May, 2017 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No.

J. Resour. Ecol. 2017 8(3) 287-295

DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2017.03.009
www.jorae.cn

Factors Influencing Indigenous Rice Protection in the Yuanyang

Terraced Rice Fields of China

WANG Hongsong1,2,*, WANG Yunyue1

1. The National Center for Agricultural Biodiversity, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China;
2. Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China

Abstract: Indigenous rice has maintained the survival of local people for more than a thousand years in the
Yuanyang terraced rice fields of southern Yunnan, China. It is the foundation for long-term stable development of
local agriculture and food security and its unique and irreplaceable characteristics give the terraces value. The
status of indigenous rice resources is threatened by serious loss, so a better understanding of rice diversity and the
factors that influence rice variety protection is conducive to policy. Here, we investigate the planting and conserva-
tion situation of indigenous rice, analyze factors impacting the protection and loss of traditional rice varieties, and
construct an indigenous rice protection influence index system. Controllable factors which have special meaning to
the maintenance and management of local rice are identified and corresponding strategies for the protection and
maintenance of indigenous rice are discussed.

Key words: Yuanyang terraced rice field; indigenous rice; protection; influential model; Yunnan

traditional varieties have higher genetic heterogeneity and

1 Introduction
The Hani terraced fields are a vast mountain area in Honghe,
Yunnan, China. With development spanning more than one
thousand years, the Hani people have constructed villages,
reclaimed terraces, grown rice, created a rice terrace land-
scape (Zhao and Wang 2013) and given birth to a national
cultural system of terraced rice production. The Hani cre-
ated their famous terraced rice culture according to local
topographic features, specific ecological environments and
national customs, and local rice varied according to the
conditions, ways of production and collaborative evolution
(Xu et al. 2010). As a result, there remains abundant genetic
diversity and hundreds of traditional rice varieties. Tradi-
tional indigenous rice varieties of the Hani terraced fields
are adapted to different altitude zones of terraced fields,
with characteristics of strong adaptability, stable yield, dis-
ease resistance, lodging resistance, fertilizer, cold resistance
and strong tilling. Compared with modern breeding, these
Received: 2017-02-28 Accepted: 2017-04-25
Foundation: Improving productivity and resilience for the rural poor through enhanced use of crop varietal diversity in integrated production and pest
management (LOA 14/48)
*Corresponding author: WANG Hongsong, E-mail: whsong0209@163.com
Citation: WANG Hongsong, WANG Yunyue. 2017. Factors Influencing Indigenous Rice Protection in the Yuanyang Terraced Rice Fields of China. Jour-
nal of Resources and Ecology, 8(3): 287–295.
better resist natural disasters. The unique quality and irre-
placeability of these terraced fields and traditional rice mean
this system has agricultural species value and make it the
most important intangible cultural heritage aspect of terrace
protection. Hani terraced indigenous rice varieties planted
hundreds of years without being phased out (Zhu 2007), is
mainly due to interaction of local highly heterogeneous
ecological environment, various ethnic traditional cultural
practices and all sorts of rich indigenous farming knowl-
edge, it is this kind of synergy between human and nature
which protect the local rice varieties, so as to make the high
degree of diversity, so ethnic diversity of natural environ-
ment of the hani terraced fields and rich rice farming culture
play a very important role in maintaining the local rice spe-
cies diversity and the sustainability of agricultural resources.
In this paper we explore relationships between Hani ter-
race traditional rice varieties and the local ecological envi-
ronment, socioeconomic environment, traditional agricul-
288
tural management, agricultural activities, culture and tradi-
tional farming practices. By exploring these relationships
we hope to understand factors affecting the development of
indigenous rice, mine traditional agricultural sustainability
factors of the social-natural environment, local agricultural
activities, farming habits, farming practices that influence
indigenous rice protection, construct an ecological anthro-
pology influence index system of Yuanyang indigenous rice
diversity, and explore how to combine traditional culture
and customs with biodiversity protection in modern conser-
vation management.
2 Study area and methods
Our study was conducted in Honghe, Yuan yang county,
Xinjie town, Huangmaoling township, Daping township,
Shangxincheng township, and Xiaoxinjie township. A total
of 20 village committees and 32 natural villages were inves-
tigated. We surveyed villages and farmers to determine the
rice resource situation, numbers and variety of rice, rice
diversity, agronomic traits, insect pests of indigenous rice,
national cultural information, cultural customs, festivals and
sacrifices, diet customs, management, planting methods and
farming practices, land use allocation, sources of seed, and
traditional farming knowledge (seed selection, preserving
and usage). Using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) we
analyzed relationships and interactions between traditional
rice varieties and humanistic environment factors such as
social and natural environments in each village, traditional
