Gradient effect on farmers' income in the mountain areas and its implication for poverty alleviation strategies: Empirical analysis from the upper reach of Minjiang River, China

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