The Effect of Pastoralist’s Perception Innovation on Livelihood Improvement: Based on Empirical Analysis in the Source Region of Yellow River, China

This paper uses net income per capita, GDP per capita, meat production per capita, and milk production per capita as the proxy indicators to descript the level of pastoralists’ livelihood; and grazing capacity (reflecting wealth perception), slaughter rate of livestock, sold rate of livestock (reflecting commodity perception), and composition of female animals in season and death rate of livestock at mating age (reflecting technological perception) as the proxy indicators for description the perceptions of pastoralists. Author builds a relevance model between pastoralist’s livelihood and perceptions at both single and multi-factor mode level. The results indicate: (1) from the perspective of pastoralist’s livelihood promotion, it is important to emphasize the innovation of conventional commodity idea (resisting slaughter rate of livestock and commercialization), the conventional wealth perception of pastoralists (worship the more livestock possession the wealthier), and establishment advanced management perception (focus on structural adjustment and disaster resisting ability); (2) from the priority perspective of perception innovation, special emphasis should be placed on the controlling the grazing capacity of livestock, and promoting the slaughter and sold rates of livestock; (3) pastoralist’s perceptions severely restrict the improvement of pastoralist’s livelihood. Based on the findings, recommendations for possible interventions, such as strengthening the skill training, shifting the traditional wealth perception of pastoralists, the conventional commodity perception and establishing advanced management perception are made.