agricultural production and management, farming habits,
farmer culture, traditional knowledge and living habits
based on descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regres-
sion analysis and grouping correspondence analysis.
3 Investigation of rice diversity
3.1 The distribution of rice
Among 295 households, farmers planting local varieties
account for 85% of the total number of households surveyed.
The total arable land area of surveyed farmers was 44.66 ha;
farmers planting local rice area accounted for 71.4% of the
total area. The local rice average planting area was 0.125 ha,
the highest average area was 0.192 ha and the lowest only
0.018 ha.
There were a total of 62 different types of rice, including
50 landrace varieties and 12 modern hybrids varieties. Vil-
lage average richness was 7.5.
3.2 Diversity of farmers planting rice varieties
Among 295 households, each household planted an average
of 1.7 traditional and modern species and all farmers planted
some rice. Amongst famers fully planting traditional varie-
ties, the average per household rice area was 0.141 ha.
Amongst all farmers planting modern varieties, the average
per household rice area was 0.158 ha. Farmers growing tradi-
tional and modern cultivars averaged a rice area of 0.193 ha.
Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 3, 2017
Farmers planting traditional and modern cultivars had an
average rice area higher than farmers only growing tradi-
tional varieties or modern varieties. However, farmers only
growing modern varieties had a higher average rice area
than those growing traditional varieties, but this difference
was not statistically significant.
3.3 Diversity index of landrace rice varieties
At the village level, the average richness of traditional va-
rieties was 4.62, and the highest has 8 species. Among farm-
ers who planted only traditional varieties, their average
household richness was 1.589. The evenness of traditional
varieties ranged from 0.1972–0.825 (average = 0.6344);
difference of traditional varieties ranged from 10.48–100%
(average = 67.8%).
The most household richness of traditional species was
three; household average richness amplitude 0.6–2.5. Farm-
ers who plant three traditional varieties are mostly concen-
trated in Hani village and a small number of Yi villages;
their number of terraced blocks are many due to different
terrace habitats and the Yi and Hani being good at rice seed
selection. Farmers with high richness play a more important
role in the protection of traditional varieties. At the farmer
level, the village farmer average uniformity range was
0–0.614 (average = 0.228).
3.4 Genetic diversity and disease index of planting
landrace rice
Among investigation varieties, the most common planting
landrace variety was Moon valley with 12 villages planting
this variety. Redskin waxy was planted by nine villages;
Yellow waxy and Cold water valley were planted by eight
villages; Jianshui valley and White waxy were planted by
seven villages; Long valley was planted by six villages; Red
feet old japonica and Flower valley were each found in five
villages; White feet old japonica and Car girl were planted
by four villages; Short feet valley was planted by three vil-
lages; and the remaining 27 landrace varieties were in one
or two villages only.
Amongst the top ten traditional varieties grown,the effec-
tive allele number (Ne) of tested rice varieties change
ranged from 1.0379–1.6501(average=1.3067).The Shannon
index (I) was 0.0479–0.560 (average =0.2739). Expected
heterozygosity (He) was 0.0298–0.3465 (average = 0.1803).
Nei's genetic diversity index change was 0.0283–0.3292
(average=0.1713). The occurrence frequency of polymor-
phic loci was 12.50–83.33% (average = 49.58%).
We selected the effective alleles number (Ne), shannon
index (I), percentage of polymorphic loci (P), Nei's genetic
diversity index (H) and expected heterozygosity (He) five
genetic diversity index of 10 rice varieties for Pearson cor-
relation coefficient testing with the index of rice blast and
rice planthopper hundred plexus worm. We found that the
rice blast resistance index was negatively correlated to the
WANG Hongsong, et al.: Factors influencing indigenous rice protection in the Yuanyang terraced rice fields of China
five genetic diversity index (P < 0.05). The number of rice
planthopper hundred plexus worm was not correlated with
the effective alleles number (P > 0.05).
4 The construction of the Hani terrace rice
diversity influence index system
4.1 Factors influencing rice variety diversity
4.1.1 Agricultural ecological environment conditions
Via analysis of integrated biological and non-biological en-
vironmental information we found that the number of tradi-
tional rice varieties in different rice farming areas and at
different altitudes are different. At the same altitude and
location, seed selection and cultivation are highly similar.
Traditional village species richness was positively corre-
lated with village altitude and annual rainfall (P = 0.1) and
negatively correlated with temperature; in the same village,
rice variety is similar among different households and rice
variety varied little among different villages at the similar
altitude.
During the long agricultural developmental process of the
Hani terraced fields, ecological environmental protection
and utilization measures such as rice fishing, ducking, inter-
cropping and interplanting of rice planting were imple-
mented. These strategies alleviated the crisis of local eco-
logical environmental deterioration and resulted in a rice
production combination mode of rice, fish and duck in the
mountains. Among the surveys across 15 villages, terrace
