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The frequency of incomplete portfolios consisting of a few risk-free assets is an important issue in household portfolio selection, and its cause has not yet been satisfactorily identified. Using data from the Shaanxi Province survey of rural residents' financial assets in China, this paper validates the influence path model of household portfolios to understand the determinants of rural household's ownership of risky financial assets. The structural equation modelling method is used to illustrate the complex relationship between household portfolio allocation and influencing factors. The results show that holding risky financial assets is directly determined by total financial assets, risky investment intentions and financial market knowledge. Ability, desire and awareness are all indispensable for holding risky financial assets, which can explain most of the incomplete participant problem. Household wealth, financial literacy, age and education have indirect influences along different paths through these three mediation variables. In addition, a second house is separated from real estate that only includes the residential house and defined investments. A path analysis also shows that real estate (residential house, home appliances and vehicles) does not have a significant effect on holding risky financial assets, while an investment house will crowd out and substitute financial assets and have a negative influence on holding risky financial assets. The findings could help explain the fairly simple and safe structure of the typical household portfolio in rural China and other undeveloped regions and may also have important policy implications for developing risky financial markets in similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the disaster resilience index (DRI) is an effective decision support tool for managing natural disasters. This study holds that disaster resilience is a dynamic process accompanied by coping capacity, adaptive capacity, and transformative capacity in different phases; therefore, we develop a three-dimensional capacity-based framework using seven indicators (including 38 subindicators) to map the multigoals for measuring resilience at the household level. Our data were acquired through questionnaire responses by 516 representative rural households in mountainous hazard-prone areas in Chongqing, China. The results reveal that more households are deemed "low resilience" and that geographical spatial differences exist in the DRI across the case regions. Several factors affecting the ability to survive, bounce back, and bounce forward from mountain hazards for rural households were found in China. The framework constructed in this paper offers a new perspective for a holistic understanding of disaster resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategies aimed towards poverty alleviation need to identify factors that are strongly associated with poverty. The objective of the study was to analyse the determinants of rural absolute and relative poverty in Shouning County, Fujian Province, Southeast China. Two binary logistic regressions were estimated based on household survey data in which the dependent variables were whether the residents were living in poverty, and the explanatory variables included a set of socioeconomic and demographic variables. The results showed that the age of the household head, dependency ratio, number of chronic patients, pressure of educational expenses, and culture of poverty were significantly and positively associated with the likelihood of being in absolute poverty. However, a greater household size and better accessibility to information decreased the probability of being in this state. The strongest four predictors of absolute poverty in descending order were information accessibility, number of chronic patients, pressure of educational expenses, and culture of poverty. In terms of relative poverty, our results demonstrated that elevation, cropland per capita, age of household head, number of chronic patients, pressure of educational expenses, and distance to the county seat had significant positive relationships with the probability of being trapped in relative poverty, whereas information accessibility was negatively associated with being in relative poverty. The strongest four predictors of relative poverty in descending order were information accessibility, pressure of educational expenses, cropland per capita, and number of chronic patients. Generally, the results confirmed three important determinants of rural poverty hypothesised in previous studies: chronic illness-induced poverty, educational expenses-induced poverty, and culture of poverty. We expect that the results of this study will provide useful insight for future research of rural poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory diseases' mortality and morbidity have been a major public health burden primarily attributed to widespread exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants in the environment. The study conducted among 510 Bangladeshi women residing in the northeastern zone of the Sylhet division from semi-urban and rural settings to compare the biomass fuel users (N = 255) with the non-biomass users (N = 255). It has been observed that all the symptoms had a higher prevalence among the women who were exposed to biomass fuel compared with those exposed to clean gas fuel. Women exposed to biomass group reported frequent cough and phlegm production episodes during a 3-month timeline before the survey period which was found statistically higher (p < 0.001) compared with that of the clean gas