The Change of Livelihood Capabilities of Rural Households in the Mode of “Company + Farmers”: Based on Improvement of Sustainable Livelihood Approach

In order to study the change of farmers'production activities under the mode of "company+farmers" on their livelihood level, this paper based on improvement of sustainable livelihood approach, used the survey data of Zhangye and the factor analysis, determined the scale system of farmers' livelihood capital, evaluated the changes of farmers' livelihood capability from level and structure. Empirical research conclusions based on rural households include:(1) Since cooperation with the company, the livelihood capital level of farmers is improved. Farmers' natural assets, material capital and financial assets are higher than before. Human assets and social assets in the study periods are stable; (2)The tightness between natural assets and financial assets is reduced, and increase the tightness between financial assets and human and social assets, which means that the increase in farmers income is no longer solely dependent on expanding the area of cultivated land actually used. Farmers are passively involved in the market; (3) Correlation analysis shows that the livelihood capital of farmers before the cooperation with the company is closely related to the after, and livelihood capital has a positive impact on the livelihood capital after, but their importance is different. The formulation of agricultural industrialization policy should treat different types of farmers differently and pay attention to the cultivation and development of farmers' livelihood ability.