fishing accounted for 45.3% and raising terrace ducks ac-
counted for 27.7%. Terrace fishing and ducking were posi-
tively correlated with household species richness (P = 0.05).
According to subgroup correspondence analysis on rice
field fishing and household level richness, we found that
farmers with a relatively high level of richness (2, 3) the
field fishing ratio (0.603, 0.75) was lower than those that
engaged in no paddy fishing (0.397, 0.25). This shows that
terrace fishing and ducking are positively correlated with
farming planting varieties. Villages which have fish or
ducks in terraces mostly have adequate water resources at
upper middle altitudes, only plant traditional varieties, avoid
fertilizer and use only farmyard manure or green manure.
Fish and ducks provide sufficient nutrients to terrace soils
and allow for biological interaction, auxiliary soil nutrient
cycling and energy flow, strengthen terrace ridges, and con-
serve and maintain the local ecological environment to a
certain extent (Huang 2013).
4.1.2 Social and economic factors
(1) The effects of cultivated land allocation on biodiversity
The size and distribution of farmer’s land can affect cul-
tivated species diversity and the distribution of the culti-
vated area of different varieties. The planting area of tradi-
tional rice is correlated with farmers' richness (P = 0.05) and
evenness. The area of traditional rice in different villages is
correlated with village richness (P = 0.05). The area of ar-
able land is one of the most significant variables in the mul-
289
tivariate analysis and to further explore the relationship be-
tween paddy field area and species richness we divided rice
seed richness into four categories (corresponding to house-
hold richness values of 0, 1, 2 and 3). Among those, the first
group represents farmers whose area is less than 1 acre, the
second group represents farmers whose area is from 1–2
acres, the third is from 2–4 acres, and the fourth is more
than 4 acres. By comparing the frequency percentage of
farmers’ traditional rice richness we found that farmers
whose richness was relatively high (2, 3) mainly concen-
trated in the paddy area in upper middle farmers. The dis-
tribution of farmers not planting traditional varieties or only
for a variety was not obvious but mainly concentrated in the
middle area level of farmers. At relatively higher altitudes,
farmers manage more rice farming areas and more land
blocks with a higher richness of traditional varieties.
(2) The effect of family characteristics on biodiversity
Factors such as family structure, age, education level,
employment situation and decision-makers’ gender may
cause differences in household decision-making. Usually, the
larger a village’s farmer labor force, the higher the richness.
There was no correlation between household level diver-
sity and age or education status. The gender of deci-
sion-makers and household level diversity were correlated
(P = 0.1). Gender is an important category regarding the
role and responsibilities of cultivated varieties and knowl-
edge of men and women is likely different due to different
species or varieties of the same species in different places.
There was a negative correlation between a household’s
culture and diversity of the family (P = 0.1), showing that
the higher the degree of culture, the lower the diversity of
traditional varieties. Traditional species richness is corre-
lated with family size index and the size of the labour force
size index (P = 0.1) whereby farmers with more labor man-
age more varieties.
(3) The effect of income characteristics on biodiversity
Rice variety was not only marginally negatively corre-
lated with farmer income. This shows that village richness
has a tendency to reduce with increasing income. The num-
ber and proportion of farmers working was not significantly
positively correlated with farmer diversity.
Rice income is one of main income sources for terrace
farmers and per capita income of rice farming is correlated
with rice variety, but not significantly. Farmers whose rich-
ness is the highest (3) and lowest (0) are concentrated in
middle and low per capita agricultural income households
(0–2000). The distribution of farmer levels of richness of
middle and high per capita income households has no obvi-
ous regularity, and mainly concentrated in those families
whose areas are below the middle level.
There is a negative correlation between farmer annual
total income of no farming and traditional varieties richness.
Farmers were divided into several cases. The first type are
farmers with low rice income who maintain and compensate
290
their livelihoods though non-farming income; the annual
total non-farming income is relatively high (above 20000
CNY) and these farmers contribute less to high richness (2
or 3). The second type are framers with low rice income
who do not rely too much on non-farming income, their
farming income and no farming income are almost the same;
their non-agricultural income is 10000–20000 CNY and the
proportion of these households’ richness reaching 3 ac-
counted for 0.75. The highest and lowest richness is con-
centrate in those peasants whose rice per capita income is
lower-middle. Last, there are a few households that mainly
rely on farmland income to maintain livelihoods where the
annual per capita farming income is high; the proportion of
these households with a richness reaching 3 is 0.25.
(4) The effect of farmer demand and market development
characteristics on biodiversity
Hani Terrace rice cropping has followed a predominantly
self-sufficient peasant economy model. We classified farm-
ers by the degree of farming (rice cropping) self-sufficiency
where the highest level represents a situation where farming
