TY - JOUR
T1 - Does Diversification Improve Livelihoods? Pastoral Households in Xinjiang, China
AU - Liao, Chuan
AU - Barrett, Christopher
AU - Kassam, Karim Aly
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 International Institute of Social Studies.
PY - 2015/11
Y1 - 2015/11
N2 - Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples' livelihoods. However, policy recommendations for livelihood diversification based on evidence from crop-cultivating sedentary rural societies may not work for mobile pastoral communities, where socio-ecological conditions predetermine livestock herding as the preferred livelihood strategy. Using survey and semi-structured interview data collected from 159 households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, this study applies cluster analysis to identify six distinct groups based on livelihood strategies: pastoralists, agropastoralists, crop farmers, wage labourers, hired herders and mixed smallholders. Although pastoralism is the least diverse of these in terms of sources of income, it is significantly more diverse in ecological dimensions such as spatial movement, land use pattern and livestock portfolio. Patterns of livelihood diversification and their relationship with household incomes indicate that pastoralism, although preferred, is unattainable for 55 per cent of households given their meagre asset endowments and the pressure of government policies toward sedentarization. The results strongly suggest that livelihood diversification does not improve welfare for pastoral households. Future development interventions should promote policies that enable households to regain flexible access to pastures and should aim to correct the imbalance of opportunities that exists in northern Xinjiang.
AB - Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples' livelihoods. However, policy recommendations for livelihood diversification based on evidence from crop-cultivating sedentary rural societies may not work for mobile pastoral communities, where socio-ecological conditions predetermine livestock herding as the preferred livelihood strategy. Using survey and semi-structured interview data collected from 159 households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, this study applies cluster analysis to identify six distinct groups based on livelihood strategies: pastoralists, agropastoralists, crop farmers, wage labourers, hired herders and mixed smallholders. Although pastoralism is the least diverse of these in terms of sources of income, it is significantly more diverse in ecological dimensions such as spatial movement, land use pattern and livestock portfolio. Patterns of livelihood diversification and their relationship with household incomes indicate that pastoralism, although preferred, is unattainable for 55 per cent of households given their meagre asset endowments and the pressure of government policies toward sedentarization. The results strongly suggest that livelihood diversification does not improve welfare for pastoral households. Future development interventions should promote policies that enable households to regain flexible access to pastures and should aim to correct the imbalance of opportunities that exists in northern Xinjiang.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84946414108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84946414108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/dech.12201
DO - 10.1111/dech.12201
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84946414108
SN - 0012-155X
VL - 46
SP - 1302
EP - 1330
JO - Development and Change
JF - Development and Change
IS - 6
ER -