Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities

Castellano-Álvarez, Francisco Javier (Ed.); Robina-Ramírez, Rafael (Ed.); Silva, Francisco José Ferreira (Ed.) Book Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities Provided in Cooperation with: MDPI – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Basel Suggested Citation: Castellano-Álvarez, Francisco Javier (Ed.); Robina-Ramírez, Rafael (Ed.); Silva, Francisco José Ferreira (Ed.) (2024) : Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities, ISBN 9783725811236, MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Basel, https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-1124-3 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/312692 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mdpi.com/journal/agriculture Special Issue Reprint Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification Threats and Opportunities Edited by Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez, Rafael Robina-Ramírez and Francisco José Ferreira Silva Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities Editors Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez Rafael Robina-Ramírez Francisco José Ferreira Silva Basel •Beijing •Wuhan •Barcelona •Belgrade •Novi Sad •Cluj •Manchester Editors Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez Economy Department, Universidad de Extremadura Cáceres Spain Rafael Robina-Ramírez Business Management and Sociology Department, University of Extremadura Cáceres Spain Francisco José Ferreira Silva Management Department, Economy and Management Faculty, University of the Azores Ponta Delgada Portugal Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture/special_ issues/6BX5KK4395). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: Lastname, A.A.; Lastname, B.B. Article Title. Journal Name Year,Volume Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-7258-1123-6 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-7258-1124-3 (PDF) doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-1124-3 © 2024 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license. Contents Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez, Rafael Robina-Ramírez and Francisco Silva Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities Reprinted from: Agriculture 2024,14, 623, doi:10.3390/agriculture14040623 ............. 1 Federico Martínez-Carrasco Pleite and José Colino Sueiras Rural Depopulation in Spain: A Delphi Analysis on the Need for the Reorientation of Public Policies Reprinted from: Agriculture 2024,14, 295, doi:10.3390/agriculture14020295 ............. 6 Zeyang Sun and Xiaocang Xu Can Access to Financial Markets Be an Important Option for Rural Families to Break the Return to Poverty Due to Illness in China? Reprinted from: Agriculture 2024,14, 165, doi:10.3390/agriculture14020165 ............. 23 Ruohan Zhang, Jialan Zhang, Kuan Zhang, Dingde Xu, Yanbin Qi and Xin Deng Do Clean Toilets Help Improve Farmers’ Mental Health? Empirical Evidence from China’s Rural Toilet Revolution Reprinted from: Agriculture 2024,14, 128, doi:10.3390/agriculture14010128 ............. 42 Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez and Rafael Robina-Ramírez Long-Term Survival of Investments Implemented under Endogenous Rural Development Programs: The Case Study of La Vera Region (Extremadura, Spain) Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 2130, doi:10.3390/agriculture13112130 ............ 56 Yao Zhang and Jianjun Huai A Case Study of Farmers’ Behavioral Motivation Mechanisms to Crack the Fractal Multidimensional Relative Poverty Trap in Shaanxi, China Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 2043, doi:10.3390/agriculture13112043 ............ 72 Krzysztof Widawski, Alicja Krzemi´nska, Anna Zar˛eba and Anna Dzikowska A Sustainable Approach to Tourism Development in Rural Areas: The Example of Poland Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 2028, doi:10.3390/agriculture13102028 ............ 94 Enrique-Eugenio Ruiz-Labrador, José-Manuel Sánchez-Martín and José-Luis Gurría-Gascón The Agritourism Value Chain: An Application to the Dehesa Areas of Extremadura Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 2078, doi:10.3390/agriculture13112078 ............118 Ching-Cheng Shen and Dan Wang Using the RPM Model to Explore the Impact of Organic Agritourism Destination Fascination on Loyalty—The Mediating Roles of Place Attachment and Pro-Environmental Behavior Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 1767, doi:10.3390/agriculture13091767 ............137 Yuxi Luo, Tianren Xiong, Defeng Meng, Anrong Gao and Yan Chen Does the Integrated Development of Agriculture and Tourism Promote Farmers’ Income Growth? Evidence from Southwestern China Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 1817, doi:10.3390/agriculture13091817 ............155 Chengkai Zhang, Yu Li, Lili Yang and Zheng Wang Does the Development of Digital Inclusive Finance Promote the Construction of Digital Villages?—An Empirical Study Based on the Chinese Experience Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 1616, doi:10.3390/agriculture13081616 ............180 v Xiaojuan Yang, Weiwei Li, Ping Zhang, Hua Chen, Min Lai and Sidong Zhao The Dynamics and Driving Mechanisms of Rural Revitalization in Western China Reprinted from: Agriculture 2023,13, 1448, doi:10.3390/agriculture13071448 ............203 vi Citation: Castellano-Álvarez, F.J.; Robina-Ramírez, R.; Silva, F. Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities. Agriculture 2024, 14, 623. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agriculture14040623 Received: 8 April 2024 Accepted: 15 April 2024 Published: 17 April 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Editorial Rural Areas Facing the Challenge of Economic Diversification: Threats and Opportunities Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez 1,*, Rafael Robina-Ramírez 2and Francisco Silva 3 1Economy Department, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain 2Business Management and Sociology Department, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain; [email protected] 3Management Department, University of the Azores, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, Portugal; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] This Special Issue delves into the challenges and threats associated with rural economic diversification. The contributions received shed light on the fact that rural areas in the most developed countries face markedly different challenges compared to those in other parts of the world. Offering such a diverse and multifaceted perspective on the various realities of the rural world from an international standpoint is a key strength of this Special Issue, which comprises total of eleven research articles; six come from Chinese authors and three from Spanish authors, and contributions from Polish and Taiwanese researchers are also included. While all articles share a common focus on analyzing issues of significant interest within their respective rural environments, the approaches taken by Chinese researchers exhibit notable diversity. For instance, Yang et al. [ 1 ] developed an index aimed at quantifying rural revitalization in the 12 administrative regions of western China. Their methodology utilizes entropy models, the BCG matrix, and geodetection systems. This research represents a valuable addition to the existing literature on the subject [ 2 , 3 ], emphasizing the necessity of establishing valid indicators to accurately define rural conditions [ 4 ]. This is crucial for tailoring policy interventions to effectively address the multifaceted challenges that are inherent in rural areas. The contributions by Zhang et al. [ 5 ] and Sun and Xu [ 6 ] delve into the impact of financial development in rural China from distinct angles. Zhang et al. [ 5 ] examine the interplay between the increasing accessibility of digital financial services for China’s rural population and the demand for infrastructure, knowledge, and communication technologies in rural areas. Their study identifies a positive correlation between these factors, which stimulates rural consumption and enhances financial regulatory systems. In conclusion, the authors emphasize that modernizing China’s rural regions necessitates a significant push towards digitization, including improvements to mobile connectivity infrastructure, advancements in technological development, and the promotion of digital literacy among the populace. On the other hand, Sun and Xu [ 6 ], amidst the health crisis triggered by COVID-19, utilize data from the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) to explore the significance of financial market development in helping families cope with illness-related expenses without plunging into poverty. Their findings reveal a positive association between ownership of financial assets and health expenditure. According to the authors, this underscores the importance of fostering financial market development, including digital platforms, and enhancing financial literacy among the population. These measures aim to bolster the financial assets of rural households, thereby strengthening the national healthcare system and mitigating the risk of impoverishment among those affected by illness. Another perspective on rural development is offered in the articles authored by Zhang and Huai [ 7 ] and Zhang et al. [ 8 ] within the realm of intangibles in rural development [ 9 ]. Agriculture 2024,14, 623. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14040623 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture 1 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 Among the studies addressing the population challenge from a demographic and spatial perspective, notable are the studies of [ 3 – 6 ] Gutiérrez et al. (2020a and b). These studies provide a temporal analysis of the urbanization process and national territory depopulation, considering it within the context of growing social inequalities ([9,10] Camarero et al., 2009, 2020) . Authors such as [ 11 ] Recaño (2017) underscore that this continuous population loss may be irreversible, propelled by the feedback generated among all the elements being described. In the realm of analyzing inequalities in access to basic public or private services for rural versus urban populations (3), an increasing number of investigations employ spatial network analysis and geographic information systems. Studies such as those by [ 12 ] Alloza et al. (2021) and [ 6 ] Gutiérrez et al. (2020b) quantify accessibility deficits between rural and urban populations or the loss of services (4), highlighting the existing inequalities and inequities among citizens in the provision of basic services, describing it as an essential factor in the depopulation processes. An important extension of these analyses of citizens’ unequal access to basic services is concerning financial exclusion, lower digitalization, or the closure of banking entities in the depopulated rural areas by [ 13 ] Jiménez and Tejero (2018) or [14] Martín-Oliver (2019). More recent are the analyses of the economic context in areas affected by depopulation, which are scantily diversified and based on traditional activities (5), or especially those with fewer job opportunities (6), considered an essential cause in the outflow of young population, particularly women. A pivotal study in the analysis of the economic challenges of depopulation-prone areas is recently conducted by the [ 5 ] Bank of Spain (2021). This study presents a detailed analysis of economic effects and causes of depopulation, providing valuable insights into the other differentiating elements of these municipalities compared to more urban ones, such as income and salary inequalities, the concentration of higherskilled workers in cities, lower contributions to economic activity, value-added generation, or lower productivity in depopulated rural areas. Furthermore, the study offers an analysis of historical trends in investment concentration promoted in recent decades with the development of Spain and how economic activity and capital have tended to concentrate in urban areas. The diagnosis from the Bank of Spain and other studies such as [ 12 ] Alloza et al. (2021) incorporates an analysis of inequalities in fiscal or public investment terms, identifying deficiencies in improving investments in communications or road networks in these more isolated territories. These studies establish a connection between the higher vulnerability of rural territories at risk of depopulation and their greater distance from major urban centers, as also emphasized by [ 5 ] Bank of Spain (2021). Undoubtedly, this vulnerability is associated with particular topographic or geographical isolation characteristics (7). More recently, studies have highlighted deficits in access to digital services and the existence of a digital divide [ 12 ] (Alloza et al., 2021). This latest study, like several previously described ones, questions the effectiveness of the implemented public policies (8), as described in this study. 1.3. Government Initiatives for Achieving More Cohesive Territories In 2017, the Committee of the Regions [15] (European Union, 2017) stated that demographic challenges (in particular aging, a decrease in the number of young people, and low birth rates) are among the most significant challenges facing EU. It identified a higher growth in urban areas than in rural ones in most European countries, with remote rural areas across the continent experiencing intense demographic challenges. Urgent measures were suggested, recognizing that responses to this major challenge are still underdeveloped. In the same year, the Spanish government established the Commissioner for the National Strategy Facing the Demographic Challenge [ 16 ] (MPTFP, 2019), approved in the Council of Ministers in March 2019. It is worth noting that two years earlier (2015), a study proposal for the adoption of measures related to rural depopulation in Spain was approved in the Spanish Senate. 8 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 A year later, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge initiated a public participation process that led to the approval of the “Recovery Plan: 130 Measures Facing the Demographic Challenge” [ 17 ] (MITECO, 2021). This political impulse to face the challenge of depopulation in Spain, proposing coordinated initiatives and special consideration for the depopulation challenge, reflects the growing concern of the national administration in addressing this problem. These advances, driven by increasing public and media attention during those years, were reinforced by the rigorous studies of several organizations, highlighting the importance of the depopulation challenge and the need to implement measures in multiple areas: [ 9 ] Camarero et al. (2009); [ 10 ] Camaro et al. (2020); [ 18 ] CES, 2018; and [19] CES, (2021) . Specifically, there was a consensus among the affected rural municipalities on the specific actions and measures that should be adopted, as outlined in the proposal report by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities [20] (FEMP, 2017). The following section presents the origin of the information generated in this research through an expert consultation using a two-round Delphi-method survey. Its objective was to gather expert assessments on the relevant aspects of depopulation analysis in Spain, providing their critical and collective insights on policies and initiatives aimed at mitigating or reversing the challenge of depopulation, offering their evaluation of the utility of proposed initiatives in previous diagnoses. In all cases, the statements evaluated by the consulted panel of experts correspond to proposals outlined in recent research. The objective of this investigation is to verify the relevance and importance of their urgent implementation without further delay. 