Optimal livelihood strategy for different poverty groups among farmers: a case study of the Qin-Ba Mountain area in South-Shaanxi,China

Achieving sustainable livelihood is the ultimate goal of poverty alleviation efforts in mountainous areas, and selecting an optimal livelihood strategy for different poverty-type farmers greatly improves farmers' livelihood capital, resists livelihood risks, and promotes sustainable development. For farmers, optimal livelihood strategy means better employment opportunities, higher family income(or better income structure), and stronger employability or development potential. This paper classifies different types of farmers' poverty on the basis of a quantitative evaluation of farmers' livelihood capital in the Qin-ba Mountain Area in South-Shaanxi by using the k-means clustering method and subsequently the fuzzy evaluation method to evaluate the effectiveness of farmers' livelihood strategies. Then, the multi-attribute decision-making model is used to analyze the selection of optimal livelihood strategies for different poverty-type farmers. The results suggest a significant difference in the selection of the optimal livelihood strategy for different poverty-type farmers. Farmers without financial and human capital choose to "go out to work," farmers lacking natural capital choose to "acquire social insurance and government relief," farmers without physical capital choose to "use loans," and farmers lacking social capital choose to "use savings." Studying the selection of optimal livelihood strategies for different poverty-type farmers can help to propose targeted sustainable livelihood optimization programs for farmers and accelerate efforts to overcome poverty in mountainous areas.