fuel group. Moreover, the use of biomass fuel has been associated with a significant decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Appropriate strategies from stakeholders and government authorities in disseminating health hazards from biomass fuel along with supporting the community by providing alternative energy sources for cooking can largely impact people's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative analysis of organic farming practices among farmers in South-South, Nigeria, was carried out. A review of previous studies on organic farming practices showed that little effort has been made by researchers to capture South-South agricultural zone. There is scarcely any empirical data on organic farming practices used by crop, livestock, and fish farmers in the study area. This has created a gap in knowledge which the outcome of this study intends to bring out. This study did not only determine whether there is difference in organic farming practices among farmers in the different states under study but assessed the farmers level of awareness and use of organic farming practices, and relationship between the level of use of organic farming practices and the farmers' socio-economic characteristics. Multistage random selection technique was used to select rural household farmers engaged in fish, livestock, and crop production. A sample of four hundred and eighty farmers was used. Organic farming practices among crop farmers included the use of farmyard manure ( x ¯ = 2.79), inter cropping ( x ¯ = 2.58), mulching ( x ¯ = 2.50), and spot bush burning ( x ¯ = 2.50). The organic farming practices among livestock farmers were access to fresh drinking water ( x ¯ = 2.77) and adequate feeding ( x ¯ = 2.65). Fish farmers engaged in the use of three organic practices: eco-friendly design ( x ¯ = 2.56), site being far from polluting substances ( x ¯ = 2.57) and pond protection from predators ( x ¯ = 2.70). There were significant differences in the farmers' level of use of organic farming practices based on their states of origin (Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, and Delta). Education, age, and income were the socio-economic determinants of the level of use of organic farming practices. It was concluded that farmers' in Akwa Ibom state engaged more in the use of organic farming practices, followed by Bayelsa state and the least is Delta state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural household energy consumption is an important component of national energy consumption. This paper explores the rural household energy consumption status and influencing factors on different sources of rural household energy consumption in western China. Using data from a survey of 240 households conducted in 2017, this study finds that rural households' energy consumption structure in the study area is a combination of traditional biomass energy and commercial energy sources. Fuelwood is the most commonly used fuel in the study area, while modern energy sources only occupy a low proportion. Rural household energy consumption is influenced by various factors. Individual perceptions of climate change, social trust and networks, and households' socio-economic and demographic factors (gender, age, education, income per capita, household size, household location, and number of household appliances) are identified as having significant effects on rural households' consumption of biomass and commercial energies. The research results provide implications for policy makers to formulate related rural energy policies to improve the rural energy consumption structure and future energy policy design in China and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic assessment and documentation of extensive livestock production systems are necessary to design or review breeding programs, extension services, and policies. This study therefore examined management practices and challenges concerning village chicken production in the Upper River Region of the Gambia. The data gathered with 45-variable semi-structured questionnaires were analyzed based on the household head’s education status and gender. Illiteracy level was high, and only 38% indicated that they attended certain schools. There was a significant relationship (p < 0.05) and phi coefficient of 0.35 between household heads’ education status and record keeping. None of the examined management practices had a statistically significant relationship (p > 0.05) with household heads’ gender. Children (10-14 years) were mostly responsible for providing care to the chickens. Foundation and replacement stocks were mainly acquired through purchase (78%). Many households (74%) indicated supplementary feeding of their flocks but only 34% provided separate houses apart from the household dwellings. Newcastle (68%) was the most common disease. Sick birds were recognized by restlessness (34%) and diarrhea (28%). External parasites were mainly controlled through local practices (52%) while the most common way to dispose dead birds was to throw them away (88%). Up to 90% indicated no formal training on disease management and access to extension agents was also low (20%). Control of chicken movement was occasionally done to protect birds from predators (60%) and then, to avoid contagious diseases (38%). Individual farmers and their associations need to be supported by stakeholders to access relevant information and uptake improved management techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is viewed in different ways owing to its multidimensional concepts. A common view of poverty is that when one is unable to satisfy their certain basic requirements