2. Research Methodology 2.1. Delphi Method This research presents data collected through a survey conducted with experts in the field of rural development and depopulation issues. The Delphi methodology, initially applied in the study of national security by Dalkey and Helmer (1963) [ 21 ], has been employed, with numerous applications in various scientific fields for prediction and forecasting over the past 60 years, as extensively reviewed by Khodyakov et al. (2023) [ 22 ]. This review builds upon the research of Gupta and Clarke (1996) [ 23 ] conducted two decades earlier, and the Delphi method has increasingly found applications in studying the expected effects of agricultural and rural development policies in Spain: [ 24 ] Diez (1979); [ 25 ] Fearne (1989); [26] Martínez-Carrasco et al. (2014); and [27] Abreu and Mesias (2020). The Delphi technique aims to obtain the reliable opinions of a group of experts through an interactive process with a small panel of experts. As noted by Lamdeta (2006) [ 28 ]in their literature review that included an analysis of the limitations of this method, it remains a valid instrument for prediction and decision support in the social domain. In this study, two rounds were conducted, with 35 experts completing the process in two iterations out of the initial 50 participants in the first round. According to Landeta (2002) [ 29 ], this methodology allows for expert anonymity, as participants are unaware of each other’s identities; and more importantly, it facilitates feedback through successive rounds, enabling group discussion on complex issues. The research commenced with the design of an initial questionnaire, informed by an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with 13 experts and stakeholders associated with the rural development in Spain. The questions were asked to the experts to assess their level of agreement with statements presented to them on aspects highlighted by the recent literature, using a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (1 = Totally Disagree; 5 = Totally Agree). They were required to assess areas with varying levels of need for improvement (1 = Very Low Need for Improvement;5=VeryHigh Need for Improvement) or prioritize actions presented to them (first, second, or third) based on their importance. All these questions ultimately aimed to contrast the relevance of hypotheses put forward by previous studies, with four main questions intended to be validated by the expert panel: 9 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 (1st) How important is the challenge of depopulation in Spain, and to what extent is it complex to reverse or alleviate the processes affecting the large areas of the national territory? (2nd) Is it necessary to introduce changes in policies to combat depopulation in rural areas, such as reorienting existing policies, making regulatory changes, or allocating more funding for this purpose? (3rd) Do experts positively evaluate strategies implemented in recent years at the national level, specifically targeting the fight against depopulation in rural areas, and that need to be implemented in the coming years? (4th) What specific measures and actions in various areas, among those demanded by rural areas affected by depopulation in Spain, should be implemented without further delay, among those proposed and agreed upon within the federation of provinces and municipalities? Undoubtedly, the statements in the proposed questions are indebted to the findings of previous research, especially those put forth by the Economic and Social Council [ 7 ] (CES, 2021) and the [ 5 ] Bank of Spain (2021), or more specifically, concrete proposals advocated by the Depopulation Commission created in the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces [20] (FEMP, 2017). The final questionnaire was sent via email, which was complemented by the distribution of the questionnaire through Google Forms, to a hundred experts on rural areas from various public and private institutions between September and December 2021, eliciting responses from a total of 50 experts (First Round). Following the analysis of responses to this initial survey, the questionnaire underwent revision, providing an opportunity for deferred group discussion. It is worth noting that the configuration of this initial contact list was complex, involving a significant effort to compile emails through various means. This ranged from the simpler method of identifying researchers with relevant publications for the study to official lists of people responsible for various administrative tasks and institutions (at local, regional, national, and community levels) involved in depopulation issues. Additionally, contacts from rural development actors, primarily those directly involved in various Local Action Groups (LAG), were included in the list. The second questionnaire (Second Round) was sent between January and March 2022. In addition to incorporating new aspects or nuances raised in the first round, it facilitated controlled feedback. This was made possible by including the aggregated results (from all questions) obtained in the First Round. Each technician could assess, maintain, or alter their responses. Additionally, a new final question was introduced, requiring the evaluation of the importance of various actions in the realm of policies combating depopulation. 2.2. Expert Panel Profile and Study Objectives The data presented in this research correspond to the responses provided by a panel of 35 experts with whom interaction took place over a period of six months. They responded to the two questionnaires sent (First and Second Rounds), and the results are presented in the following section. As noted by Landeta (2002) [ 29 ], the Delphi technique allowed us to obtain the descriptive statistics of the responses, such as the Mean (Me), Median (Md), or relative frequencies (%) of the responses. Despite the small number of experts considered, given the qualitative nature of the instrument, it remains valid for the analysis and understanding of complex social realities, with the presented results having no inferential claims. As shown in Table 2, the expert panel was heterogeneous, encompassing responses from local development agents, private entities active in the local sphere, researchers (mostly from universities), and members of regional or national public administrations (AAPP), along with responses from experts of European Union (EU) institutions. All of these experts work in the field of rural development and possess a high level of knowledge regarding the depopulation challenge in Spain. The experience and diversity of profiles 10 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 among the respondents undoubtedly contributed richness and nuances to the analysis of the complex reality under study, identifying areas where their perspectives differ and others where a high level of consensus exists. Table 2. Professional profile of the Delphi Panel in the First Round (N = 50) and the Second Round (N = 35). Local Development Agents Private Sector AAPP Researchers European Union Institutions N◦ 1st Round 14 10 8 14 4 50 2nd Round 10 4 6 11 4 35 Source: self-generated. The expert panel had extensive professional experience on the topic of rural areas, with an average of 20 years in this field; all had university education, with 62.9% having completed postgraduate studies. Their level of knowledge about the depopulation challenge was high, with a self-assessed knowledge level of 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5) being the mode for the topics addressed in this study. It is important to mention that responses were obtained from experts who work in different Spanish Autonomous Communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, Region of Murcia, and Valencia), as indicated, in institutions operating at the local, regional, national, or European levels. This diversity enriched the assessment of the questions posed to them regarding the debate and situation in Spain concerning the challenge of rural areas experiencing significant depopulation. The obtained information, valuable for its specialized and exploratory nature, provides insights into the perspectives that professionals from different sectors (Table 2) hold regarding the key aspects in the design and implementation of public policies to support rural areas undergoing depopulation processes. It is noteworthy that, although the study focuses on policies to combat rural depopulation in Spain, it offers valuable reflections that could be considered in guiding future rural development and territorial cohesion policies implemented in other EU countries. These insights may prove useful in shaping or reorienting national-level territorial policies. 3. Results 3.1. Importance of the Depopulation Challenge in Spain As shown in Table 3, all 35 experts in the panel perceive the depopulation challenge in Spain as either “serious” or “very serious”. This issue, affecting extensive rural areas due to the continuous processes of urbanization and population loss in vast rural regions, was specifically rated as “very serious” by 62.9% (22 out of 35) participants in the Second Round. Table 3. Assessment of considerations regarding the depopulation challenge in Spain (N = 35). Rating from 1 to 5 Relative Frequency (%) Me Md (Ratings from 1 = Completely Disagree to 5 = Completely Agree) 12345 1. The depopulation challenge is a very serious issue in Spain 0.0 0.0 0.0 37.1 62.9 4.6 5 2. Combating depopulation in rural areas should be one of the major national challenges 0.0 0.0 5.7 28.6 65.7 4.6 5 3. Depopulation in rural areas and small municipalities is a complex and challenging issue to reverse. 0.0 8.6 5.7 48.6 37.1 4.1 4 4. Citizens are aware of the depopulation problem and its connection to the multifunctionality of rural areas. 17.1 45.7 22.9 14.3 0.0 2.3 2 Source: Results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. 11 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 The level of consensus regarding the consideration of depopulation as one of the “major national challenges” was also very high. A total of 94.3% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, with an average rating of 4.6. This aligns with the importance attributed to this issue in terms of territorial and social cohesion by the [ 5 ] Bank of Spain (2021) and [ 8 ] Molina de la Torre (2018). Slightly lower percentage (85.7%) of experts indicated agreement or strong agreement with the fact that depopulation is a complex problem to solve or reverse, echoing various diagnostics and emphasizing the importance of addressing it from multiple perspectives [ 18 ] (CES, 2018). The magnitude and difficulty of the depopulation challenge should make us aware of the need to formulate creative and holistic rural development policies and initiatives that could shape rural territories as spaces for experimentation and new opportunities [ 30 ] (Pinilla and Sáez, 2017), tailored to the needs or challenges of each territory. Contrastingly, 22 out of 35 respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that the Spanish population, in general, has a high level of awareness about the importance of the depopulation problem and the multiple functions that “vibrant” rural areas have for society as a whole. The average value (Me) for this statement was 2.3, with a median (Md) of 2. This result contrasts with the findings of the [ 31 ] CIS Barometer (2019) five years ago. According to this study, the Spanish population was becoming increasingly aware about depopulation, with 82.4% stating they had heard about the depopulation challenge, of which 90% considered it to be a “very or quite serious” problem, reflecting a growing public concern. In another question included in the First Round, which saw minimal changes in the responses provided in the Second Round (indicating the stability of responses achieved in the second survey), the panel of experts was asked to indicate, in their opinion, the importance (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 = very important) of different areas for improvement in rural areas that determine the need for greater support to these regions. As shown in Table 4, more than three-quarters of the panel of expert considered it “important” or “very important” to improve the situation of the population of rural municipalities affected by depopulation in comparison with the situation of the urban population. These areas include the following: (1) improving access to jobs and employment opportunities; (2) the equalization of high-quality public health services for the elderly or children with those available in urban areas; (3) enhancing infrastructure and transportation connections, such as improving road networks or public transportation with larger neighboring municipalities; and (4) the need to improve digital infrastructure and internet access, as frequently mentioned in the literature. Following these four needs of the rural population, there is also a high consensus regarding the compelling need of improving access to other local private services (such as pharmacies, post offices, and shops), as well as improving access to basic education services. In general, these results suggest the need for improvement in terms of quality and coverage for the entire population of fundamental basic services [ 15 ] (European Union, 2017), mitigating the processes of the so-called “rural exodus” in Spain [6] (Gutierrez, et al., 2020b). These described deficiencies, in addition to reinforcing the consideration that the challenge of depopulation in rural areas must be understood as a problem lacking socioterritorial cohesion, suggest that we should not only analyze the problem as a demographic issue but also as an economic and social one. Therefore, it is necessary to counteract the gradual loss of territorial competitiveness that has occurred in Spanish rural areas, with the aim of generating employment and economic activity to increase the attraction of an active population, opportunities, and spaces for medium-term development. This involves actions aimed at maintaining a minimum level of services that ensure the well-being of inhabitants of rural areas. 12 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 Table 4. Evaluation of the improvement needs of the population in depopulating rural areas compared to the situation in urban areas (N = 35). Rating from 1 to 5 Relative Frequency (%) Me Md (1 = Very Low Need for Improvement and5=VeryHigh Need for Improvement) 12345 1st. Availability of job/employment/business opportunities. 0.0 0.0 8.6 22.9 68.6 4.6 5 2nd. Access to healthcare or childcare for children and the elderly. 0.0 0.0 8.6 40.0 51.4 4.4 5 3rd. Infrastructure and transportation connections (e.g., with urban areas and other towns). 2.9 2.9 31.4 11.4 51.4 4.1 5 4th. Digital infrastructure (broadband and internet access). 0.0 5.7 17.1 37.1 40.0 4.1 5 5th. Access to local services, such as shops, post offices, pharmacies, etc. 0.0 0.0 22.9 42.9 34.3 4.1 4 6th. Access to education and training services. 0.0 0.0 14.3 60.0 25.7 4.1 4 7th. Access to cultural and recreational activities. 0.0 5.7 37.1 31.4 25.7 3.8 4 8th. Threats to the natural environment and its protection. 2.9 11.4 34.3 28.6 22.9 3.6 4 9th. Availability of housing. 0.0 25.7 37.1 14.3 22.9 3.3 3 10th. Access and affordability of various energy options (gas, electricity, etc.). 