FARMERS’INCOME GROWTH IN A NATURAL-SOCIOECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT FOR RELATIVELY POOR AREAS: EVIDENCE FROM GANZI, SOUTHWEST CHINA

Policymakers and scholars around the world have grappled with the difficulties of reducing rural poverty.For China, although absolute poverty has been eradicated, considerable efforts are still required to address relative poverty and boost sustainable income growth among farmers.This study examines Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan Province as a representative of China's relatively poor areas, analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics of farmers' income and exploring the interactions between income growth, the natural environment, socio-economic progress, and rural support measures.The results indicate that, since 2014, both the internal income disparities of farmers in Ganzi and the income gap relative to the national average have converged.Our analysis provides robust evidence that socioeconomic development and rural support have significantly increased farmers' income.The discussion of heterogeneity reveals that these positive effects vary across sub-income types and county categories.However, the impact of agricultural resources is not constant, and a "resource curse" effect is observed in more challenging counties, particularly in terms of hindering wage and salary income growth.Our findings advance scientific understanding of income growth challenges among farmers in relatively poor areas and highlight an integrated natural-social-economic perspective for analyzing this issue.These insights would provide new information for policymakers to formulate targeted follow-up assistance policies in the post-poverty era.