but it has been generalized that poverty is not only the lack of food and hunger, rather the low access towards other facilities by the government and inability to take part in the social or local decisions by community are also considered among the constituents of poverty. Therefore, the key aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of household empowerment on the participatory poverty of rural households. Primary data was used in the current study which was collected through multi-stage random sampling from the rural household of twenty-four villages in southern Punjab. For this purpose, a face-to-face interview of 600 households was conducted by authors. The household empowerment was measured through an index which was adopted from Abrar-ul-haq (An assessment of the role of household empowerment in alleviating poverty in southern Punjab, Pakistan (Ph.D. Dissertation), School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 2017). The ordered logit model was used to analyze the impact of household empowerment on participatory poverty. The results of current study indicate that the household empowerment, remittances, agriculture occupation, agriculture experience, secondary occupation, household size and female-male ratio have a negative impact on participatory poverty. Therefore, based on the findings, the study suggested that participatory poverty may be reduced by improving household empowerment in the said area of southern Punjab, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s largest-ever resettlement program is underway, aiming to restore ecosystems and lift ecosystem service providers out of the poverty trap and into sustainable livelihoods. We examine the impact of the relocation and settlement program (RSP) to date, reporting on an ecosystem services (ES) assessment and a 1400-household survey. The RSP generally achieves the goals of ES increase and livelihood restore. In biophysical terms, the RSP improves water quality, sediment retention, and carbon sequestration. In social terms, resettled households so far report transformation of livelihoods activities from traditional inefficient agricultural and forest production to non-farm activities. Increased income contributes to decrease the poverty rate and improve resettled households’ living condition and standard. Meanwhile, the RSP decreases households’ dependence on ES in terms of provisioning services. Difficulty and challenge also showed up subsequently after relocation. A major current challenge is to enable poorer households to move, while providing greater follow-up support to relocated households. While the program is unique to China, it illuminates widespread opportunities for addressing environmental and poverty-related concerns in a rapidly changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing data from the China rural-urban mobility survey conducted in 2010, this study investigates the influence of family demographic characteristics on the income, life satisfaction, and potential for rural-urban mobility at the rural household level of two provinces of China: Shaanxi and Henan. A larger labor force in a rural household was found to reduce a family's ability or inclination to move to a city. The findings reveal that family size negatively affects the average income per family member and reduces the marginal income of the labor force and that minor children can improve the life satisfaction of family members. We conclude that a larger family size does not translate to more benefits for a rural household. Family size preference is found to be a reflection of parents' concerns about elderly care and is deemed to be unfavorable for urbanization in P. R. China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, energy consumption of rural household in China has been changing. Thus, it is necessary to explore the direct and indirect energy consumption of rural households, which may present an overview of rural households' energy consumption. In this paper, the consumer lifestyle approach method is utilized to estimate the indirect energy consumption of rural household during 1998-2011. Over the study period, the direct energy consumption gradually increased, while the indirect energy consumption decreased. In 2008, the direct energy consumption exceeded the indirect one. In 2011, per capita indirect energy consumption of rural resident decreased 36 % compared to 1998. The reduction in per capita indirect energy consumption for high-income resident was the fastest. Per capita indirect energy consumption of eastern rural resident was higher than that of other regions. Per capita indirect energy consumption of Shanghai rural resident was the biggest in 1998. However, per capita indirect energy consumption of Beijing rural resident became the biggest in 2011. The center of gravity for per capita indirect energy consumption is an overall movement toward the northwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using four types of settlements in the upper reach of Minjiang River as case, we establish structural models in farmers' income of different settlement patterns based on rural household panel data to reveal the gradient effect on farmers' income and determinants. The results indicate that: (1) except the resettlement area, the incomes for farmers living in river valley, semi-mountain, and high-mountain settlements present a decreasing trend with the elevation increasing; on the contrary, their nonfarm earnings show an increasing trend with the elevation decreasing; (2) from the effect on farmers' income, there is a common feature that the nonfarm earnings and farming incomes have significant positive