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Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (9): 1545-1555.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2022.587

• Regional Development • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Poverty evolution and its implications in the Liupan Mountain Area of Gansu Province from 1986 to 2020

MA Zhenbang1(),WANG Sijian1,LI Wei1,LYU Peng2,GUO Xiaodong1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
    2. Gansu Provincial Administration for Rural Revitalization, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2022-11-09 Revised:2023-02-06 Online:2023-09-25 Published:2023-09-28

Abstract:

Clarifying the long-term spatiotemporal dynamics of poverty and the related influencing factors can provide important information for the continued promotion of relative poverty and rural revitalization governance. Based on the 35 years of panel data covering the 1986—2020 period, past spatiotemporal poverty dynamics (represented by farmer’s per capita net income) of 46 counties in the Liupan Mountain area of Gansu Province were investigated, and a spatial econometric model was used to explore the related influencing factors. The results showed that: (1) Average annual growth rate of farmers’ per capita net income showed an increasing trend in 70% of the studied counties, and this trend is projected to continue in the future. (2) In 28 counties, the income growth rate experienced significant changes in 1994 and 2007, which may be due to the implementation of the “Seven-Year Priority Poverty Alleviation Program”, reform of rural taxes and administrative charges, equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas, and rapid urbanization in Gansu Province. (3) Farmers’ per capita net income showed a strong spatiotemporal dependence, in which low-income counties showed little upward progress, and the distribution of hot and cold spots remained relatively stable. However, spatial spillover appeared to reduce path dependence. (4) In the short and long terms, per capita gross domestic product, proportion of primary industry, and urbanization rate had positive impacts on the growth of farmers’ per capita net income in local and neighboring counties. Human capital, planting structure, and transportation facilities had a significant short-term impact on farmers’ per capita net income growth locally and at a larger spatial scale, while rainfall had a long-term positive impact on farmers’ per capita net income growth, indicating the increase in temperatures and precipitation in northwest China have had important beneficial effects. The study’s findings on the spatiotemporal stability of poverty and the complex nature of the mechanisms that influence it serve to remind practitioners to consider the systematic coordination of policy measures in time and space.

Key words: poverty, spatiotemporal dynamics, driving factors, spatial panel model, Liupan Mountain Area of Gansu Province