples with distinct features. Specifically, it investigated the scale of forestland management and the LM of the household head. The results show that the promotion effect of intra-county LM on the total income of rural households was only observed in the sample group with a forestland area larger than 50 mu. Additionally, outside-of-county LM could only promote the growth of the total income of rural households in the sample group in which the head of household has not experienced labor migration. Hence, to enhance the growth of income for rural households amidst China’s urbanization, policymakers should facilitate the controlled migration of labor from rural areas to urban areas while also encouraging the migration of labor within rural areas.

The impact of financial deepening on agricultural production: A household-level analysis of BigTech finance

The relationship between financial deepening and agricultural production remains ambiguous. Previous literature has demonstrated that financial depth can alleviate poverty among rural households by facilitating self-employment in non-agricultural sectors or migration to urban areas, but its impact on rural households engaged in the agriculture sector has not been discussed. This paper utilizes the usage of financial services provided by a leading BigTech company in China and household survey data to analyze how financial deepening affects rural households’ agricultural production. The findings demonstrate the efficacy of BigTech finance in augmenting agricultural income for rural households. Mechanism analysis reveals that this impact is only observed among financially constrained rural households or those affected by climate disasters, thereby facilitating an expansion in the agricultural production inputs and enhancing efficiency. Furthermore, the distributional analysis underscores that BigTech finance primarily benefits rural households with limited access to traditional financial services, suggesting its complementary role to traditional finance in bolstering agricultural production amidst financial deepening endeavors.

Uncovering leveraging and hindering factors in socio-ecological interactions: Agricultural production in the Yellow River Basin as an example

Agricultural production and sustainable human livelihoods in large river basins are threatened by climate change, human activities, and resource constraints. However, due to the complexity of socio-ecological interactions and agricultural sustainability, current studies are still limited by a priori knowledge and systematic analyses, as well as by the lack of quantification and identification of key factors and valuable pathway structures for agricultural production activities. Here, we combined observation-based causal inference and network analysis to quantify and assess the complex interactions in agricultural production in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) based on data from 12 factors relevant to agriculture over 40 years. We quantitatively assessed the leveraging and hindering roles of the factors in the interacting network system and provided managers with optimization priorities and possible causal pathways to achieve sustainable agriculture in the basin. For example, the fruit yield and income of rural households were identified as leveraging factors that positively affect the agricultural economy. Groundwater was seen as a hindering factor in dampening the negative impacts of the system, highlighting the importance of preventing groundwater depletion. Moreover, the findings suggest that spatially diverse causal interaction structures exist in the YRB and have shaped a variety of distinctive agricultural development modes. Our research ideas and results highlight both systemic considerations and the amplifying or dampening role of factors in interaction pathways, providing valuable quantitative insights into the management and intervention of sustainable agriculture in large river basins. Owing to replaceable and extensible network models, the methodology has the potential to be utilized in a variety of study areas and topics with complex socio-ecological interactions.

Rural Land Circulation and Peasant Household Income Growth—Empirical Research Based on Structural Decomposition

How rural land transfer affects the growth of non-agricultural income and the changes in its sources are important research topics. This study uses the micro-data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning from 2014 to 2020 and empirically analyzes the impact of rural land transfer on the growth of non-agricultural income, based on a multi-dimensional decomposition of rural household income structure. This study found that (1) land transfer has a significant promoting effect on the growth of non-agricultural income. Transferring out land is conducive to increasing wage income and transfer income, while transferring in land compensates for the decrease in operating income by achieving a higher operating income, ultimately leading to an increase in total income. (2) The effect of land transfer on the growth of non-agricultural income is higher in the Eastern region than in the Central and Western regions. The higher the education level of family members, the greater the income-increasing effect of land transfer on farmers. (3) Mechanism analysis shows that land transfer increases farmers’ opportunities for migrant work and improves farmers’ operational efficiency, which are the main channels for the growth in non-agricultural income. This study demonstrates that land circulation will promote farmers’ income growth and prosperity through rental income, share cooperation and dividends, labor transfer and wage income, industrial chain extension and value-added income, and policy support and subsidies.