products cannot meet family use; a high level represents
agricultural products cannot meet the whole family; high
and middle self-sufficiency farmers are those whose farming
products are just or slightly below family consumption; the
middle level comprises farmers whose own consumption
and self-sufficient agricultural products business is balanced;
a low level represents farmers have other business income
in addition to meeting their own consumption; and the low-
est level shows that most of the products are commercial-
ized. We found that a low richness level was concentrated in
high abundance agricultural self-sufficiency; high richness
was concentrated in the high and medium level self-suffi-
cient farmers who just meet family consumption; concentra-
tion distribution of low richness farmers is not obvious. In
comparison, higher richness was those families whose agri-
cultural self-sufficiency levels were close to medium.
(5) The effect of traffic and media on biodiversity
Along with improvements in traffic conditions and mod-
ern communication networks over the last 10 years, posts
and telecommunications networks amongst the Hani ter-
races have been formed. This combined modern transporta-
tion network and communications broke the life state in this
region and opened it to influence from foreign cultures (Li
2012). This has led to changes in the basis of subsistence.
According to surveys, market accessibility and distance
from the nearest station are negatively correlated with rice
richness (P = 0.1), showing that villagers enjoy traffic con-
venience but with negative impacts on rice diversity.
4.1.3 Influence of cultural connotation
(1) National traditional varieties
The main creator of Hani terrace culture is the Hani na-
tionality. There are many nationalities in the Ailao Moun-
tains: the Dai and Zhuang live in the river valley plain en-
gaged in valley rice farming activities; Han and Hui live in
Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 3, 2017
towns and lead urban lives with less rice farming in terraced
fields; Hani and Yi live in semi-mountainous areas; Miao
and Yao live in the highest mountains (Gui 1990) and plant
rice. The population of Hani accounts for 53.23% of Yuan-
yang county’s population, the population of the Yi nationality
is 23.35%, the population of the Dai nationality is 4.9%, the
Yao nationality is 2.23%, and the Zhuang nationality is 0.92%.
According to survey results of average richness of different
ethnic groups, the Hani nationality is 6.94, Yi nationality is
5.33, Dai nationality is 1, Yao nationality is 11, Zhuang na-
tionality is 0, and the multi-ethnic mixed village is 2.5.
The Hani and Yi's traditional varieties of rice are signifi-
cantly higher than other ethnic villages. The Yao village is
in the mountains at a higher altitude so cultivation of tradi-
tional varieties is greater.
(2) Traditional habits of different nationalities
Different national cultures and rice cultures may play
different roles in the retention and accumulation of tradi-
tional rice varieties. In areas with rich rice species diversity,
Hani and Yi accounted for a considerable proportion and
their national culture and rice culture have certain influences
locally. We found that 95% of women in our surveys do not
speak Hani nationality language in Hani village. In other
ethnic groups and mixed villages, 90% respondents speak
Han nationality language. For intermarriage, Hani basically
intermarried with their own ethnic group. For a few families,
children work outside and there may be a foreign daugh-
ter-in-law, but in other villages, such as Yi and Zhuang vil-
lages,different ethnic intermarriage is common. Structure of
the family members will affect planting varieties and di-
rectly affects the protection and utilization of rice varieties.
Based on the field survey of migrant married farmers or
non-native farmers, including Hani, Yi and Dai, we found
that household diversity regarding rice varieties is nega-
tively related to the number and proportion of migrant mar-
ried farmers (P = 0.1). This shows that migrant married
farmers have a certain impact on rice variety and that this is
a negative effect. This is because the Hani are relatively
conservative with little intersection with the outside world.
Intervention from outside will bring some modern or hybrid
varieties to them, but traditional varieties has been domesti-
cated by Hani for generations to adapt to the local environ-
ment and extreme factors and are not easily replaced by
other varieties.
(3) Cultural heritage and diversity of rice varieties
The Hani do not have their own language but they have
accumulated a lot of folk songs (Zhao and Wang 2013). We
found that in addition to Hani, loss of culture in other ethnic
villages is serious and many villages basically have no any
cultural heritage. Even in Hani villages, cultural heritage
faces great challenges. Many folk songs, traditional knowl-
edge and legends have been gradually lost because few peo-
ple speak and understand them. According to our investiga-
tion, villagers involved in hani worship are over 60 years-
WANG Hongsong, et al.: Factors influencing indigenous rice protection in the Yuanyang terraced rice fields of China
old and that 98% of villagers under the age of 45 do not
understand these folk songs and legends, and are also not
willing to learn or inherit this knowledge. This problem is
multifactorial. First, there is no fixed subsid and only one
villager can be named the inheritance person in a natural
village. Provincial heritagers number four in Yuanyang cou-
nty, state heritagers number 10, there are 109 county heri-
tagers. Other villagers who participate in worship commen-
