How does smallholder farming practice and environmental awareness vary across village communities in the karst terrain of southwest China?
How does smallholder farming practice and environmental awareness vary across village communities in the karst terrain of southwest China?
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DOI：
10.1016/j.agee.2019.106715
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发表时间：
2020-02
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D. Oliver;Ying Zheng;L. Naylor;M. Murtagh;S. Waldron;Tao Peng
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Oliver;Ying Zheng;L. Naylor;M. Murtagh;S. Waldron;Tao Peng
在世界范围内，喀斯特地形对人类活动高度敏感，这是由于大面积的薄土和地下水的快速流动。在中国西南部的喀斯特地区，农业决策不当会导致土地退化，水质下降，对当地农民的生计造成负面影响，而该地区的农民已经是全国贫困率最高的地区。通过知识交流和决策支持向农民提供针对性的管理咨询，有助于减轻土地使用对喀斯特环境的影响，但首先需要了解当地农业社区如何理解和处理土壤和水管理的基本知识。我们使用了一个流域范围内的调查（n = 312人在7个村庄），调查在中国西南部的一个典型的喀斯特流域的农民和社区领导人之间的环境意识，流域的理解和耕作方式的差异。农民的年龄、性别和居住村庄与被认为最严重的挑战类型有关。获得劳动力、影响灌溉的水量和/或水质问题以及化肥成本被认为是农业可行性的特别问题。用于了解耕作方法、环境和肥料使用的信息来源对于年轻农民（< 40岁）来说更加多样化，流域内不同村庄之间的培训水平和获得的土地管理方法知识也有很大差异。确定村庄或抽样人口之间的重要关联，以及旨在了解农民态度及其环境意识的各种问题，提供了更清晰的见解，可以与流域利益攸关方共同设计知识交流和培训方案。这有可能导致改善耕作方法，使农民和环境共同受益;帮助维持脆弱喀斯特生态系统中贫困社区的生态系统服务。
Worldwide, karst terrain is highly sensitive to human activity due to extensive areas of thin soil and rapid water flow to groundwater. In the southwest China karst region, poor farming decisions can promote land degradation and reduce water quality with negative consequences for livelihoods in a region where farmers already suffer from the highest national poverty rates. Targeting management advice to farmers through knowledge exchange and decision support can help alleviate land use impacts on the karst environment but first requires baseline knowledge of how local farming communities understand and approach soil and water management. We used a catchment-wide survey (n = 312 individuals in seven villages) to investigate differences in environmental awareness, catchment understanding, and farming practices amongst farmers and community leaders in a typical karst catchment in southwest China. Age, gender and village of residence of farmers showed an association with the type of challenges perceived to be most serious. Access to labour, issues of water quantity and/or quality affecting irrigation, and fertiliser costs were recognised as being particularly problematic for the viability of farming. Sources of information used to learn about farming practices, the environment and fertiliser use were more diverse for younger (< 40 yr old) farmers and levels of training and acquired knowledge regarding land management practices varied significantly between villages in the catchment. The identification of significant associations between villages or sample demographics, and a variety of questions designed to understand farmer attitudes and their environmental awareness, provide clearer insight upon which knowledge exchange and training programmes can be co-designed with catchment stakeholders. This has the potential to lead to improved farming practices with co-benefits for farmers and the environment; helping sustain ecosystem services for impoverished communities in fragile karst ecosystems.