2.9 14.3 37.1 37.1 8.6 3.3 3 Source: results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. Other aspects, described in the last four rows of Table 4, obtained mean scores closer to a mean value of three, showing a higher level of disagreement among respondents regarding their severity. This was the case for equalizing the opportunities for the population of small rural municipalities affected by depopulation in terms of their access to cultural and leisure activities; the protection and maintenance of the values of their natural and environmental surroundings; or the availability of access to housing or different energy options. These responses result from both a neutral assessment by a significant number of experts and the presence of different considerations regarding their relevance. In these cases, the results could be justified by the fact that, while in some rural areas in Spain these needs are adequately addressed, in others they remain significant obstacles to their development, which motivates the migration of their population to more urban municipalities. 3.2. Need to Promote Development Policies Targeted at Depopulated Areas In a second major block of the present study, the aim was to identify the changes that, in the opinion of the experts, should be introduced in public policies implemented in Spain to combat depopulation, both at national and regional levels. Thus, as shown in Table 5, there was virtually unanimous agreement (97.1%) in the belief that it is necessary to consider, in public policies (Mean = 4.6 and Median = 5), in various areas of economic and social development, a greater focus on territorial cohesion, introducing positive discrimination criteria for rural areas at risk of depopulation. This is in line with the procedures applied in cohesion and investment policies of the European Union, taking into account the level of development of the member countries. This result coincides with the statements of several authors, among them [ 32 ] is Bello Parades (2023), who indicated “the need to rethink public policies to lead to greater territorial cohesion and, ultimately, to offer solutions to these territories”. There was also very high consensus on the need for regulatory changes, particularly a higher level of coordination between public administrations (with shared or exclusive competencies in different areas) in public policies aimed at supporting rural areas. In this sense, a total of 91.4% of the Delphi panel agreed or strongly agreed with the need for more efforts in horizontal and vertical coordination between administrations, as well as the reformulation of regulatory frameworks in various areas, described in great detail by [ 19 ] CES (2021). 13 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 Table 5. Evaluation of the need for changes in policies to combat depopulation in rural areas (N = 35). Ratings from 1 to 5 Relative Frequency (%) Me Md (1 = Completely Disagree to 5 = Completely Agree) 12345 It is necessary to introduce the territorial cohesion approach in national and regional policies, paying particular attention to the challenges of depopulated rural areas. 0.0 0.0 2.9 34.3 62.9 4.6 5 There is a need for further normative development and coordination among public administrations in the fight against depopulation. 0.0 0.0 8.6 34.3 57.1 4.5 5 It is necessary to allocate a larger portion of national and regional policy funding to areas affected by depopulation, even at the expense of other policies. 2.9 0.0 28.6 34.3 34.3 4.0 4 Source: results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. Finally, there was also a high consensus in the belief that more financial resources should be allocated to support national and regional policies for depopulated rural areas (Mean = 4 and Median = 4), even if this came at the expense of resources allocated to other purposes or public policies. The lack of financial support for plans or programs was pointed out by [ 18 ] CES (2018) as one of the reasons that had largely prevented the development of agreements and commitments for initiatives co-financed by the national administration and the Spanish autonomous communities under the Sustainable Rural Development Program, as well as Law 45/2007 on Sustainable Rural Development, which was never implemented. In this context of increased funding and coordination of funds, the experience of the Agenzia per la Coesione Territoriale Italiana [ 33 ] (ENRD, 2020) is of interest, as an example of designing a comprehensive rural development strategy, coordinating projects financed with European structural and investment funds. In another question, the Delphi panel was asked to assess actions and policies recently undertaken that, in several areas, could be an essential support for a more sustainable development of the territory, particularly addressing the needs of rural areas at risk of depopulation. One such example is the Cross-Cutting Objective proposed by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the current budgetary period, 2021–2027, regarding the support for the digitization of the agri-food sector and rural areas, aiming to bridge the digital divide in rural areas. In this statement, there was unanimous consensus among the respondents (Table 6), with 100% agreeing or strongly agreeing with the importance of digitization support included in the national plans of the CAP in its first pillar (Mean = 4.6). This result aligns with the essential role that the provision of digital and financial services, along with the development of training programs in digital skills for businesses and the population in rural areas in Spain, plays in revitalizing rural areas [12] (Allonza, et al., 2021). Table 6. Evaluation of strategies implemented at the national level in the fight against depopulation in Spanish rural areas (N = 35). Ratings from 1 to 5 Relative Frequency (%) Me Md (1 = Completely Disagree to 5 = Completely Agree) 12345 Strategies aimed at digitization should pay special attention to supporting rural areas and the agri-food sector, bridging gaps with urban areas and other sectors. 0.0 0.0 0.0 40.0 60.0 4.6 5 The Next-Generation Recovery Funds should prioritize financing investments in rural areas and municipalities affected by depopulation. 0.0 2.9 8.6 42.9 45.7 4.3 5 Environmental strategies aimed at combating climate change, decarbonization, renewable energies, etc., should give special attention to supporting rural areas. 0.0 0.0 17.1 51.4 31.4 4.1 4 The “Plan of Measures for the Demographic Challenge” is an excellent starting point for the formulation of coordinated policies against depopulation. 0.0 0.0 28.6 48.6 22.9 3.9 4 Source: results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. 14 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 The relevance given to the Next Generation EU funds (NGEU) is also very important, with a substantial majority of the panel (88.7%) agreeing that it is essential for NGEU priorities to include financing investments in areas affected by depopulation. Similarly, a significant portion of the panel of experts (82.8%) considered that substantial funds directed toward environmental measures aimed at combating climate change in rural areas in the coming years are a new opportunity for the revitalization and development of depopulated areas in Spain, according to [19] CES (2021). Finally, a significant majority of the experts considers that the “Plan of Measures for the Demographic Challenge” [ 17 ] (MITECO, 2021), described in the introduction of this study, is an excellent starting point for the formulation of coordinated policies against depopulation, with no expert expressing disagreement, corresponding to scores of 1 or 2. 3.3. Expectations Regarding the New CAP Post-2023 It is essential at this point to mention that, at the time of conducting this Delphi survey, the negotiation process for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Post-2020 was still ongoing, a sectoral policy of significant importance for the entire rural environment. The intricate negotiation process led to an extension of the deadline for submitting the Strategic Plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) of the member states, including Spain, to 31 December 2021 [ 34 ] (MAPA, 2021). This necessitated a postponement of the implementation of the new CAP to 1 January 2023. It is relevant to provide a brief description of aspects available at the time of this research and on which several statements were presented to the experts. As shown in Table 7, 60.0% of the experts indicated their agreement or strong agreement that the diagnosis presented by this national strategy regarding the needs of the agricultural sector is appropriate (Mean = 3.6; Median = 4). It is noteworthy that the percentage of responses giving equal consideration (42.9%) to the diagnosis of the needs of the rural environment is slightly lower (Mean = 3.5; Median = 3). Table 7. Assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy Post-2020 and its National Strategic Plan (N = 35). Ratings from 1 to 5 Relative Frequency (%) Me Md (1 = Completely Disagree to 5 = Completely Agree) 12345 1. The Spanish Strategic Plan for the Post-CAP accurately diagnoses the needs of the agricultural sector. 2.9 5.7 31.4 45.7 14.3 3.6 4 2. The Spanish Strategic Plan for the Post-CAP accurately diagnoses the needs of the rural environment. 2.9 2.9 51.4 31.4 11.4 3.5 3 3. In its design and implementation, as in other policies, the participation of key stakeholders is insufficient. 8.6 14.3 8.6 40.0 25.7 3.6 4 4. The growth of resources allocated to the environment and climate action, in line with the European Green Deal, is positive for society as a whole. 0.0 0.0 2.9 45.7 51.4 4.5 5 5. The increase in resources allocated to the environment and climate action, in line with the European Green Deal, is positive for the agricultural sector. 0.0 2.9 2.9 54.3 40.0 4.3 4 6. The funds for Rural Development managed by Local Action Groups should be greater. 0.0 8.6 25.7 28.6 37.1 3.9 4 7. The increase in bureaucracy and administrative burden associated with monitoring CAP aid is excessive. 2.9 5.7 17.1 31.4 42.9 4.1 4 8. The increase in bureaucracy for Local Action Groups hampers their ability to revitalize territories. 0.0 2.9 11.4 51.4 34.3 4.2 4 Source: results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. Regarding the ongoing participation process in the design and implementation of this national strategy, a high percentage of experts (60.0%) also indicated their agreement or 15 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 strong agreement that the involvement of key stakeholders was insufficient, as is the case in the design of other policies. Given that one of the main changes in the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is related to the reinforcement of measures against climate change and environmental protection, two final statements were proposed on this matter. In line with the “European Green Deal”, particularly the “Farm to Fork” strategy, the new CAP will allocate 40% of its funds to this purpose. The proportion of panel members expressing agreement or full agreement with the positive effects of this environmental orientation on society as a whole was maximum (97.1%), with a median response of five. Its positive consideration was slightly lower in the agricultural sector (84%). It is worth noting that in the previous CAP, eco-conditionality measures had already gained significant prominence, with ecoschemes and other environmental requirements becoming an unstoppable trend. Despite the undeniable fact that these measures will impose new demands on the agricultural sector, the responses obtained, considering comments from interviews, suggest that a significant part of the primary sector seems to have embraced the increasing connection that public support will have, beyond its goals of income maintenance or ensuring food security, to agriculture that provides environmental services to society as a whole. The last two statements referred to the significant role that Local Action Groups (LAGs) play in Rural Development, within the second pillar of the CAP. The level of consensus is high, with a median of four, regarding the need for LAGs, heirs to the Leader initiative, to have a greater volume of resources, and how the administrative burden associated with the management of CAP aid and bureaucratic obstacles hinders the operational capacity of these revitalizers of rural areas. In line with the aspects described regarding the CAP and its relevance in rural development, the European Economic and Social Committee emphasized in several opinions the importance of achieving better governance and participation in the design and implementation of policies impacting the development of rural areas. Historically fragmented, disjointed, and burdened with bureaucracy [ 35 ] (Unión Europea, 2022), there is a need to continue promoting greater alignment of the CAP with other cohesion policies (Cohesion Funds, the European Regional Development Fund, or the European Social Fund). These objectives are among those proposed to advance in the coming years within the EU Rural Action Plan, with the Commission planning to publish impact reports on policies and improvement needs throughout 2024. 3.4. Prioritization of Coordinated Measures to Support Depopulated Rural Areas Finally, Table 8 presents the assessment provided by the panel of 35 experts to 15 selected measures, many of which were advocated by [ 20 ] FEMP (2017) and grouped into seven major areas: institutional measures and financing; economy and employment; infrastructure; social services; housing; demographic incentives; and culture, identity, and communication. The questionnaire asked them to identify the three most important measures that should be implemented with greater urgency, and these were ordered based on the most frequently mentioned as top priorities (Table 8). The generated ranking identifies 6 actions out of the 15 concrete measures in which at least a quarter of the panel of experts considered them to be among the top three priorities. The first one stands out, with 62.7% of the Delphi panel considering it urgent, and is to establish (first) plans for basic public services in the health, education, or social protection sectors, equalizing the level of access and coverage between rural and urban populations. 16 Agriculture 2024,14, 295 Table 8. Ranking of specific measures to be urgently implemented in Spain (Top 15) in the fight against depopulation of rural areas (N = 35). Measures and Actions to Support Rural Areas Affected by Depopulation (1st = First or Most Important; 2nd = Second; 3rd = Third) Relative Frequency (%) 1st 2nd 3rd Total 1. Establish plans for the coverage of guaranteed basic public services in rural areas, including healthcare, education, and social services, comparable to those in urban areas. 20.0 31.4 11.4 62.9 2. Implement incentives and support for the location and creation of businesses and employment in rural areas. 17.1 14.3 5.7 37.1 3. Review the funding of local entities with criteria ensuring their subsistence and covering extra costs associated with providing basic services in small communities, reinforcing criteria for accessing lines and plans for smaller municipalities. 14.3 8.6 14.3 37.1 4. Establish special support plans for self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs in rural areas, promoting training and employment, with special attention to young people and women. 8.6 8.6 14.3 31.4 5. Explicitly include in the budgets of all Public Administrations (AAPP), a demographic strategy with annual objectives, means to achieve them, and an evaluation of achievements. 17.1 2.9 5.7 25.7 6. Provide tax credits and deductions for professional and business activities carried out in rural areas or in personal income tax for residents. 5.7 11.4 8.6 25.7 7. Provide support for childbirth, bonuses for families with children, or encourage the proximity of daycare services. 2.9 2.9 5.7 11.4 8. Promote urban regeneration, rehabilitation plans, and access to housing for the population of small municipalities, creating housing opportunities, etc. 0.0 8.6 2.9 11.4 9. Facilitate the decentralization of public care resources in the Autonomous Community (residences, youth centers, day centers, home assistance, etc.), supporting the creation of intermunicipal associations. 