Los aprovechamientos que se cobren por el uso, goce, aprovechamiento o explotación de bienes

The Village of Dongdian is classified as a natural village and part of Qianwei

Administrative Village. Qianwei Administrative Village belongs to Xinzhangji township administration within Lixin County. The village is located approximately 7 km (as the crow flies) from the nearest town, Kantuanzhen (small local town), and 24 km from the Lixin, the nearest County Town. The village contains approximately 124 houses

although a substantial number (approximately 35 per cent) of these are empty owing to sustained out-migration (20130414 RRA1DD). Wanzhuang, a natural village like Dongdian, is part of New Hexie Administrative Village and belongs to Zhangou Xiang, within Lixin County. The village is south of Dongdian and located 11 km from the nearest town (Kantuanzhen) and 28 km from Lixin. The village contains approximately 106 houses (slightly smaller than Dongdian) of which a large number are empty (approximately 42 per cent) (20130430 RRA1DD). Significant improvements to the villages’ infrastructure have occurred within the last 20 years. Both villages now have near universal access to potable water, are electrified and witnessed improvements to the road network (from mud to concrete) (20130416 RRA4DD and 20130502 RRA4WZ) The economy of both villages relies predominantly on agriculture, with the majority of adults in both sites who work describing their main activity as farming (see Figure 3-9). Three main crops are grown in both case study sites: wheat, corn and soya in a double cropping agricultural cycle. Wheat is planted in September and harvested in early summer. Corn and or soya is planted in the summer and harvested in August. In Dongdian (n=50), the average size of total landholding is 8.91 mu26 _{compared to 8.35} mu in Wanzhuang (n=47); this is slightly above the average of 7.5 mu for rural China (Yan et al., 2014: 304). Households in Dongdian tended to farm fewer but larger plots on average compared to Wanzhuang (see Table 3-5). Plot ownership was

predominantly in the form of long-term contracts although there was a small degree of informal (non-cash) exchange agreements between households to farm under used land of absent households. This type of arrangement was more common in

Figure 3-9: Reported main livelihood activity for adults that stated or were reported as working.

Table 3-5: Average plot size and average number of plots per household for Dongdian and Wanzhuang.

Dongdian (n=50)

Wanzhuang (n=47) Average plot size (in mu) 5.7 3.9

Average number of plots 1.6 2.2

As well as farming, some households in the case study sites also practiced animal husbandry. In Dongdian (n=50), 60 per cent of households reported owning livestock compared to 53 per cent of households in Wanzhuang (n=47). The most common types of livestock were chickens, fowl and goats. Income from remittances also contributed to household incomes in the two case sites. Survey responses show that 50 per cent of households in Dongdian and 61 per cent in Wanzhuang receive remittances (at the time of the survey) highlighting their importance to the household economy (particularly for Wanzhuang) (Cong and Silverstein, 2011; Murphy, 2002).

Underemployment is acute and there are no significant livelihood options outside of the agricultural sector although this has not always been the case. A brick manufacturer was located in Wanzhuang from 1963 and provided significant employment for the village population and that of the surrounding area. The factory closed down in 1995 and removed the one significant, local source of non-agricultural employment. Participants in the rural appraisal activities indicated that the closure of the brick

Since the closure of the factory there have been no significant major employers in the Wanzhuang27 _{or Dongdian.}

In the two case study sites the majority of the resident sampled adult population held a local, agricultural Hukou28_{. The Hukou suozaidi indicates location of registration, the} majority of respondents held a local registration indicating they were born in the locality (owing to the difficulty for poorer sections of society to change their place of Hukou registration). This finding is confirmed by response to another question asking about place of birth. For Dongdian (n=117), 94 per cent of the respondents stated they were born locally and only 4 per cent indicated that they were born in another province. The remainder stated they were born within Anhui but not locally. For Wanzhuang (n=98), 95 per cent of adults included in the household survey stated that they were born locally and only 1 per cent was born in another province. The second classification (Hukou leibie) refers to a person’s status and is either agricultural or non-agricultural. For both sites, 95% of residents had an agricultural Hukou (n=225).

Flood and drought vulnerability

Dongdian (26m asl) and Wanzhuang (26m asl) are located in the low-lying plains of the Feihe River, a tributary of the HuaiHe River. Both villages have little infrastructure to cope with floods or droughts. The Feihe River (runs north to south and marks the eastern boundary of Dongdian and Wanzhuang) constituted a major flood risk until a levee was built along its the banks29. Low-lying farmland (located towards the Feihe) is particularly vulnerable to surface water flooding or ponding with villagers in Wanzhuang reporting that a day’s worth of rain cause will cause the area to flood (20130501

RRA3AWZ). In both villages, the main roads also act as levees protecting parts of the settlement areas from surface water or fluvial flooding.

Dongdian does not have any significant infrastructure to cope with drought. Agriculture is predominantly rain-fed with some man-made ponds and irrigation ditches used to retain water after the rains and help remove surface water during sustained bouts of heavy precipitation. During dry spells, the villagers reported renting pumps to move water to where it is needed. There are no tube wells in the village with which one can irrigate the communal farmland; the majority of houses have mechanical / hand pumps

flood control and irrigation infrastructure beyond some basic ditches and run-off channels. Most of the drainage ditches were built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of Mao’s modernization drive. The drainage infrastructure has been maintained and improved over the years and the most important channels have been deepened and widened recently (for example the ditch to the east of the settlement was improved in the year prior to the RRA activities).