tary receive no economic subsidy. Second, there conditions
on the heritager are harsh, Hani BEMA’s heritager position
requires villagers whose first-degree relatives also served as
BEMA, families with no non-normal deaths, married only
once, that all immediate families are alive, to be at least 30
years old and male. we analyze the correlation between
household level and village level diversity of traditional rice
and cultural heritage and found no correlations.
4.1.4 Traditional farming management knowledge
(1) Traditional field, seedling field management and ter-
race cultivation system
Terraced field management includes plowing, harrowing
and ponding. Seedling field management includes nursery
draining, taking the field ridge, applying base fertilizer,
ploughing seedling beds, digging a drainage ditch and pick-
ing up debris (Lu 2013). Traditionally, farmers rush fertil-
izer or catch a ditch in winter and springing every year in
order to complement green manure timing, but now farmers
rarely collectively engage in this work because it requires
much time and labor. Not all farmers are willing to, and
some farmers’ fields are far from the village and so fertilizer
and water cannot reach their terrace fields. We understand
that the phenomenon of rushing fertilizer is decreasing less
in all villages, and many villagers collected fertilizer from
their own home, and regularly pick fertilizer to the fields,
these villagers are mostly cultivation farmers. Many other
villagers do not deliberately rush fertilizer, but with land-
scape and rainwater ditches, sweep cattle and pig manure
into the ditch at convenient times with a similar effect.
These farmers' fields are mostly near to villages, no longer
ingeniously rice planting and with rice yield decline. These
farmers think that working income can make up for any loss,
so in their view the loss is negligible. This phenomenon is
affecting traditional rice preservation.
(2) Rice planting management
Rice planting management includes seedling manage-
ment, intertillage management and harvesting management
in paddy fields. Seedling management involves selecting
seeds, sprouting seeds, sowing seeds, cultivating seedlings
and plugging seedlings. Intertillage management involves
weeding grass, applying fertilizer and protection during au-
tumn. Harvesting management includes rice harvesting, rice
straw processing and rice storage (Wang 2013). Most of the
villagers applied herbicides seven or eight days after trans-
planting seedlings (Lu 2013). It is the internationally recog-
nized fact that diversity of rice planting inhibits diseases and
291
insect pests. Conventional wisdom of Hani terraced fields
such as special irrigation methods, selection of resistant
varieties, selection of ears rice, exchanging seeds and inter-
planting mixture planting control the occurrence of rice dis-
ease using ecological measures. Now, however, farmers are
busy working to earn money and few are willing to fluctuate
in rice processing, again with the invasion of plant diseases
and insect pests of rice seedlings, they do only with the help
of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers using fertil-
izer and compound fertilizer accounts for 81% of farmers.
With the loss of labor and intervention from modern agri-
culture, this ratio may increase.
We analyzed correlations between the diversity of rice
farmers and fertilizer and pesticide application. We found
that fertilizing methods, number of chemical fertilizers, pes-
ticide application methods and household richness of tradi-
tional rice variety are negatively correlated. Among which
fertilizing mode and households level richness is negative.
Farmers who completely applied fertilizer or compound
fertilizer have low household richness, while farmers who
applied farmyard manure have relatively high household
richness. The more fertilizer and pesticide that is applied,
the lower the richness. This is consistent with the hypothesis
that diversity of rice varieties control plant disease and in-
sect pests. Farmers who plant many rice varieties and whose
disease burden is relatively small, require less fertilizer and
pesticide, but framers who plant single species or less spe-
cies have a higher burden of disease and use more fertilizer
and pesticide.
4.1.5 Seed system
(1) Seed source
We found that seed sources are varied: retention, ex-
change, agricultural extension and purchase. The sources of
traditional varieties are retained or exchange. In farmers
who plant traditional varieties, more than 90% exchange
seeds in their village. In high elevation and water rich vil-
lages, farmers plant on average two or three traditional va-
rieties each year and the area of glutinous rice accounts for
about 1/10 or 1/8 of total acreage. Some farmers change in
their own fields, and once every two years, exchange culti-
vated land but not to change seed, exchange varieties
planted last year with other species in the field in the fol-
lowing year. This reduces the degree of disease to a certain
extent and embodies the wisdom of local farmers.
We divided seed sources into 10 types and analyzed the
relationship with diversity richness: retention, retention-ex-
change, exchange, retention-extension, retention-purchase,
exchange-extension, agricultural extension, exchange-pur-
chase, extension-purchase and purchase. We found that seed
sources and traditional species richness are correlated (P =
0.05). Correspondence analysis with richness by grouping
showed that high richness farmers concentrate on retention-
exchange and exchange. In farmers who exchange varieties,
91.6% of them are exchanged in the village, 3.5% are both
292
in the village and outside the village, 3.5% exchanged out-
