Geographical indication agricultural products, livelihood capital, and resilience to meteorological disasters: evidence from kiwifruit farmers in China

Abstract

Developing geographical indication agricultural products will help to expand regional characteristic industries by taking actions that suit local circumstances. Improving the adaptability of the kiwifruit farmers to cope with meteorological disasters is conducive to promoting the optimization of rural industrial structure and the implementation of rural revitalization strategy. Based on the field survey data of Shaanxi Province, this research uses the method of natural breaks to classify the resilience scores of meteorological disasters under the framework of Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. Finally, the ordinal logistic regression model is used to quantitatively research how livelihood capital contributes to the resilience of kiwifruit farmers to meteorological disasters during the phenological phases. The results show that the perception of meteorological disasters by farmers does not significantly affect their resilience, and the impacts of different livelihood capitals on the resilience strategies of farmers are quite distinct: physical capital, financial capital, social capital, and human capital have significant positive impact on the resilience strategies of farmers, while natural capital has a significant negative impact on the resilience strategies of farmers. The results extend the theoretical foundation of resilience strategies for meteorological disasters in kiwifruit phenological phases and bring quantitative evidence linkage of livelihood capital and resilience strategies. Furthermore, the study emphasizes that the agricultural activities of kiwifruit farmers during the phenological phases should be combined with the livelihood capital guarantee measures, as well as a better financial environment should be created by government intervention. Paying attention to science popularization work of middle-aged and elderly farmers, accelerating the linkages between the government and the mass, would help the government to obtain the best agricultural management methods.

Keywords: Geographical indication agricultural products; Kiwifruit phenological phases; Resilience; Sustainable Livelihoods Approach.