An empirical study on livelihood strategy choice and influencing factors of farmers and herdsmen in the agro-pastoral ecotone: Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County

The livelihood capital of farmers and herdsmen has a significant impact on their choice of livelihood strategies. Based on the sustainable livelihood framework of DFID, a livelihood capital evaluation index system for farmers and herdsmen in the agro-pastoral ecotone was constructed from five dimensions: Natural, physical, human, social, and financial capital. With the survey data of 309 farmers and herdsmen in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, this study examined the choice and influencing factors of farmers and herdsmen for three livelihood strategies: Pure pastoral type, semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral type, and non-agricultural type using a binary logistic regression model. The results showed that: 1) resources endowment was the material basis for farmers and herdsmen to survive, the number of livestock and pasture areas were the necessary conditions for farmers and herdsmen to choose pure pastoral type livelihood strategies, and both pasture and arable land area positively affected the choice of semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral type livelihood strategies at the 5% significant level. Social capital is characterized by the ability to obtain non-farm employment opportunities, negatively influenced the choice of pure pastoral type livelihood strategies at the 5% significant level, whereas, it positively influenced the choice of non-agricultural type at the 10% significant level. 2) Diversification of household income sources and financial capital such as grassland subsidies contributed to the choice of semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral type livelihood strategies, while grassland subsidies negatively influenced the choice of non-agricultural type livelihood strategies. 3) Living conditions had a significant positive effect on the choice of non-agricultural type livelihood strategies, and lower education levels strengthened the choice of semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral type livelihood strategies.