side the village and only 1.4% of households exchanged
with foreigners. For farmers who exchange varieties, 50.4%
of them are exchanged under the same name, 47.9% ex-
changed with a different name and 1.7% both the same
name and different name. The intervals are 2–3 years, 3
years or 3–5 years.
(2) Basis of selection
Hani terrace farmers have used traditional "spike selec-
tion methods" for a long time, but with the intervention of
modern agriculture, social processes and loss of labor, fewer
villagers are adopting this method. The proportion of block
and all selection have exceeded 90% and the spike selection
proportion has shrunk to a few parts.
The basis of selection by farmers mainly includes socio-
economic factors such as market value, yield, taste, special
service (sacrifice, building roof straw and feeding cattle
straw), agricultural extension, and agricultural ecological
factors including spike fullness, high (low) stem, (not) easy
to fall down, cold and drought resistance, less disease, less
pest and special nutritional value.
From our investigation of farmer selection, when farmers
plant traditional species they consider taste, yield and spike
fullness; then disease resistance, pests and high (low) stem;
then cold and drought resistance and special purpose, mar-
ket value, easy to fall down and early maturity, self- suffi-
ciency; taste accounted for a large proportion. In mid- ele-
vation areas, farmers grow new species and old varieties.
Many farmers choose to grow commodity grain, sell out,
and then buy food with moderate taste. Regarding the
economy and income, the output and market value is the
first choice for farmers.
We investigated the social economy and agricultural
ecological index of planting the top 11 traditional species.
Rice yield and seed setting rate were not positively corre-
lated with planting villages and farmer number; the disease
index and hundred plexus worm were negatively correlated
with planting number. Taste was positively correlated with
planting villages and farmers (P = 0.1 level). Stem length
was not negatively correlated with planting villages and
farmers.
4.2 Rice diversity index system framework of eco-
logical anthropological influence
We integrated investigation information and built a diversity
index system framework of ecological anthropology influ-
ence. According to prior analysis of each influence index we
then formulated corresponding weights and values for each
index (Table 1).
5 Discussion
Relevance between the first or second level indicators of
ecological anthropology and household level richness is
Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 3, 2017
shown in Table 2.
We took local rice household level diversity index as the
dependent variable and five first level indexes of the index
system framework as independent variables and performed
linear regression.
Exploratory factor analysis was done on 26 ecological
anthropology secondary indexes to explore for commonality.
We could summarize these factors as six main common
factors: traditional rice practice, proportion of non- agricul-
tural, family per capita income, proportion of tradition and
modern, farming behavior and external factors.
From the main factor’s average value on different diver-
sity values we can see that families with high richness have
high scores for traditional rice practices, per capita income
and farming practices. The influence of these three main
factors and their 14 factors on rice diversity is most impor-
tant, especially the practice of traditional rice where higher
scores are concentrated in high richness households. In con-
trast, for lowest households level richness, in addition to
traditional and modern proportional factors, the scores of
main factors are balanced, illustrating that the impact of
modern agriculture on traditional rice cannot be ignored.
Through regression analysis we identified factors that
have special meaning in the maintenance and management
of local rice from 26 secondary factors. Terraced rice inc-
ome, self-sufficiency, traditional planting area ratio, seed trea-
ting, seed access mechanism and selection basis all passed
the significant test at P = 0.1. These six indicators also app-
eared in two main components in previous factor analysis
(traditional rice practice and family per capita income).
We identified that seed protection mechanisms have spe-
cial meaning in the maintenance and management of local
rice across many level indicators, playing an important role
in the formulation of rice diversity maintenance mecha-
nisms and strategy development. Seed sources and acquisi-
tion methods significantly affect the diversity of traditional
rice. Farmers with retention and exchange between two seed
sources have relatively high traditional richness. The seed
selection method and seed selection basis of farmers greatly
affected the diversity of traditional rice. For those areas with
rich water resources and relatively high elevation, only cul-
tivate local varieties, the relevant departments should pay
attention to the collection and protection of these local va-
rieties, rather than merely via non-governmental exchange
and utilization. We should establish a scientific and sound
local seed resource library and research support. For alti-
tudes which can plant both landraces and new varieties, if
economic value of local high-quality varieties can be im-
proved (either by taste or planting management knowledge
and experience), the more farmers will grow local varieties.
This will benefit the conservation of local rice varieties and
systems.
WANG Hongsong, et al.: Factors influencing indigenous rice protection in the Yuanyang terraced rice fields of China 293