0.0 5.7 5.7 11.4 10. Improve communication infrastructure based on a distance map to basic services and enhance public transportation services for the population of rural municipalities. 0.0 0.0 11.4 11.4 11. Reinstate the 2007 Sustainable Rural Development Law, envisioned as a national framework with common and harmonized guidelines in the fight against depopulation in Spain, obliging the development of area plans as an intervention scale. 5.7 0.0 2.9 8.6 12. Promote and support intermunicipal associations for social and public services. 5.7 0.0 2.9 8.6 13. When implementing depopulation countermeasures at the national, regional, or autonomous community levels, clearly define the competence, whether unique or shared. 2.9 2.9 2.9 8.6 14. Improve digital infrastructure and implement ICT training plans in rural areas. 0.0 2.9 2.9 5.7 15. Develop communication strategies to promote the advantages of rural areas, fostering identity. 0.0 0.0 2.9 2.9 Source: results from the Second Round of the Delphi Panel. This reinforces the line of work proposed by various studies that verify and quantify how rural areas in Spain have poorer accessibility to services than their European counterparts ([36] Kompil, et al., 2019) , revealing significant deficits in the accessibility to basic services in rural municipalities compared to urban ones ([ 12 ] Allonza, et al., 2021; [ 37 ] Goerlich et al., 2021). As previous reports, such as the one conducted by the [ 7 ] BBVA Foundation (2019), suggest, making these areas economically and socially “attractive” is key to their repopulation. It should be added that, as this is not an exclusive challenge for Spain but is also identifiable in Eastern and Baltic EU countries, as well as other countries like Greece, Portugal, or regions in southern Italy, it presents an opportunity for the adoption of these measures as an essential part of community policies. In the field of employment and economic opportunities, two priority actions were mentioned: establishing incentives for location and business creation (second), as well as supporting the installation of self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs in rural areas (fourth), with special attention to young people and women, developing tax deductions and incentives for this purpose (sixth). Regarding institutional measures, the panel of experts 17 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 Communist Party of China (2022) emphasized that “ensuring people’s health should be placed in a strategic position of priority development”, “consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation, and enhancing the endogenous development momentum of poverty-stricken areas and people”. Income, housing, and financial assets are the last barriers that prevent families from falling back into poverty due to illness. (Health insurance, for example, is limited.) However, under the reality and expectation that income increase is difficult under the impact of the epidemic, the real estate market is depressed, and good investment attributes have been lost (supported by the central “housing does not speculation” positioning), can financial assets become the preferred wealth appreciation and maintenance channel to block the return to poverty due to illness? The effective integration of the financial market and the real economy is the basis for the orderly and sustainable development of a country’s economy, and the development potential is huge. However, the average financial assets of rural households in China accounted for only 20.4% of total household assets, which is far less than the nearly 70% of real estate (Urban Household Assets and Liabilities Survey Group of the Survey and Statistics Department of the People’s Bank of China, 2019). Thus, with the expected strong government support, moving into financial markets may be a promising and viable option. In March 2023, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council decided to establish the State Financial Supervision and Administration based on the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The burden of health expenditure is an important factor affecting the vulnerability of multidimensional poverty regression [ 6 , 7 ], which has attracted the attention of many scholars and influenced the concept of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) to measure it [ 8 – 12 ]. However, there are few studies on the role of financial development in poverty reduction due to illness or health. Gao P. (2009) studied financial poverty reduction earlier [ 13 ]. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, many relevant studies emerged and reached a peak in the past three years. Relevant studies have found that poor rural areas can achieve a poverty reduction effect by reducing the incidence of poverty by considering the level of financial development [ 14 – 17 ]. However, the poverty reduction effect of finance has a certain income threshold effect in different regions due to the differences in economic and income development levels [ 18 – 21 ]. When per capita income jumps out of the “poverty trap”, financial development has a clear accelerating effect on poverty alleviation [ 22 , 23 ]. Moreover, digital financial inclusion can contribute to the poverty reduction effect by increasing the availability of financial resources for poor farmers [ 24 – 28 ]. Finally, the level of financial literacy of family members, such as personal financial knowledge and social network relationships, plays a very important role in the poverty vulnerability of rural families [ 29 – 33 ]. All the above research has demonstrated the poverty reduction effect of financial development, but there is scant research related to health poverty. Only Liu H and Wang H et al. (2018) found that the promoting effect of rural financial development on the alleviation of medical poverty has gradually increased [34]. Meanwhile, the impact of health shocks on household financial investment has been confirmed by some scholars [ 35 – 37 ]. Surveys in eighty-nine countries covering 89 percent of the world’s population suggest that 150 million people globally suffer financial catastrophe annually because they pay for health services. However, there is a certain two-way effect between health expenditure and household financial asset allocation, and household financial asset allocation has a certain impact on health expenditure and then on poverty or return to poverty due to illness. However, there are few pieces of relevant literature, and health factors are mostly discussed as one of the dimensions of the multidimensional poverty vulnerability index. For example, Zhou D. and Wang M. (2019) [ 38 ] incorporated health factors into their vulnerability poverty alleviation theory and used the data of three rounds of micro-surveys in the China Household Tracking Survey (CFPS) from 2010 to 2014 and built a conditional Markov model to discuss the blocking effect of household asset endowment, including financial assets, on the return to poverty. 24 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 Moreover, from the perspective of China’s current economic situation, the main investment channels for households are the real estate market and the financial market. However, due to the changes in the economic situation and policy orientation, the value-added function of the real estate market is expected to weaken, while through the continuous improvement and development of the financial market and the continuous improvement of people’s financial literacy, the author believes that moving towards the financial market will also become an important choice for rural families in China who have just stepped into a well-off life to prevent them from returning to poverty in the future due to illness. Therefore, based on the data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS), this paper analyzes the relationship between rural households’ financial assets, health expenditure, and catastrophic health expenditure to provide evidence for the development of financial markets to help stop the return to poverty due to illness. Looking at the previous research literature, it seems that there is no relevant research literature that has carried out a clear in-depth analysis of this. This constitutes the marginal innovation of this paper. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Theoretical Analysis Grossman’s (1972) health demand model included human health as a special capital in the asset accumulation process, and health was regarded as a depreciable capital good, whose stock was dynamically changing; for example, occurrence of diseases and the growth of age would reduce the stock of health. Individuals need health care (for example, investing time and consuming medical products and services) to reap the consumption benefits that health provides (health as a commodity provides utility to the individual) as well as the productive benefits (healthy individuals have greater income). The asset accumulation formula can be expressed as Formula (1): . At=rAt+Y[ts(Ht)] −πH tIt−πZ tZt(1) A refers to the stock of financial assets, r is the interest rate (rate of return), Yrefers to labor income, ts is a function of “sick time”, Ht is the stock of individual healthy capital, Z is consumer goods, and I is healthy capital investment. πH and πZ are the marginal (or average) costs of investing in health and consumption. That is, individual or household asset accumulation is positively correlated with income and financial assets and negatively correlated with healthy capital investment and commodity consumption. When discussing household assets or poverty research, predecessors have rarely taken into consideration the stability of financial assets and their return rate as an important factor. This also provides research space for the possible innovation of this paper. 2.2. Research Hypothesis Firstly, investing in real estate is no longer a good way to preserve and increase the wealth of ordinary Chinese households. Household assets refer to the property, claims, and other rights owned by the family that can be measured in money and can be divided into financial assets, physical assets, intangible assets, etc. From the perspective of multidimensional poverty, household assets are the collection of money, population, and material and social resources, including financial assets, human assets, material assets, society and nature, etc. [ 39 ]. Household assets are mainly divided into financial assets and non-financial assets; financial assets include bank deposits, bonds, stocks, investment funds, retirement funds, life insurance, and so on. Non-financial assets include owner-occupied homes, non-owner-occupied homes, commercial assets, automobiles, consumer durables, gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and art, among others. Zhou and Wang (2019) [ 38 ] divided assets into five categories when discussing household asset endowment to prevent the return to poverty, namely production assets represented by machinery and equipment, self-use 25 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 assets represented by household durable consumer goods, security assets represented by medical insurance, human assets represented by education level, and financial assets represented by stocks or funds. It is worth noting that unlike Haveman and Wolff (2000) [ 40 ], they considered the limited number of real estate owned by poor families and the small possibility of selling them, so they regarded real estate as a component of self-use assets; that is, real estate in relatively low-income groups basically does not have investment attributes, which is also consistent with the empirical results of this paper. It is one of the focus points of this paper’s viewpoint analysis. Coupled with the blessing of the central government’s future positioning of “housing without speculation”, this paper believes that investment real estate will no longer be the best choice for rural families to block return to poverty in the future. Secondly, China’s health insurance market is inadequate, increasing the risk that rural families will fall back into poverty due to illness. To reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure and avoid the return to poverty due to illness, production assets and self-use assets do not constitute the necessary conditions to prevent catastrophic health expenditure. The security assets represented by medical insurance have certain protection functions, but the health insurance market in China is not perfect. Basic medical insurance is not enough to cope with high health costs; the commercial medical insurance market is still quite immature and not practical for rural low-income families; and long-term care insurance, which has been piloted in 49 cities across the country twice, namely in 2016 and 2020, is only in the exploratory stage. Thus, the role of asset protection in interrupting the return to poverty due to illness is not enough, at least at this stage. The human assets represented by the level of education are of great significance in consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation in China in the future, achieving and sustaining a well-off society and moving towards common prosperity. However, for the current rural low-income families who have just left poverty, the level of education is relatively low and cannot change in a short period of time, and the only hope is placed on the generational replacement of the family. For example, the younger generation of rural families is more educated and can utilize more financial knowledge and concepts, and the improvement of financial literacy will help them choose and invest in investment channels (such as various financial products) other than real estate, which is difficult to achieve with their native family or personal efforts, in order to thwart the possibility of returning to poverty. Finally, financial assets represented by stocks or funds have significant advantages in preventing rural families from returning to poverty due to illness for four reasons: First, the current investment channels for maintaining and increasing the value of household assets in our country are very limited, and the investment function of the most valuable real estate in the past is not an optimistic option for the future. Therefore, financial investment is a good choice when other good alternative channels cannot not found. Second, the financial market of our country is constantly improving and maturing, and the vigorous government support, combined with the development of the mature financial market in the United States and other countries, has given financial investment a good, stable value preservation and appreciation function in the long term. Third, there are various financial products, including structural collocation choices of long-term and short-term products, as well as high-risk and high-yield futures options and low-risk and low-yield funds, which largely avoid the risk bias caused by the lack of financial literacy of relatively low-income families. Moreover, with the generational change of relatively low-income families, the education level is rising higher and higher, and the improvement of financial literacy will gradually correct this risk bias. Fourth, benefiting from the continuous development of China’s medical insurance and long-term care insurance and other security asset markets, rural low-income families will be likely to attain some additional assets from the basic living expenses that may “drip into more” into the financial market. Compared with the huge amount of capital required for real estate investment, the diversity of financial products and the low threshold of the number of funds will constitute a strong temptation for rural low-income families to enter the financial market. Of course, the risks associated with this 26 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 temptation will also be reduced with the improvement of financial literacy caused by the increase of education level in the process of family generational change, the development of the digital economy, and the wide spread of the Internet. Therefore, in view of the above analysis, household income and assets such as real estate and financial assets constitute the last barrier to preventing rural Chinese households from falling back into poverty due to illness. However, the more than three-year continuous epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to rural household income; at the same time, due to the current real estate market downturn, houses have lost the reality and expectation of good investment value, while the financial market is constantly improving and developing. Therefore, this paper proposes the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1. Financial assets are an important factor affecting household health expenditures, including the likelihood of visiting a doctor (a proxy for how concerned people are about their health). Hypothesis 2. Financial assets significantly influence the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (representing the return to poverty due to illness) of rural households. Hypothesis 3. Financial assets have a greater impact on rural households’ catastrophic health expenditures than housing. Entering the financial market, compared to entering the real estate market, is more likely to become a viable option for rural families to block their return to poverty due to illness in the future. 