A Conservation Approach of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS): Improving Traditional Agricultural Patterns and Promoting Scale-Production

Heritage conservation is an important recurring research theme on agricultural heritage systems. Improving the income of farmers from agriculture is regarded as an effective conservation approach. This study examined how the improved rice-fish-duck coculture (IRFDC) promotes the protection of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraced System (HHRTS) by keeping farmers farming in their hometowns. A semi-structural interview and a questionnaire survey were used to collect data on agricultural input–outputs and household employment in HHRTS. As a result, a fairly large proportion of HHRTS rice terraces were used for the hybrid rice monoculture (HRM) with chemical inputs, and most of these rice terraces were wasted for half a year on account of being left unused; the IRFDC requires considerable time input for farming and breeding, but barely needs any chemical inputs. IRFDC entails a higher cost than HRM, but also has a higher return than HRM. Driving a family to do full-time farming requires extra more than 0.71 ha rice terraces for IRFDC. In conclusion, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHSs) can be used for protecting terraces from abandonment and destruction by improving agricultural economic benefits for farmers. At present, a shortage of laborers in HHRTS sites is false. Agricultural heritage sites do not actual need so many people if peasant households can do large-scale farming

Why are the Longji Terraces in Southwest China maintained well? A conservation mechanism for agricultural landscapes based on agricultural multi-functions developed by multi-stakeholders

Agricultural landscapes in mountainous areas are facing the destruction due to farmland abandonment. A sustainable conservation mechanism is needed urgently for the rural areas in these places. Dazhai terraces of Longji Terraces, Southwest China are maintained well based on agricultural multi-functions developed by multi-stakeholders. From the perspective of household economics, this study examined the income structure of households in Dazhai and estimated every household's income based on the collected data via semi-structural interviews and the statistical data. In Dazhai, the income of households is mainly comprised of agricultural income, compensation for maintaining terraces (CMT), tourism income dividend (TID) and income of local non-farm jobs (IINJ). The IINJ and the TID constitute the most and the second more part of the household incomes, respectively, which account for 70.8% and 17.8% of the total household incomes. The agricultural income just plays a slight role in improving the household incomes. 97.7% of households in Dazhai earn a higher income a year from the agricultural multi-functions than those migrant workers in the region. The sustainable high income from terraced multi-functions is the main driving force to maintain Dazhai terraces. The multi-functions of Dazhai terraces are developed jointly by local governments, companies and villagers. More importantly, these stakeholders’ cooperation rests on the reasonable benefit distribution principles between companies and Dazhai and among villagers in Dazhai. In sum, the benefit distribution mechanisms drive multiple stakeholders to maintain terraced landscapes directly or indirectly.</p

Livelihood Assets and Strategies among Rural Households: Comparative Analysis of Rice and Dryland Terrace Systems in China

The livelihood of peasant households is one of the selection criteria of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and a critical factor that affects agricultural heritage system conservation and inheritance. Taking the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System (HHRTS) and Shexian Dryland Terraces System (SDTS) as examples, we investigated 304 households through a participatory rural appraisal method to discuss the livelihood assets and strategies of households in agricultural heritage systems. From the viewpoint of livelihood strategies, household strategies can be divided into pure agricultural, nonagricultural, and part-time agricultural strategies. The livelihood strategies of households in the HHRTS feature a higher proportion of nonagricultural, while those in the SDTS have a diverse distribution. With respect to livelihood assets, we constructed a livelihood assets accounting framework to highlight the important role of traditional culture and information technology in agricultural activities. The average livelihood assets value in the HHRTS and SDTS was 2.249 and 1.832, respectively. Then, applying the multinomial logit model, we quantitatively analyzed the relationship between livelihood assets and strategies. The results show that in both terrace systems, the understanding of traditional agricultural knowledge is important to suppress the shift of pure agricultural households to nonagricultural or part-time agricultural households. Therefore, in order to achieve dynamic conservation of terrace systems, it is necessary to effectively increase the cultural assets level of households, especially farmers&rsquo; understanding of traditional agricultural knowledge