effects, and family size and productive expenditure have significant negative effects. One exception to this is the productive expenditure, which becomes insignificant in the model of resettlement area; (3) from the way of increasing farmers' income and alleviating poverty, there are great differences for four types of settlements in mountain areas, however, the improvement of agricultural product sales, agricultural production subsidies, the expansion for nonfarm employment, and the control of the family's size are the most effective approaches for poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to examine children’s education financing alternatives among households in rural China. Data on education financing was from a household survey conducted in three poverty villages in Guizhou, China. The difference in financing education by households was verified through non-parametric testing. Findings show that private savings is dominant in financing education of children in school. Formal loans are almost absent even in the highest wealth group examined. The findings implied that the extension of financial services to children’s education could motivate parents to send their children for more education, increase disposable income of rural households by reducing precautionary savings, and provide better-educated labors in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted this study to find the extent of utilization of services and, identification of factors which determine the use of such services in rural families with disabled preschool children. Participants included disabled children in a Unicef supported cross sectional survey conducted in a rural ICDS block. The overall proportion of non-utilization of services was found to be 52.1% with the maximum non-utilization among the households with speech and hearing disability. The important explanatary variables predicting non-utilization were low socioeconomic status (OR 4.6; 95% CI 1.27-17.68), poor educational level of father (OR 5.95; 95% CI 1.50-23.59) and poor acceptability of services (OR 36.2; 95% CI 8.73-150.2). This study has implications for planning and organization of easily accessible, quality rehabilitation services in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since land and labor force are primary resources to be used and controlled by rural households, the allocation of labor forces will influence land uses, and further lead to land use conversion. The present study used the Binary Logit model to investigate the influence of labor force transfer, characteristics of rural households, location, and land market on agricultural land use conversion at rural household level. This study was conducted based on 329 valid questionnaires, which were obtained in Changshu, Rudong, and Tongshan counties, respectively representing the southern, middle and northern areas of Jiangsu Province. The results showed that land market participation, location, zonal difference and labor transfer had strong influences on agricultural land use conversion. The participation of land market had a strong positive effect on land use conversion, especially for the farmland converted to the fishpond. The nearer to the county seat, the more conversion of land use occurred. Particularly, the labor force transfer caused by wage employment decreased this conversion probability, while the labor transfer caused by self-employment led to more conversion; and the increasing of income from labor transfer increased the conversion. Moreover, land use conversions demonstrated zonal difference, which were more in Rudong and Changshu counties than in Tongshan County, and the factors influencing this conversion were different in the three regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a multi-input multi-output production technology and survey data from Jinzhai County, western Anhui Province, China, the author first measured the production performance of rural households — their efficiency, economy of scale, and productivity during 1978-1997, and then related the measured production performance with institutional change, market access, and other factors. Preliminary results show that: 1) performance differs a great deal across households and over time; 2) institutional changes and market accessibility have played a major role in improving performance; 3) depending on the specific resources, their effects are variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated determinants of food insecurity in the rural farm households of the Teleyayen sub-watershed in Ethiopia. The study used a multistage sampling procedure to select 215 sample households involving a combination of purposive and random sampling. Data were collected using structured survey questionnaire, focus group discussion (FGD), and key informant interviews. Independent sample t test, chi-square, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were employed to analyze the data. It was found that 20.9 and 79.1% of the sample households are food secure and food insecure, respectively. The majority of the food insecure households were younger household heads, who own less than 1 ha of farmlands. On average, male-headed households were more food secure than female-headed households. The result of the binary logistic regression revealed that shortage of farmland, poverty, recurrent drought and climate change, shortage of rainfall, and land degradation are determining factors for such food insecurity. However, the gender of household head, policy support, land redistribution, farmland topography, soil fertility, and erosion do not show any significant influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]