Table 1 Influence index construction for integrating information

Index Definition
Ecological environment (EE) EE=0.5*FD+0.3*ESD+0.2*CC
-FD field distribution FD=0.4*FE+0.4*FT+0.2*FR
FE: field elevation 1=1800~2500 0.6=1500~1800 0.3= under 1500
FT: field temperature 1= under 15 0.6=15~17 0.3= above 17
FR: field rainfall 1= above 1500 0.6=1300~1500 0.3= under 1300
-ESD ecosystem diversity: 1= rice fishing and ducking 0.5= rice fishing or ducking 0=none
-CC environmental climate change in recent 5 years: 1= little changes 0=much changes
Social economic environment (SE) SE=0.2*FI+0.2*NFI +0.2*SS+0.1*MB+0.1*FS+0.1*HS+0.05*NLP+0.05*WO
-FI fields rice income: FI= per capita rice income
1= above 4000 0.7=2000~4000 0.4=1000~2000 0.1= under 1000
-NFI non fields rice income: NFI= per capita none rice income
1= under 1000 0.7=1000~2000 0.4=2000~4000 0.1= above 4000
-SS self-sufficient: SS=DCPV/TI
-DCPV agricultural products value of farmers direct consumption
-TI farmer total income
-MB market basis: MB=0.5*MD+0.5*SD
-MD distance to the nearest market 1= under 10 0.6=10~20 0.3= above 20
-SD distance from nearest station 1= under 5 0.6=5~10 0.3= above 10
-FS family size: FS= household members number / largest family members number
-HS labor force size: HS= household labor force members / household maximum labor force
-NLP non local proportion：NLP= external married ratio 1=0 0.7=0~0.5 0.3= above 0.5
external married ratio =number of non local household members /maximum number of non local household
member
-WO work outside proportion：WO= number of work outside / maximum number of work outside
cultural identity (CI) CI=0.2*AAT+0.2*FL+0.2*HIA+0.2*HCI +0.2*WS
-AAT AAT= number of traditional customs, rituals and festivals related to agriculture / maximum
-FL family language situation:
1=there are family members who can not speak Han language 0.5=all can speak Han language
-HIA householder independently farming age: 1 = children 0.5 = youth 0.25 = adult
-HCI peasant household self cultural identity:
1= pride themselves 0.5= no special ethnic differences 0 = not as good as Han nationality
-WS weather there are family members who not willing to stay in the village：1=none 0=have
traditional agricultural management TAM=0.2*TCA+0.1*FM+0.2*AFM+0.1*APM+0.1*ST+0.2*TFR+0.1*MHN
(TAM)
-TCA proportion of traditional planting area
-FM farming methods 1= three plowing three (two) raking 0.6= two plowing two raking 0.4= two plowing one raking
0.2 = one plowing one raking
-AFM application fertilizer methods AFM=(FW+FT)/2
-FW fertilization ways 1= farmyard manure 0.6= farmyard manure and fertilizer 0.2= fertilizer
-FT fertilizer application times 1= not apply 0.7= one times a year 0.4= two times a year 0.1= three (four) times a year
-APM pesticide application methods:1= not apply 0.7= one times a year 0.4= two(three) times a year 0.1= four(five)
times a year
-ST seed treatment ST=0.5*SPM+0.5*STM
-SPM Traditional seed preservation methods 1= granary 0=sacks/platforms
-STM seed treatment methods 1= bubble, clearing species 0=non bubble, clearing species
-TFR traditional farming practice ratio
-TFR=number of traditional farming practices / maximum
-MHM Mutual help mode: 1= mutual help 0.5= mutual help or employee 0= employee
seed protection mechanism (SPM) SPM=(SR+SAM+SSB)/3
-SAM seed acquisition mechanism: 1= exchange and retention 0.7= exchange or retention 0.4= retention and purchase
(extension) 0.4= exchange and purchase (extension) 0.2= extension or purchase 0.1= extension and purchase
-SR seed sources: SR=0.5*SON+0.5*SOR
-SON= seeds exchange or change with same or difference name 1= difference name 0.7= same and difference
name 0.5= same name
-SOR= range of seed obtain 1= in the village 0.8= in the village and outside the village 0.6= outside the village
0.4= in foreign
-SSB seed selection basis: SSB=0.3* SSM +0.7*SSN
-SSM seed selection mode1= spike selection 0.7= block selection 0.4= all selection
- SSN seed selection basis SCN= number of seed choice basis / maximum
294 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 3, 2017

Table 2 Ecological, socioeconomic, technological and cultural factor analysis and relevance to household richness
Correlation coefficient FD ESD CC EE FI NFI SS MB
Household level richness 0.628** 0.255** 0.523** 0.607** 0.093 0.036 0.173* 0.058
Correlation coefficient FS HS NLP WO SE AAT FL HIA
Household level richness 0.01 0.086 0.15 0.086 0.193* 0.244** 0.259** 0.233**
Correlation coefficient HCI WS CI TCA FM AFM APM ST
Household level richness 0.039 0.126 0.13 0.727** 0.014 0.266** 0.145 0.420**
Correlation coefficient TFR MHM TAM SAM SR SSB SPM
Household level richness 0.504** 0.199* 0.65** 0.658** 0.393** 0.648** 0.752**
Note: * and ** represent regression coefficient significance at the 10% and 5% level, respectively.