2.3. Data Source The data for this study come from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS), which aimed to collect a set of high-quality micro-data representing households and individuals aged 45 and above in China. The CHARLS National Baseline Survey was conducted in 2011, covering 150 county units and 450 village units. The samples were then tracked every two to three years, with the most recent data available in 2018. For this study, the latest 2018CHARLS data were selected, and 6103 rural samples were obtained by screening the samples of middle-aged and elderly people over 45 years old and removing missing values. At the same time, in the last part, to compare rural households with urban households, we also included the urban sample (1009). The statistical software analysis process was completed by STATA 17.0 (64bit). 2.4. Variable Selection Anderson’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use (BMHSU), a mainstream theoretical model in Western countries for explaining individual medical behaviors, was used to select the variables in this paper. 2.4.1. Dependent Variable (1) Health expenditure (HE): Health expenditure (HE) refers to the costs incurred by an individual to treat a physical illness and maintain a current state of health, including outpatient and inpatient medical expenses. As rural families gradually improve their health awareness, the purchase of health products has gradually become a trend, resulting in preventive spending. Therefore, this paper also includes the consumption expenditure generated by the purchase of health care products; that is, the study considers the consumption expenditure of outpatient service, hospitalization, purchase of drugs, and purchase of health care products. Among them, the number of outpatient visits (the probability of seeing a doctor) also reflects the extent of rural families’ attention to their own health. To avoid heteroscedasticity or skewness, we added 1 to the horizontal value and then took the logarithm; (2) Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE): Excessive medical and health expenditure will undoubtedly affect the expenditure of individuals or families in other aspects, have a negative impact on their lives, and may also occur due to illness or poverty, 27 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 and CHE indicators can well reflect the family’s “illness or poverty” status. There are many definitions of CHE, but the one widely used by scholars is the one proposed by WHO in 2000: When an individual’s medical expenditure exceeds 40% of his or her affordability, it means that a current individual has incurred catastrophic medical expenditure [ 41 ], and affordability is usually measured by the difference between total consumer expenditure and food expenditure. When catastrophic health expenditure occurs, we can consider that a return to poverty due to illness (impoverishment) has occurred in rural households, so the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure can also be regarded as the incidence of return to poverty due to illness. 2.4.2. Independent Variable Household income, as well as assets such as real estate and financial assets, constitute the last barrier against rural households returning to poverty due to illness. Therefore, income and total assets were selected as the core independent variables, and herein, total assets are composed of real estate and financial assets: (1) income (inc): average household income, mainly including wage income, transfer income, agricultural income, and inheritance of each member of the family; (2) total assets (ass): sum of financial assets and real estate; (3) financial assets (fin_ass): including cash, electronic money, bank deposits, bond funds purchased, etc.; and (4) real estate (hs_ass): refers to the value of the house owned by the family (including the rural family in the countryside and the purchase of investment property in the town). Similarly, to avoid outliers or extreme observations, we added 1 to each of the above four core independent variables. The reason why these four variables are discussed separately is that income and total assets are different concepts concerning the flow and stock of household wealth, respectively, and their impact on and expectations for health expenditure are different. Financial assets and real estate were taken for comparative analysis. 2.4.3. Control Variable The control variables are mainly demographic characteristic variables, socio-economic characteristic variables, and some health characteristic variables: (1) demographic characteristics variables: gender, age, and marital status; (2) socio-economic characteristic variables: education level, possession or not of medical insurance, and possession or not of pension insurance, for example, possession or not of medical insurance is specifically reflected in the 2018 questionnaire of the China Health and Pension Tracking Survey: “Do you currently participate in the following medical insurance?”; (3) health characteristic variables: self-rated health status and suffering or not from chronic diseases. 2.5. Empirical Method Firstly, non-parametric kernel density regression was used to measure HE level and CHE incidence under different income and asset levels. Nonparametric estimation is a method in contrast to parametric estimation, which generally does not emphasize the specific distribution of the model and does not make any assumptions about it. The parameter estimation method assumes that the population follows some specific distribution with unknown parameters, focuses on estimating the parameters of the assumed model, and has strong dependence on the assumptions made by the model. When comparing the two, the non-parametric estimation method is more robust. Its core idea is that the average value of each estimate is first obtained to yield an estimate of the regression function. However, the observed values of real data are limited, and taking the average value as the estimator will easily lead to excessive variance. In order to avoid the problem of data scarcity, the “locally weighted average estimator” is considered [ 42 ]. Specifically, in this study, four core independent variables of inc, ass, fin_ass, and hs_ass were substituted, and Gaussian kernel was selected to perform kernel density regression for HE and CHE, respectively. 28 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 Secondly, the two-part model was used to estimate the parameters of the influencing factors of HE and CHE. Although the non-parametric estimation method has some advantages in practical application, it may face the “curse of dimension” because it has high requirements on sample size and is not suitable for the case of too many explanatory variables. To explore the statistical relationship between variables, this study employed another method, the two-part model, to estimate the parameters of the influencing factors of HE and CHE. In the sample size, nearly 40% of HE is 0, showing a skewed distribution, and a biased estimate may be generated if the conventional OLS estimation is applied. To avoid possible sample selection problems, the “two-part model” was chosen in this study. That is, individual behavior was divided into two stages (participatory decision making and quantitative decision making). Finally, in the discussion of catastrophic health expenditure, this paper adopts the empirical method of logit regression. 3. Results 3.1. Descriptive Statistics Specific variable descriptions and descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1. Table 1. Introduction of variables and descriptive statistics. Variable Name Variable Description Mean Value Standard Deviation Minimum Value Maximum Value Dependent variable Health expenditure (HE) Logarithm 2.960 2.640 0 10.60 Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) Yes = 1 0.283 0.450 1 1 No = 0 0.717 0.450 0 0 Independent variable Income Logarithm 6.546 3.832 0 14.92 Total assets Logarithm 9.821 2.668 0 24.12 Financial assets Logarithm 8.717 2.042 0 18.52 House property Logarithm 4.856 5.726 0 24.12 Control variable Age Continuous variable 61.67 9.509 45 108 Education Complete Secondary education and above = 1 0.291 0.454 1 1 Failure to complete compulsory education = 0 0.291 0.454 0 0 Gender Male = 1 0.450 0.498 1 1 Female = 0 0.550 0.498 0 0 Marital status Having a spouse = 1 0.861 0.346 1 1 Divorced, widowed, unmarried = 0; 0.139 0.346 0 0 Self-assessment of health status “Bad”, “very bad” = 1; 0.284 0.451 1 1 “Very good”, “good”, “average” = 0 0.716 0.451 0 0 Chronic diseases Chronic disease = 1 0.285 0.451 1 1 No chronic disease = 0 0.715 0.451 0 0 Medical insurance Have either one Health insurance = 1 0.811 0.391 1 1 None = 0 0.189 0.391 0 0 Endowment insurance Have either one Basic endowment insurance = 1 0.944 0.231 1 1 None = 0 0.056 0.231 0 0 First of all, as shown in Table 1, in this sample, the average logarithmic value of HE is 2.960, and the incidence of CHE is 28.3% (which can also be used to represent the incidence of rural families in the sample returning to poverty due to illness or being in poverty already). It can be seen that the incidence of CHE outstripped 13.0% (of 2008) by a large margin. Only 29.1% of middle-aged and elderly people completed compulsory education, indicating that the current sample is slightly less educated. The proportion of people with poor self-rated health and chronic diseases was similar in the total sample, accounting for about three-tenths of the sample population. In addition, 86.1% of the people in the sample 29 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 have a spouse, the average age is 62 years old, the sample is more female, and most of the people have health insurance and pension insurance. Secondly, combined with Table 1 and Figure 1, the distribution of income and assets of the sample population has the following characteristics: (1) From the peak value, both income and real estate have a peak value near 0, which suggests a significant proportion of rural residents are unemployed or production-self-sufficient. In addition, the income is a double peak, and the proportion of people with lower income is higher in the double peak, indicating that there is a certain income structure in the sample. The asset class variables all have single peaks, which generally conform to normal distribution. (2) From the perspective of span, the span of real estate is the largest (max = 24.12), which also leads to a large span of personal assets, which indicates that individual differences are large, and the realization of common prosperity in the future is not realistic. The span of income is the smallest, followed by financial assets, indicating that the distribution is more concentrated. Figure 1. Kernel density of income and assets. 3.2. Non-Parametric Kernel Density Regression Results First, the kernel density regression of income, assets, and HE has the following characteristics (as shown in Figure 2a): (1) Income: HE gradually declines with the increase in income and rises abruptly when it exceeds a certain threshold. Locally, HE appears at a double peak before the quarter of the income quantile and suddenly rises and falls. On the one hand, it shows that people’s concern about their health has a certain correlation with their income. The extremely low-income groups do not care enough about their health problems because their health problems are in a secondary position compared with economic poverty, which is especially obvious in the vast rural areas in the formerly deeply poor areas. On the other hand, it also shows that rural households just out of poverty are very sensitive to health expenditure; one reason is because they are more concerned about their health problems after poverty alleviation, and the other is that a small change in health expenditure may affect their other normal consumption expenditure, increasing the risk of falling back into poverty. (2) Assets: With the increase of financial assets, although there are certain fluctuations, the overall curve is relatively smooth only after a certain critical value is exceeded. It shows a positive correlation with HE in a small range, which indicates that only the development of financial assets can promote people’s demand for health quality. However, the linear relationship between real estate and HE is not clear, which is mainly manifested in the curve peaks at the lower and higher asset levels, respectively, showing different monotonicity in different asset ranges as well as a nonlinear relationship. This 30 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 shows that financial assets are more sensitive to health quality demand than real estate, and the future prospects are more promising. Secondly, the kernel density regression of income and assets and CHE has the following characteristics (as shown in Figure 2b): (1) Real estate and total assets: With the increase in the amount of assets, CHE will increase to a certain extent, but then, it shows a downward trend. However, as the amount of assets increases further, the CHE will increase and then decrease. CHE increases approaching the asset maximum. The influence of real estate and total assets on CHE does not show obvious characteristics. This may be because in the current Chinese household, real estate accounts for an absolute majority of the total assets, so the performance characteristics are the same. At the same time, they do not show a clear signature of catastrophic health expenditures, suggesting that rural households cannot effectively prevent return to poverty due to illness through housing investment. (2) Income and financial assets: In addition to the extreme value of financial assets at a lower level, CHE decreases significantly with the increase in income and financial assets as a whole. This suggests that the impact of financial assets on catastrophic health expenditures has a threshold effect that proves Huang and Shi’s view [ 22 , 23 ] from the perspective of returning to poverty due to illness. The explanation is that if financial assets are too small, they have little significance in preventing the return to poverty due to illness. