Balancing Income, Food Security, and Sustainability in Shangri-La: The Dilemma of Monocropping Wine Grapes in Rural China

摘要

Using a political ecology framework that explores livelihood vulnerability, this paper analyzes commodification of grapes as an economic development strategy in Southwest China. Ethnographic research found that during the past decade, a majority of households within a village have converted fields to a monocrop of grapes, introduced by the government as part of a program to promote red wine from the region for tourism purposes. Villagers have been motivated to take part due to high economic returns but have found themselves living with less diversified sources of income and increasing use of agricultural chemicals. Villagers display concern for food security as they have moved away from growing subsistence crops and rely heavily on funds produced bygrapes for subsistence. Questions are raised regarding long-term sustainability and the outlook of development programs targeting rural farmers as producers of high-value commodities being consumed by China's growing middle and upper classes.