Table 3 Correlations and diversity index of landrace varieties

B Std. Error Beta t P value
Constant 1.285 0.351 3.656 0.000
EE 0.459 0.287 0.134 1.598 0.112
SE 0.389 0.382 0.054 1.018 0.311
CI 0.103 0.442 0.013 0.233 0.816
TAM 0.511 0.434 0.115 1.176 0.242
SPM 3.127 0.504 0.582 6.198 0.000

Table 4 Exploratory factor analysis loading matrix

Main factor and its index Factor loading Eigenvalue Cumulative variance(%) Reliability coefficient
Factor 1 Traditional rice practice 6.210 23.866
FD (field distribution) 0.878
CC (climate change) 0.752
TCA (proportion of traditional planting area) 0.864
AFM (application fertilizer methods) 0.521
ST (seed treatment) 0.684
TFR (traditional farming practice ratio) 0.699
SAM (seed acquisition mechanism) 0.784
SR (seed sources) 0.661
SSB (seed selection basis) 0.662
Factor 2 Proportion of non-agricultural 2.977 35.318 11.452
NFI (non-fields rice income) 0.730
NLP (non-local proportion) 0.548
WO (work outside proportion) 0.779
Factor 3 Family per capita income 2.459 44.778 9.46
FI (fields rice income) 0.729
SS(self-sufficient) 0.573
FS (family size) 0.711
Factor 4 Proportion of traditional and modern 1.934 52.220 7.442
MB (market basis) 0.698
AAT (traditional customs, rituals and festivals related to agriculture) 0.647
Factor 5 Farming behavior 1.699 58.755 6.535
FM (farming methods) 0.537
HIA (householder independently farming age) 0.605
Factor 6 External factors 1.122 63.071 4.316
WS (weather family member are willing to stay in the village) 0.492
FL (family language situation) 0.468
WANG Hongsong, et al.: Factors influencing indigenous rice protection in the Yuanyang terraced rice fields of China 295

people are seen as the goal and relevant government de-

6 Conclusions
The natural environment and rich farming culture of Hani
terrace fields play an important role in maintaining the di-
versity of rice varieties and the sustainable development of
agricultural resources. Because of the uneven distribution of
water terraces and significant seasonal differences, the
landscape value of many terraces has been degraded. We
should pay attention to drought treatment, focus on the eco-
logical function of terrace wetlands, use scientific and sus-
tainable methods to construct infrastructure, and scientifi-
cally guide farmers to economically develop.
Terrace traditional rice is the result of evolution and arti-
ficial selection over several hundred years. Green and eco-
logical production processes have yielded traditional rice of
good quality, consistent with the current trend of healthy
living. We should stimulate the social and economic value
of high-quality rice by promoting consumer awareness of
health, nutritional quality and the market economy and
make full use of traditional rice’s exclusive characteristics to
attract domestic and foreign institutions to help improve the
social and economic value of terraces and farmer income.
As world cultural heritage, Hani terraces should continue
to be based on a small-scale peasant economy whereby local
partments should establish awareness of poverty alleviation
in situ conservation of traditional rice, social and cultural
values, and cultural ecological compensation and products.
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元阳梯田传统稻种保护的影响因素研究

王红崧 1,2，王云月 1

1. 云南农业大学/农业生物多样性应用技术国家工程中心，昆明 650201；
2. 西南林业大学，昆明 650224

摘 要：云南元阳梯田的传统稻种作为重要的物质基础千余年来维持着当地人民的繁衍和生存，是当地农业长期稳定发展
和粮食安全的根本，其独特性和不可替代性赋予了梯田应有的农业物种价值。针对当地传统稻种资源的逐渐流失，深入了解传统
稻种丧失和保护的影响因素有利于保护维持政策的制定。本文主要调查当地传统稻种种植和保护现状，分析影响传统稻种多样性
保护和丧失的因素，构建传统稻种保护影响指标体系。通过分析，进一步识别对地方稻种维持和管理有特殊解释意义的可控因素，
并对当地传统稻种保护和维持提出相应策略。

关键词：元阳梯田；传统稻种；保护；影响模型