Abstract
Southern collective forest areas are a major component of China’s forestry industry. However, the contradiction between farmers’ pursuit of economic performance and the government’s focus on ecological performance has become increasingly prominent in these areas. This study divides farmers into two categories based on their household forest land’s functional attributes: commercial forest farmers and public welfare forest farmers. It empirical testing the impact and differences of the two types of farmers’ afforestation behavior, management behavior, and logging behavior on forestry economic performance and ecological performance. The study shows that after forest tenure reform, the economic performance of commercial forest farmers is generally higher than that of public welfare forest farmers, the economic performance of commercial forest farmers was 3.9 times higher than that of public forest farmers in 2013, But both types of farmers’ economic performance exhibit a decreasing trend after 2014 and eventually converge. In contrast, the ecological performance of forestry after forest tenure reform is significant, with slight differences in the evaluation of ecological performance indicators between the two types of farmers. Furthermore, the study reveals significant differences between the two types of heterogeneous farmers’ forestry production behavior on economic and ecological performance. Commercial forest farmers’ forestation behavior negatively affects economic performance at 10% confidence level, whereas management behavior positively affects economic and ecological performance all at 1% confidence level. On the other hand, logging behavior has a positive impact on economic performance at 1% confidence level but a negative impact on ecological performance. Public welfare forest farmers’ forestry production behavior all at 1% confidence level has a more significant impact on ecological performance, with logging behavior positively impacting both economic and ecological performance.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data cannot be made available for reasons disclosed in the data availability statement.
References
Ammar, E. E. S. I. (2021). Garden plant diversity in the Egyptian Nile Region and effect of climate change on its conservation and ecosystem services. Mu’assasat Yasṭurūn lil-Tibā’ah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi’.
Ammar, E. E. (2022). Assessment of the crop basket around the Egyptian Nile River, Eastern North Africa. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 29(10), 103428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.103428
Cheng, B. D., Xu, C., Qin, G. Y., & Xiong, L. C. (2021). The impact of ecological public welfare forest construction in collective forest area on labor migration. Journal of Agrotechnical Economics, 2, 40–49. https://doi.org/10.13246/j.cnki.jae.2021.02.004. (in Chinese).
Dai, L. M., Zhao, F. Q., Shao, G. F., Zhou, L., & Tang, L. (2009). China’s classification-based forest management: Procedures, problems, and prospects. Environmental Management, 43, 1162–1173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9229-9
He, W. J., Zhang, H. X., & Xu, J. W. (2016). Can forest logging quota management system (FLQMS) Protect forest resources? A literature review. China Rural Survey, 2, 84–93. (in Chinese).
Hu, W. X. (2011). A comparative analysis of the changes of collective forest tenure system. Journal of South China Normal University (Social Science Edition), 2, 26–31. (in Chinese).
Hyde, W. F., & Yin, R. S. (2018). 40 years of China’s forest reforms: Summary and outlook. Forest Policy and Economics, 98, 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.09.008
Ke, S. F., Qiao, D., Zhang, X., & Feng, Q. (2019). Changes of China’s forestry and forest products industry over the past 40 years and challenges lying ahead. Forest Policy and Economics, 106, 101949. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FORPOL.2020.102352
Liu, C. (2020). The decentralization of collective forestland tenure reform in China since the reform and opening-up from the perspective of evolutionary game theory. Chinese Rural Economy, 5, 21–38. (in Chinese).
Liu, C., Huang, H. L., Liu, H., & Zhu, W. Q. (2019). Evolutions and recapitulation of the reform of collective forestland tenure in China since 1978. Issues of Forestry Economics, 39(2), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.16832/j.cnki.1005-9709.2019.02.001. (in Chinese).
Liu, C., Li, Z., Zhang, M. X., & Liu, H. (2015). Research progress on the evolution and performance of collective forest property right system in China. Forestry Economics, 2, 3–12. https://doi.org/10.13843/j.cnki.lyjj.2015.02.001. (in Chinese).
