Falling price induced diversification strategies and rural inequality: Evidence of smallholder rubber farmers
Falling price induced diversification strategies and rural inequality: Evidence of smallholder rubber farmers
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DOI：
10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105604
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发表时间：
2021-10
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Shaoze Jin;S. Min;Jikun Huang;H. Waibel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Shaoze Jin;S. Min;Jikun Huang;H. Waibel
虽然上世纪90年代以来，大湄公河地区的天然橡胶生产规模一直在扩大，但自2012年以来，橡胶商品价格持续低迷，导致橡胶小农的生计受到影响。本研究揭示了橡胶价格上涨结束后，橡胶小农生计策略的调整。本研究基于中国云南省湄公河上游地区约600名橡胶小农的两波面板数据，展示了小农应对橡胶价格下跌的多样化策略，并考察了生计多样化策略对农民收入和农村不平等的影响。研究结果表明，在橡胶价格下降的背景下，橡胶小农倾向于将家庭劳动力从农场转移到非农就业，并使其生计多样化。值得注意的是，对橡胶依赖程度相对较低的农民更有可能实现生计多样化。价格下跌导致的多样化策略使小农更能抵御未来风险，并缩小了农村收入差距。本研究的研究结果为橡胶价格周期性波动下农民生计策略和农村不平等的变化提供了证据，从而推动了文献的发展。
While the expansions of natural rubber in the greater Mekong region from the 1990s were ambitious, the persistently low commodity price of rubber from 2012 makes smallholder rubber farmers suffer from vulnerable livelihoods. This study sheds light on the adjustments in livelihood strategies of smallholder rubber farmers when the upsurge in rubber prices came to an end. Based on the two-wave panel data from some 600 smallholder rubber farmers in the upper Mekong region, Southern Yunnan province of China, this study shows the diversification strategies of smallholders in response to falling rubber prices and examines the impacts of livelihood diversification strategies on farmer income and rural inequality. The results suggest that smallholder rubber farmers tend to shift family labor from farms to off-farm employment and diversify their livelihoods in the context of declining rubber prices. Notably, farmers with relatively low dependence on rubber are more likely to diversify their livelihoods. The falling price induced diversification strategy makes smallholders more resilient against future risks and narrows the rural income gap. The findings of this study advance the literature by providing evidence on how farmers' livelihood strategy and rural inequality change in the face of periodical rubber price volatility.