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to increase the financial assets of rural households as soon as possible until the threshold is reached. 3.3. Financial Assets and Health Expenditures In Figure 2a, income, assets, and HE show a U-shaped relationship. To test whether this relationship is valid in statistical regression, the influence of the quadratic term was also considered when studying the influencing factors of health expenditure (HE). The regression results are shown in Tables 2 and 3. In the tables, (2–1)–(2–4) show univariate regression, (2–5)–(2–8) introduce quadratic regression, and the same is true below (Tables 3–6). Figure 2. Cont. 31 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 Figure 2. Kernel density regression of income, assets, and HE and CHE. ( a ) Kernel density regression of income, assets, and HE. (b) Kernel density regression of income, assets, and CHE. Table 2. Influencing factors for seeking or not seeking medical treatment. Margins (Average Marginal Effect) (2–1) (2–2) (2–3) (2–4) (2–5) (2–6) (2–7) (2–8) inc 0.001 0.007 (0.002) (0.006) ass 0.005 ** 0.015 * (0.003) (0.008) fin_ass 0.015 * 0.018 (0.009) (0.011) hs_ass 0.002 0.002 (0.001) (0.003) inc2 −0.001 (0.001) ass2 −0.000 (0.000) fin_ass2 −0.001 (0.001) hs_ass2 −0.000 (0.000) Age 0.001 * 0.001 * 0.001 * 0.001 0.001 0.001 * 0.001 * 0.001 (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) (0.001) Education 0.024 * 0.022 * 0.022 0.023 * 0.025 * 0.022 0.023 * 0.023 * (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.014) (0.013) Gender −0.062 *** −0.063 *** −0.063 *** −0.061 *** −0.062 *** −0.063 *** −0.063 *** −0.061 *** (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.011) Marital status 0.006 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.003 (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) (0.018) Health status 0.197 *** 0.199 *** 0.199 *** 0.197 *** 0.196 *** 0.199 *** 0.199 *** 0.197 *** (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) Suffering from chronic disease 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** 0.116 *** (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) Medical insurance 0.002 0.003 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.003 0.001 0.002 (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) (0.015) Endowment insurance −0.001 −0.002 −0.003 −0.001 −0.000 −0.003 −0.002 −0.001 (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) Standard errors in parentheses. * p< 0.1; ** p< 0.05; *** p< 0.01. 32 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 Table 3. Influencing factors of health expenditure. (3–1) (3–2) (3–3) (3–4) (3–5) (3–6) (3–7) (3–8) inc −0.017 *** −0.040 * (0.006) (0.023) ass −0.001 0.012 (0.008) (0.030) fin_ass −0.007 0.061 (0.013) (0.050) hs_ass 0.002 0.010 (0.004) (0.011) inc2 0.002 (0.002) ass2 −0.001 (0.001) fin_ass2 −0.004 (0.003) hs_ass2 −0.001 (0.001) Age 0.007 ** 0.005 ** 0.005 * 0.005 ** 0.008 *** 0.005 ** 0.005 * 0.005 ** (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) Education 0.037 0.031 0.034 0.029 0.032 0.030 0.040 0.029 (0.052) (0.052) (0.052) (0.052) (0.052) (0.052) (0.053) (0.052) Gender −0.242 *** −0.225 *** −0.229 *** −0.225 *** −0.231 *** −0.226 *** −0.239 *** −0.229 *** (0.063) (0.063) (0.063) (0.063) (0.064) (0.063) (0.063) (0.063) Marital status −0.179 *** −0.193 *** −0.191 *** −0.193 *** −0.182 *** −0.194 *** −0.189 *** −0.193 *** (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) (0.046) Health status 0.062 *** 0.071 *** 0.074 *** 0.068 *** 0.070 *** 0.068 *** 0.064 *** 0.065 *** (0.066) (0.066) (0.066) (0.066) (0.066) (0.066) (0.067) (0.066) Suffering from chronic disease 0.872 *** 0.882 *** 0.880 *** 0.883 *** 0.876 *** 0.884 *** 0.879 *** 0.883 *** (0.047) (0.047) (0.047) (0.046) (0.047) (0.047) (0.047) (0.046) Medical insurance 0.066 0.075 0.074 0.077 0.069 0.076 0.072 0.076 (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) (0.056) Endowment insurance 0.279 *** 0.271 *** 0.273 *** 0.270 *** 0.278 *** 0.271 *** 0.277 *** 0.270 *** (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) (0.095) Constant term 4.014 *** 3.976 *** 4.051 *** 3.960 *** 3.947 *** 3.905 *** 3.818 *** 3.967 *** (0.215) (0.242) (0.269) (0.215) (0.225) (0.293) (0.319) (0.215) Standard errors in parentheses. * p< 0.1; ** p< 0.05; *** p< 0.01. As shown in Table 2, among the core independent variables, only total assets and financial assets passed the significance test. The marginal effect of total assets is 0.005 ( p< 0.05 ), indicating that every unit increase in total assets increases the probability of seeking medical treatment by 0.5%. When the secondary term of total assets is introduced, although the effect is ignored, the probability of seeking medical treatment is significantly increased to 1.5% (p< 0.1). At the same time, for every unit increase in financial assets, the likelihood of an individual seeking medical treatment increased by 1.5%. This suggests not only that there is a relationship between financial assets and how concerned people are about their health but also, indirectly, that housing plays a small role. Among the control variables, the individual’s health status has a significant impact on the probability of seeking medical treatment, and the results passed the test at the significance level of 1%. Among them, compared with those with good health and those without chronic disease, the probability of seeking medical treatment increased by nearly 20% and 12%, respectively, with poor health and chronic disease. In addition, women with compulsory education and older age proved more likely to seek medical treatment. As shown in Table 3, in terms of influencing factors of health expenditure, among the core independent variables, asset variables did not pass the significance test, while the increase of income level significantly reduced HE by 1.7%, and the conclusion was 33 Agriculture 2024,14, 165 References 1. Chuma, J.; Maina, T. Catastrophic health care spending and impoverishment in Kenya. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2012 ,12, 413. [CrossRef] [PubMed] 2. Bredenkamp, C.; Mendola, M. Catastrophic and impoverishing effects of health expenditure: New evidence from the western Balkans. Health Policy Plan. 2011,26, 349. [CrossRef] [PubMed] 3. Yang, W. Catastrophic health expenditure. 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Association between livelihood capital and catastrophic health expenditure among patients with critical illness: A cross-sectional study in rural Shandong, China. BMJ Open 2021,11, e051234. [CrossRef] Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. 41 Citation: Zhang, R.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, K.; Xu, D.; Qi, Y.; Deng, X. Do Clean Toilets Help Improve Farmers’ Mental Health? Empirical Evidence from China’s Rural Toilet Revolution. Agriculture 2024,14, 128. https:// doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14010128 Academic Editors: Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez, Rafael Robina-Ramírez and Francisco JoséFerreira Silva Received: 6 December 2023 Revised: 11 January 2024 Accepted: 13 January 2024 Published: 15 January 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Article Do Clean Toilets Help Improve Farmers’ Mental Health? Empirical Evidence from China’s Rural Toilet Revolution Ruohan Zhang 1, Jialan Zhang 1, Kuan Zhang 1, Dingde Xu 2, Yanbin Qi 1and Xin Deng 1,* 1College of Economics, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China; [email protected] (R.Z.); [email protected] (J.Z.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (Y.Q.) 2College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The mental health crisis poses a major challenge to global sustainable development. In response, the United Nations has launched an ambitious plan to “reshape the environment that affects mental health”. Clean toilets are an important measure of civilization, yet it is unclear whether they are helping to alleviate the global mental health crisis. Therefore, using data from a large sample of rural Chinese households and introducing an instrumental variables approach based on the IV-Tobit model to address endogeneity, this study quantitatively discusses that clean latrines have a positive effect on the mental health of farm households. The results showed the following: (1) 89.8% of Chinese rural households had clean toilets, while the average farm household depression index was 12.568 ; and (2) clean toilets helped to improve the mental health of farmers, which means that the depression index of farmers with clean toilets decreased by 66.9% compared to farmers without clean toilets. The findings of this study can inform the development of policies to mitigate the global mental health crisis and contribute to the resilience of global development. Keywords: clean toilets; mental health; toilet revolution; IV-Tobit model; China rural 1. Introduction Mental disorders are a major public health problem affecting patients, society, and the entire nation [ 1 ]. The World Health Organization has announced that nearly 1 billion people worldwide suffered from mental disorders in 2019, which means that 1 in 8 people suffered from a mental disorder. For individuals, mental disorders have a significant negative impact on a patient’s labor force participation, with people with mental disorders losing an average of 10.52 additional years of work [ 2 ]. Mental illness can also lead to a greater likelihood of leaving school early, a lower likelihood of obtaining full-time employment, and a reduced quality of life. In addition, all people with mental disorders have an increased risk of premature death [ 3 ]. For the whole of society and the economy, mental disorders can cause an increase in total economic costs. A Canadian study suggests that the total economic costs associated with mental illness will increase six-fold over the next 30 years, and could exceed $2.8 trillion based on 2015 Australian dollars [ 4 ]. As a result, how to effectively curb the spread of the global mental illness crisis has become a research priority for the academic community. The lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in China is 16.6%, meaning that 230 million people will suffer from mental disorders in their lifetime. The insidious nature of mental illnesses has led to the frequent problem of Chinese patients suffering from mental illnesses and failing to recognize their illnesses or seek timely medical attention. This will lead to tragic consequences, such as a rural suicide rate of 7.04 per 100,000 in 2019, a suicide rate among China’s elderly that is 2.75 to 7.08 times higher than that of the general population, and a continued rise in psychological problems among left-behind children [ 5 ]. Rutter [ 6 ]; Clark et al. [ 7 ]; Evans [ 8 ] showed that the environment can effectively improve Agriculture 2024,14, 128. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14010128 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture 42 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 mental health. Therefore, this paper starts from the perspective of the toilet revolution in China’s habitat improvement, quantitatively investigates whether this environmental reform can improve the level of human mental health, and proposes Hypothesis H1: The toilet revolution has a positive effect on the mental health of farmers. Firstly, the definition of mental disorders. Current research findings have classified mental disorders into 11 conditions: panic disorder, social phobia, simple phobia, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse/dependence, alcoholism/dependence, personality disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and dementia in those older than 65 years of age [ 9 ]. This shows that depression is an important part of mental disorders. According to a WHO analysis, a quarter of the world’s population suffers from a mixture of the more common mental disorders, usually anxiety and depression [ 10 ]. Thus, the key to effectively addressing mental disorders, an important issue in global sustainable development, is how to effectively address depression, which in turn comes to significantly alleviate the global problem of mental illness. Studies by Slyepchenko et al. [11] and Yang et al. [ 12 ] have shown that the disruption of the gut microbiome is associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and that disruption of the gut microbiome will lead to MDD through some mechanism. Phillips et al. [ 13 ] believe that the living environment has a positive impact on mental health, and Li and Zhou [ 14 ] believe that living environment interventions, such as environmental improvements to indoor home facilities, are an effective way to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms in middleaged and older Chinese people. This study hypothesizes that improving physical health and living environments can be effective in improving depression and alleviating mental disorders, ultimately contributing to sustainable global development at both individual and socio-economic levels. The state of physical health and living conditions in rural areas are not encouraging. It is estimated that as of 2017, 880 million people were living in slum-like conditions, with approximately 50% living in rural areas where conditions still needed to continue to improve [ 15 ]. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report suggests that global basic sanitation coverage was only 67% as of 2015, well below the 75% coverage needed to achieve the MDGs. Poor sanitation around the world has led to increased disease prevalence and environmental pollution (MFA and UN, 2015, UNICEF and WHO, 2015); 1.5 million children die from diarrhea each year [ 16 ]. This shows that the toilet revolution, which is an important measure to improve health and living conditions, cannot be delayed. The toilet revolution refers to the renovation of toilets in developing countries, and discussions about a revolution in public toilets were raised in public media in China as early as the early 1990s. The Five-Year Action Proposal for the Improvement and Upgrading of the Rural Habitat Environment (2021–2025) proposes that during the implementation of the proposal, the rural toilet revolution should be promoted solidly, including important initiatives such as gradually popularizing rural sanitary toilets, effectively improving the quality of toilet conversion, and strengthening the harmless treatment and resourceful use of toilet waste. The implementation of these elements will effectively improve the living environment and deter the spread of the virus. As known from the previous content, both physical health status and the level of the living environment act as important factors affecting mental health. However, few studies have demonstrated the impact of the toilet revolution on psychological health based on the above factors. Therefore, this study will use this to investigate the impact of the toilet revolution on the psychological health of farmers and to quantify the extent of the impact. Mental disorders are spreading globally, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study is based on China, the world’s largest developing country. While previous studies have focused on the palliation of psychiatric disorders by pharmacological treatments, this study focuses on the palliation of psychiatric disorders by non-pharmacological treatments, which is one of the contributions to the scientific value of this paper. Most existing studies have used a single indicator to measure the depression of farmers, such as Corrigan et al. [17] , Hayes and Poland [ 18 ], and Makwana [ 19 ]. It is difficult for a single 43 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 indicator to reflect the overall mental state of farmers. In this study, the Likert scale method and entropy weighting method were used to measure the depression index of farmers. Existing studies have generally used simple empirical methods, such as the DID model [ 20 ], Multiple linear regression [ 21 ], or the O-probit model [ 22 ]. In this way, the endogeneity of farmers’ behavioral decisions is ignored, and the results of the study may be biased. Thus, this study uses the IV-Tobit model to introduce instrumental variables to overcome potential endogeneity problems. 