Farmers'''' Perceptions of Arable Land Quality and Their Corresponding Response
基于农户的耕地质量认识及其响应机制研究

Based on Participatory Rural Appraisals(PRA),a household survey was conducted to obtain farmers' perceptions on arable land quality and to find out their responses to lands with different quality.Open-ended discussions,semi-structure discussions and questionnaire surveys were carried out in 107 households of Hengshan County in Shaanxi Province.Results showed that indicators for arable land quality assessment local farmers' side reefers to soil characteristics, terrain characteristics,agricultural management measures,crop performances,environmental factors,and indicator plants etc.,which nearly covered all aspects of land attributes.In those indicators,slope(89%),irrigation condition(81%),soil texture(79%),yield(40%),amount of fertilizer(21%) and crop performance(21%) were preferred in farmers' evaluations and assessment results were in conformity with the analysis results of soil samples.According to farmers' assessment results,all surveyed arable lands were grouped to two types,productive land and non-productive land.Then,farmers' management preference to different lands,including planting structures,fertilizing activities and crop residues disposition,were studied.As a result,significant management differences were found between the two kinds of lands.Farmers intended to plant crops with high economic benefit in productive land and invested more;contrarily,non-productive land can get fewer investments.Additionally,a large amount of organic substance in non-productive land is extracted by crop production,which induces more serious land degradation.It is concluded that farmers have the ability to assess arable land quality accurately with their own indicators and farmers' preference in agricultural practice presents a great influence on sustainable land management.Indicators for arable land assessment from farmers' side are complementary to the indicators from scientists' side,which emphasized on getting information through RS technology.If the indicators from both sides were combined together,the efficiency and reliability for assessing arable land quality will be increased. This work was elementarily implemented in this paper.An indicator frame for arable land quality assessment in Crisscross Region of Wind-drift Sand Regions along the Great Wall and the Loess Plateau was brought forward in order to provide some reference information for regional arable land quality comprehensive assessment.In addition,the tendency of change of arable land quality in the future is forecasted.