Abstract
Multifunctional agriculture is the core of sustainable agriculture because the suitable integration of multiple functions is a key for economically viable, environmentally safe, and socially equitable development in rural areas. Past investigations on multifunctional agriculture have mostly focused on the economy of multiple functions. There is scarce knowledge on structural relationships of multifunctional agriculture, notably in rural areas. To fill this gap, we used an analytical actor network to identify the structural relationships. Results show that the average income of farmers increased by 20 % in multifunctional agriculture networks. Results also show that the actor network reached a state of equilibrium. We also build a structural equation model using interviews and participatory observations. Here, we incorporated data from 366 tourists, constituting 87.5 % of those surveyed, and 52 local residents in Dalishu Village of Liaoning Province, China. Networking methods improved the efficiency of multifunctional agriculture by bridging ecology, tourism, society, and land use.
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Acknowledgments
This project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 40871005, 40871062), Educational Commission of Liaoning Province (no. W2010158), and the Social Sciences Research Fund of Liaoning Province (L11BJL024). We thank Drs. Daolan Zheng and Weihong Fan for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. We would also like to emphasize our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and editorial staff of the journal for their contributions.
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Zheng, L., Liu, H. Increased farmer income evidenced by a new multifunctional actor network in China. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 34, 515–523 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0169-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0169-2