2. Theoretical Analysis and Research Hypothesis Rose et al. [ 23 ] indicate that approximately 179 million farming households will still be using traditional dry latrines by 2022. However, this practice poses a significant health risk as human feces contain high levels of organic pollutants, viruses, pathogenic bacteria, and parasite eggs. For instance, diseases such as COVID-19 can be spread through the fecal-oral route as shown by Caruso and Freeman [ 24 ]. The absence of proper sanitation facilities can create an environment that promotes the spread of bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, the improper handling of manure can lead to the pollution of air, soil, water, and food, resulting in adverse effects on the living environment [ 25 ]. Research has shown that the living environment has a significant impact on mental health. Phillips et al. [ 13 ] found that a positive living environment could improve mental health. Li and Zhou [ 14 ] suggested that improving indoor home facilities could reduce the risk of depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China. Studies have also shown that older people benefit from a favorable environment [ 26 – 30 ]. Norling et al. [ 31 ] and Ishida et al. [ 32 ] found that some toilet environments are perceived as unsafe, dirty, smelly, and unpleasant. However, attitudes towards these environments can be changed by modifying them, such as changing the dark and damp environment, increasing privacy, and reducing exposed feces. Yang and Yuan [ 33 ] suggested that the environment has a significant impact on people’s moods, behaviors, and habits, and therefore improving sanitation facilities can improve people’s living conditions and overall well-being. Ali et al. [ 34 ] and Paddy et al. [ 35 ] believe that the virus is transmitted through aerosols produced when flushing water and that the virus comes into contact with the human gut through the respiratory tract, resulting in the onset of diarrhea and malaria. Wang and Liu [ 36 ] indicated that COVID-19 transmission is associated with feces, meaning that exposed feces have the potential to transmit the virus. Some scholars believe that the lack of a toilet revolution or the poor condition of the toilets has led to a sharp increase in schistosomes and parasites through the contamination of water by exposed feces. This in turn has affected the rate of schistosomal infections, increased the rate of vector-borne organisms, and increased the number of E. coli, thus affecting health [ 37 , 38 ]. Zhou et al. [ 39 ] found that urine and excrement tend to cling to dry concrete toilets, releasing unpleasant odors and bacteria, and spreading disease, posing a threat to human health and environmental safety. Akaishi et al. [ 40 ] indicated that the restoration of toilet hygiene was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of gastrointestinal infectious diseases. The rural toilet reform significantly reduced farmers’ expenditure on health care and had a significant positive impact on the health level of rural residents. Thus, a well-implemented toilet revolution can be a good way to improve people’s physical health. Kiseleva and Strielkowski [ 41 ] found that the most important factor affecting well-being is health, and based on this it can be inferred that improved physical health can help reduce depression. In summary, the toilet revolution will have a positive impact on farmers’ mental health through two mechanisms: changing the living environment and improving farmers’ physical health. This means that a good implementation site for the toilet revolution has a significant positive impact on farmers’ mental health, as shown in Figure 1. Therefore, this paper proposes Hypothesis H1: The toilet revolution has a positive effect on the mental health of farmers. 44 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 Figure 1. Mechanism diagram. 3. Data, Variables, and Method 3.1. Data The data used in this article are mainly from the China Land Economic Survey, 2020 and 2021 (http://jscv.njau.edu.cn, accessed on 1 January 2022). This database survey uses the PPS sampling method to sample 52 administrative villages and 2600 farming households in 13 prefecture-level cities in the Jiangsu province, based on the establishment and survey of fixed rural observation points, covering aspects such as ecological environment, green development, poverty alleviation, rural governance, rural construction, etc. The questionnaire includes questions about the toilet revolution, such as the type of toilet and whether it can be flushed, and questions about mental health, such as whether they have felt depressed and happy recently. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the toilet revolution on the mental health of farming households. Reference literature of Cheng et al. [ 15 ] and Wang and Shen [20] , among the variables selected, were those related to the toilet revolution and mental health, and the remaining sample of 5039 farmers was processed by deleting missing values, and so on. 3.2. Variables 3.2.1. Explained Variables This study uses the mental health status of farmers as the explanatory variable and aims to discuss the impact of the toilet revolution on the mental health status of farmers. The questionnaire asks respondents if they have felt anything in the past week including a low mood, struggling to do anything, not sleeping well, feeling happy, feeling lonely, living happily, feeling sad and upset, and feeling unable to go on with their lives, and the respondents complete a five-point scale depending on the level of impact. By normalizing the eight indicators through the entropy weighting method, the score is calculated by calculating the entropy value and entropy weighting, that is the depression index (0–100); the higher the index the higher the degree of depression. The process of calculating the depression index is shown in Appendix A. 3.2.2. Explained Variables The “Availability of flushable toilet conveniences” was used as the core explanatory variable in this study. The question “type of toilet” in the China Land Economic Survey was selected, and toilets with flushing devices were assigned a value of 1, which means 1 = clean toilet, while the rest were assigned a value of 0, which means 0 = non-clean toilet. As the ‘toilet revolution’ continues, local governments are optimizing their standards and requirements, from standard to comfortable, and from tidy to beautiful. The sanitary code for public toilets issued by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration and the National Standardization Administration of China (https://openstd.samr.gov.cn, 45 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 accessed on 1 January 2022) clearly states that harmless sanitary toilets are the following: the septic tank type with three or more compartments with front-end treatment facilities, the digester type, the double and triple urn type, the urine and feces separation type, and the flush type with complete water and sewerage. Based on the above requirements, the existing toilet situation can be categorized into toilets with flushing devices and toilets without flushing devices, while the models in the normative standards all belong to toilets with flushing devices. This study focuses on sanitary toilets and therefore uses the availability of flushable toilet conveniences as a criterion for the development of a toilet revolution. 3.2.3. Control Variables To improve the estimation power of the model, in selecting the control variables, this study refers to Al-Butmeh and Al-Khataib [ 42 ], Feng et al. [ 43 ], Zeng and Jian [ 44 ], Chang et al. [ 45 ] and Shields-Zeeman and Smit [ 46 ], While these scholars selected age, education level, and economic income as control variables in their studies, this study added some factors affecting the mental health of farmers as control variables. These control variables include personal characteristics of the farm household (for example, age of the farm household, education level of the farm household, whether the farm household is engaged in agricultural production, self-rated health of the farm household), social and economic characteristics of the household (for example, the structure of household education level, household economic income, whether the household is located in a plain area) and environmental characteristics. 3.2.4. Descriptive Statistics Table 1 presents the definitions of the variables and descriptive statistics for this study. The multiple variables used in the study were binary discrete variables. For example, the toilet revolution situation where it is a clean toilet took the value of 1 and the non-clean toilet took the value of 0. As can be seen from Table 1, the average depression index of respondents in the sample was 12.568, which was relatively good for depression, and 89.8% of households had completed the toilet revolution, indicating that the toilet revolution process was advancing significantly. The average age of respondents was approximately 62 years, indicating that the majority of those living in rural areas are older, middle-aged, and elderly and that middle-aged and elderly groups were more likely to suffer from mental disorders, making it significant to focus on those living in rural areas. Only 14.6% of respondents had a high school or higher degree of literacy, with a generally low level of education in rural areas. A total of 84.2% of the sample used smartphones, but only 45% used the internet. In total, 85.5% of the households in the sample were situated in the plains with relatively flat terrain, and 34.5% of them considered their villages to be polluted, thus showing the need for habitat improvement. 3.3. Method 3.3.1. Baseline Model This study aims to discuss the quantitative impact of the toilet revolution on the psychological health of farmers. The dependent variable is the depression index of farmers, which is a two-sided restricted truncated model with 0–100, and the independent variable is the status of the toilet revolution, which is a binary variable: 1 = clean toilets, which means a toilet revolution is taking place; and 0 = non-clean toilets, which means no toilet revolution is taking place. Thus, this study uses the Tobit regression model as the baseline model for the study to analyze the quantitative relationship between the toilet revolution and farmers’ mental health, with the following estimated equation: y∗=β0+β1Cleantoileti+β2Xi+μi(1) y=max(0, y∗)(2) 46 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 When y∗ >0,y= y∗ ; others, y = 0. The explanatory variable y is mental health status (depression index), y∗ is the observed value of mental health status, and the explanatory variable is the status of the toilet revolution, The random error term μi follows a normal distribution. The regression coefficient β0 is a constant term, β1 measures the impact of the toilet revolution on the mental health of farmers, and β2 measures the effect of control variables on the mental health of farmers. Table 1. Variable definitions and descriptive statistics results. Variable Name Meaning of Variables Mean Depression Index Depression Index, (The higher the value from 0 to 100, the deeper the depression) 12.568 Clean toilet The toilet revolution (1 = clean toilet; 0 = non-clean toilet) 0.898 Age Age of interviewees (year) 61.572 Gender Gender of interviewees 0.712 Education Whether have a high school diploma or above (1 = yes; 0 = no) 0.146 Health Household respondents’ self-rated health (1 = healthy; 0 = no) 0.873 Job Whether the household respondent is engaged in agricultural production (1 = yes;0=no) 0.701 Environmental perception Whether the household respondent believes the village is polluted (1 = yes;0=no) 0.345 Household income Interviewees’ annual household income 11.313 Household burden Annual Household Burden of Interviewees 39.904 Household education Proportion of high school and above civilian employees in the household to total household size (%) 21.817 Cadre Is a leader (1 = yes; 0 = no) 0.153 Farm asset Assets on the farm 0.188 Smartphone 1 = use of smartphone; 0 = other 0.842 Internet use 1 = use of the Internet; 0 = other 0.450 Plain 1 = if the household is located on the plain; 0 = other 0.855 Distance Distance from town 6.184 Variable name Meaning of variables Mean The Tobit model, as a truncated-tailed regression model, is applicable to the data characteristics of this study. However, the reason for not choosing the OLS model and DID model is that these models do not fit well enough with the data in this study. For example, the OLS model is suitable for a stable linear relationship between the independent and dependent variables and the dependent variable is a continuous variable. However, the independent variable (explanatory variable) in this study is a binary variable. 3.3.2. Description of Model Endogeneity This study notes that the status of the toilet revolution and the mental health of farmers may be causal, which can lead to endogeneity problems in the above model setting. Specifically, the toilet revolution may affect the mental health status of farmers, which is the area that this study focuses on. However, the state of the toilet revolution may also be influenced by the mental health of the farmers. For example, a farmer with a mental disorder may need more care and attention from family, friends, and others. The cleaner the toilet, the closer people will be to the household and thus to the farmer with a mental disorder who needs care and attention. Further, to a certain extent, the farmer with a mental disorder can influence the behavior of others and thus contribute to the progress of the toilet revolution. Of course, another possibility exists: because OCD is one of the obvious symptoms of depression, depression and anxiety are the real causes of OCD [ 47 ]. Therefore, patients suffering from depression tend to be more compulsive and will have stricter requirements for their living environment, such as rubbish must be in the trash, and so on. Similarly, they will have a stronger desire to renovate unclean toilets as a way of promoting a toilet revolution. 47 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 In conclusion, either of the above scenarios implies that the toilet revolution is a self-selected behavior of the farmers rather than a random occurrence. This would lead to the inability of this study to properly infer the impact of the toilet revolution on the mental health of the farmers. 3.3.3. Selection of Tool Variables To solve the endogeneity problem, this study proposes to introduce instrumental variables to the IV-Tobit model. The criteria require that the instrumental variables are correlated with the endogenous variables and uncorrelated with the explanatory variables. Existing studies chose the amount of investment in rural toilet conversion as an instrumental variable to explain the endogeneity problem, but no relevant data were available in the China Land Economic Survey and could not be used in this study. This study, therefore, uses another more commonly used instrumental variable, the proportion of behavioral occurrences of other people within the same village, by calculating the proportion of behavioral occurrences of other people within the same area. The behavior of others in the same village may influence the person’s choice. For example, if people in the same village have renovated the exterior of their houses to make the whole village look neat and tidy, the person may also involuntarily choose to renovate the exterior of their house, either because they are influenced by the herd mentality or because they do not want their house to be out of harmony with the overall environment. Similarly, when the number of farmers who choose to build clean toilets increases throughout the village, it will lead to the rest of the people choosing to build clean toilets as well, that is, it will lead to a toilet revolution for others. The proportion of toilet construction occurring in the same area is not related to mental health and is an exogenous variable for mental health. Thus, the proportion of other people’s behavior occurring in the same village was chosen as the instrumental variable for this study, which allows for good control of endogeneity issues. 