Liu, C., Liu, H., & Wang, S. (2017). Has China’s new round of collective forest reforms caused an increase in the use of productive forest inputs? Land Use Policy, 64, 492–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.03.011
Liuwen, L., Hualou, L., & Enpu, M. (2023). Factors influencing the recessive morphology of farmland use under labor changes based on production input willingness and behavior of farmers. Journal of Geographical Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-023-2185-8
Qin, P., Fredrik, C., & Xu, J. (2011). Forestland reform in China: What do the farmers want? A choice experiment on farmers’ property rights preferences. Land Economics, 87(3), 473–487.
Shen, G. F. (2001). From “afforestation" to “forest cultivation". China Terminology, 3(2), 33–34. (in Chinese).
Wu, P. (2012). Reform of public welfare forest rights system under the background of collective forest rights reform in my country. Law Review, 2, 83–89. https://doi.org/10.13415/j.cnki.fxpl.2012.02.001. (in Chinese).
Xie, Y., Wen, Y. L., Zhang, Y., & Li, X. (2013). Impact of property rights reform on household forest management investment: An empirical study of southern China. Forest Policy and Economics, 34, 73–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2012.12.002
Xu, J. T., & Hyde, W. F. (2019). China’s second round of forest reforms: Observations for China and implications globally. Forest Policy and Economics, 98, 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.04.007
Xu, Z., Meng, W., Li, S., et al. (2024). Driving factors of farmers’ green agricultural production behaviors in the multi-ethnic region in China based on NAM-TPB models. Global Ecology and Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e02812
Yang, Y., Li, H., & Xue, C. X. (2018). Impact of forestland tenure security on farmers’ forestry management in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. Journal of Agrotechnical Economics, 7, 51–63. https://doi.org/10.13246/j.cnki.jae.2018.07.005. (in Chinese).
Yeboah-Assiamah, E., Muller, K. & Domfeh, K. A. (2023). Lessons from the past: A forest policy reform in Ghana through the feedback loop. Environment, Development and Sustainability.
Yin, R., Xu, J., & Li, Z. (2003). Building institutions for markets: Experiences and lessons from China’s rural forest sector. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 5(3–4), 333–351. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025768727924
Yin, R. S., Yao, S. B., & Huo, X. X. (2013). China’s forest tenure reform and institutional change in the new century: What has been implemented and what remains to be pursued? Land Use Policy, 30, 825–833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.06.010
Zhang, D. W. (2001). Why do many woodlands in China not grow trees? Journal of Management World, 3, 141–146. https://doi.org/10.19744/j.cnki.11-1235/f.2001.03.019. (in Chinese).
Zhang, D. W. (2019). China’s forest expansion in the last three plus decades: Why and how? Forest Policy and Economics, 98, 75–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.07.006
Zhang, J. G. (2004). Forest management: The urgent task of forestry construction. Green China, 4, 14–15. https://doi.org/10.13843/j.cnki.lyjj.2004.02.006. (in Chinese).
Zhang, X. F., Wu, S. R., & Ning, Y. L. (2015). An analysis on China’s institutional change of collective forest tenure system and its economic motivation. Journal of Beijing Forestry University (Social Sciences), 14(1), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.13931/j.cnki.bjfuss.2015.01.001. (in Chinese).
Zhu, Z., Xu, Z. G., Shen, H. C., & Zhang, Y. (2019). How off-farm work drives the intensity of rural households’ investment in forest management: The case from Zhejiang, China. Forest Policy and Economics, 98, 30–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.04.006
Acknowledgements
We thank all external reviewers and editors, all article problems are the authors’ responsibility.
Funding
1. Changsha Municipal Science and Technology Bureau Soft Science Key Project: Research on Government-led Forest Right Storage Mode and Realization Path in the Context of “Double Carbon" (KH2302041), 2. Key Issues of Hunan Social Science Review Committee: Research on the Utilization Efficiency, Influencing Factors and Policy Optimization of Collective Forest Land in the Context of Rural Revitalization (XSP22ZDI022).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Consents for publication from all the co-authors are received.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Cao, L., Xiao, Q. & Zeng, Y. A study on heterogeneous farmers’ forestry production behavior, performance and differences in southern collective forest areas: based on 7 years of continuous observation data in Hunan Province. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04867-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04867-0