4. Results 4.1. Tobit Empirical Results Table 2 presents the estimated results of the impact of the toilet revolution on the level of depression of farmers. Since the level of depression among farmers is a multivariate discrete variable, models (1) to (6) in Table 2 are estimated using the IV-Tobit model. Further, considering that the IV-Tobit model is a non-linear model, model (7) is an estimate of the marginal effect based on model (6) for ease of interpretation of the estimation results. In addition, to maximize the accuracy of the estimation results, a stepwise variable addition strategy was used in this study. That is, based on model (1), model (2) to (6) progressively control for farm household characteristics, household characteristics, and village characteristics. As can be seen from Table 2, all models were significant at the 1% level of significance, which showed that this model was significant. According to the estimation results in Table 2, the clean toilet variables in models (1) to (6) were all significant at the 1% level, indicating that the toilet revolution does reduce the level of psychological depression of farmers, which means that clean toilets help reduce the depression index of farmers. According to the estimation results of model (7), the depression index of farm households with clean toilets will decrease by 66.9% relative to households without clean toilets. Current research scholars are more likely to conclude that rural latrine conversion has a significant positive impact on the health of rural residents. Cao [ 38 ], Liu and Liu [ 48 ], Chai and Liu [ 49 ], and Dong et al. [ 50 ] found that, by controlling the sources of infection and reducing the density of vector organisms, the rate of schistosomiasis infection and vector organism transmission will significantly reduce, which will, in turn, improve the health level. Consequently, the health level will lead to the improvement of the residents’ mental outlook, which will, in turn, lead to the improvement of the appearance and mental health condition of the Chinese countryside, consistent with the theory of this study. However, this study considers that not only is the transmission of the virus blocked, but 48 Agriculture 2024,14, 128 the population will be healthier, lighter, and happier without illness. The improvement of the human environment can also improve the psychological well-being of farmers; when the environment is better, the mood is naturally better. Based on this, this study hypothesizes that the reason for the difference in findings is mainly due to the following two aspects. Firstly, there are geographical limitations in the findings. This study focuses on rural areas, where the overall living environment is worse compared to urban areas, and the degree of influence of the human environment on the mental health of farming households is greater than that of urban areas. Hence, the difference in the mechanisms of influence of the toilet revolution on the mental health of farmers. Secondly, the focus of the study is different. Previous scholars have focused more on people’s physical health, while mental health, or only “good mental outlook” is reflected in the article as a co-benefit. Whereas, this study focuses on the mental health of farmers, with more emphasis on the psychological aspect. That is, farmers with clean toilets will experience a 66.9% decrease in the depression index relative to households without clean toilets. Table 2. Tobit empirical results. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Clean toilet −28.961 *** −26.839 *** −45.508 *** −40.278 *** −38.610 *** −38.147 *** −0.669 *** (−9.091) (−8.675) (−6.146) (−5.592) (−5.180) (−5.079) (−5.064) Age −0.083 *** −0.064 ** −0.063 ** −0.001 ** (−2.933) (−1.996) (−1.972) (−1.974) Gender −3.989 *** −3.651 *** −3.636 *** −0.064 *** (−6.006) (−5.536) (−5.520) (−5.550) Education −1.318 * −0.141 −0.144 −0.003 (−1.669) (−0.152) (−0.156) (−0.156) Health −11.058 *** −10.293 *** −10.316 *** −0.181 *** (−9.928) (−9.648) (−9.694) (−9.888) Job −0.702 −0.873 −0.873 −0.015 (−1.134) (−1.400) (−1.403) (−1.403) Environmental perception 2.810 *** 2.708 *** 2.679 *** 0.047 *** (4.812) (4.738) (4.703) (4.722) Household income −1.398 *** −1.402 *** −0.025 *** (−5.010) (−5.039) (−5.073) Household burden −0.041 *** −0.041 *** −0.001 *** (−3.572) (−3.588) (−3.595) Household education −0.008 −0.008 −0.000 (−0.532) (−0.541) (−0.541) Cadre −2.494 *** −2.490 *** −0.044 *** (−3.513) (−3.524) (−3.535) Farm asset 0.402 0.488 0.009 (0.497) (0.601) (0.601) Smartphone 0.946 0.922 0.016 (0.825) (0.807) (0.807) Internet use −0.598 −0.614 −0.011 (−0.857) (−0.881) (−0.881) Plain 1.104 0.019 (0.942) (0.942) Distance −0.040 −0.001 (−0.741) (−0.741) Constant 36.065 *** 30.563 *** 42.490 *** 55.641 *** 69.409 *** 68.123 *** (12.358) (10.691) (7.138) (8.827) (11.923) (11.219) Year dummies No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes City Dummies No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ll −18,386.84 −18,290.34 −18,191.56 −17,927.71 −17,828.94 −17,827.45 −17,827.45 χ254.773 *** 48.195 *** 29.960 *** 25.470 *** 22.631 *** 21.727 *** 21.727 *** Obs. 5039 5039 5039 5039 5039 5039 5039 Note: tstatistics in parentheses. * p< 0.1, ** p< 0.05, *** p< 0.01. 49 Citation: Castellano-Álvarez, F.J.; Robina-Ramírez, R. Long-Term Survival of Investments Implemented under Endogenous Rural Development Programs: The Case Study of La Vera Region (Extremadura, Spain). Agriculture 2023,13, 2130. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/agriculture13112130 Academic Editor: Janusz Gołaszewski Received: 25 September 2023 Revised: 8 November 2023 Accepted: 8 November 2023 Published: 11 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Article Long-Term Survival of Investments Implemented under Endogenous Rural Development Programs: The Case Study of La Vera Region (Extremadura, Spain) Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez 1,* and Rafael Robina-Ramírez 2 1Economy Department, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain 2Business Management and Sociology Department, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: One of the main objectives of rural development programs is the economic diversification of rural areas. In the context of the European Union, the application of the Leader Initiative (referred to today as the Leader Approach) is perhaps the best example of this type of policy. Based on the case study methodology, the objective of this work is to analyze the viability of the projects promoted by this type of program. A long-term scenario is taken as a reference, and this is precisely one of the main methodological innovations of this research in relation to most of the analyses focused on the impacts of rural development programs. The results of the research show (a) an orientation of the development strategy towards the promotion of rural tourism and (b) differences in the survival of the projects according to the type of productive measure under which they have been implemented: agricultural valorization and marketing projects offer better results than those promoting rural tourism or the promotion of SMEs and crafts and services. These results call into question the notable concentration of investment in projects aimed at creating tourist accommodation. Keywords: Leader approach; private promoters; semi-structured interviews; rural tourism; SMEs; crafts and services; agricultural valorization; operational; failed and transferred projects 1. Introduction In the European Union (EU), the goal of the economic diversification in rural areas took on new meaning when, in the early 1990s, the European Commission (EC) approved the first call for proposals under the Leader Initiative [ 1 ]. Since then, the European commitment to rural economic diversification has been a constant in the implementation of EU policies. The origins of this European interest in rural areas lie in the significant internal and external imbalances in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) [ 2 – 9 ]. This made CAP reform a real priority. Throughout the 1980s, the EC made this need clear in various documents [ 10 – 12 ] and reported about some of the most negative consequences (loss of agricultural jobs, falling farm incomes). To counter these effects, the EC considered it necessary to reduce the dependence of rural areas on primary activity and promote alternative activities to provide new income sources supplementing rural and agricultural incomes. From the outset, implementing the Leader Initiative led to unprecedented mobilization of the European rural environment [ 13 ]. In fact, some countries (like Spain) had to draw funds from the Community Support Framework (CSF) to implement complementary rural development programs applied in territories unable to access management of Leader II [ 14 ] or Leader + [15] initiatives. In Spain, these programs were called Proder I [16] and Proder II [ 17 ]; they had minor differences in their management systems but similar characteristics to the development model proposed by the Leader Initiative. Also from the very beginning, applying the Leader Initiative and other programs mentioned above aroused great interest in the scientific and academic community, both among Agriculture 2023,13, 2130. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13112130 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture 56 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 those trying to characterize the Leader Approach from a theoretical standpoint [18–26] and those interested in quantifying its impacts from different perspectives [27–34]. In its aim to achieve rural economic diversification, tourism is one of the activities in which implementing rural development programs generated the highest expectations. Bryden [ 35 ], Lane [ 36 ], Butler et al. [ 37 ], Sharpley and Roberts [ 38 ], Patmore [ 39 ] and Perdue et al. [ 40 ] are some of the pioneers of studying this subject. Their research is essential for those interested in the potential of this sector in rural areas. However, beyond these conceptual works, most researchers are interested in quantifying the impacts of rural development programs on the tourism sector. It is common for these works to refer to a specific geographic area, whether a region, province, natural area, etc. For example, García[ 41 ] examines the Leader Initiative’s impact on the tourism in the northwestern regions of Murcia; Toledano and Gessa [ 42 ] study the tourism projects created under Leader II and Proder I in Huelva province; Candela et al. [ 43 ] and Hernández et al. [ 44 ] look at the strengthening of the tourism sector in mountain areas of Valencia through the Leader Initiative; and García and De la Calle [ 45 ] analyze the importance of rural development programs in transforming tourism in the Tiétar Valley (Ávila). Along the same lines are the works of Pérez and López [46], Mondéjar et al. [47], Márquez et al. [48] and Nieto and Cárdenas [ 49 ], which refer, respectively, to the Galicia, Castilla La Mancha, Andalusia and Extremadura regions. In order to achieve the desired economic diversification, rural development programs consider it essential to reactivate the resources available in the territory. To this end, they place great importance on involving the population in defining development strategies. Although authors such as Guiberteau [ 50 ], Alberdi [ 51 ], Navarro et al. [ 52 , 53 ] and Esparcia et al. [ 54 ] are skeptical about real participation of the population in development processes, it is true that from a sociological perspective, many are interested in the ability of these programs to boost the social capital of rural areas. As with analyzing the contribution of rural development programs to the tourism sector, research on this issue also tends to focus on quantifying impacts and on a specific geographical area. Examples include the work of Buciega [ 55 ] analyzing social capital within rural development program implementation in Valencia province; Saz-Gil and Gómez-Quintero [ 56 ] studying the same subject in Teruel province; and Garrido and Moyano [ 57 ] taking Leader II and Proder I implementation in Andalusia as a reference. Therefore, reviewing the literature on some of the challenges faced by rural development programs leads to the conclusion that much of the research is characterized by: (a) a quantitative vision focused on measuring impacts; and (b) taking official evaluations produced by local action groups (LAGs) as the main analytical source. Without diminishing the value of these contributions, their characteristics limit the scope, as they offer a “static” vision of what they aim to study. Using LAGs’ final evaluations as the main information source introduces bias, as these documents refer to when program implementation concludes, thus offering a “fixed picture” of results. This research aims to go further, offering a dynamic and long-term vision of the footprint left on the territory by rural development program implementation [ 58 ], focusing, in this case, on the economic viability of investments made under programs implemented in La Vera. To achieve this goal, the following research questions are posed: 1. What is the importance of each of the productive measures? Is investment spread across different activities, fostering desired economic diversification? 2. What are the numbers of operational, failed and carried-over projects in different productive measures, and how much investment has been committed to each? 3. For operational projects, how do promoters assess viability, and are there differences depending on the productive measure? The long-term perspective is not trivial; analyzing real impact requires going beyond the subsidy eligibility period (five years, after which non-operational projects must return aid). This interest in analyzing the long-term rural development program impact is shared by Navarro et al. [ 59 ], evidenced by their study on the continuity of enterprises created 57 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 under Leader I and II in Granada; and Cañete et al. [ 60 ] and Cejudo et al. [ 61 ] in their analyses of program implementation and failed projects in Andalusia. With its approach, this research shares Navarro et al.’s [ 62 ] (p. 349) criticism that official evaluations “do not sufficiently consider the impacts these programs generate in the territory”. It also follows previous studies by Castellano-Álvarez et al. [ 63 ] comparing tourism development in La Vera and Tajo-Salor; and Castellano -Álvarez et al. [ 64 ], also based on the La Vera case study, analyzing the application of Proder I (1996–1999) and Proder II (2000–2006). This new contribution aims to update those results and extend the research time horizon to a new programming period in which the Leader Approach ( 2007–2013 ) was implemented [ 65 ]. These works add to extensive research where the authors studied La Vera’s development strategy from different perspectives [66–70]. As shown by Álvarez-García et al. [ 71 ] in their bibliometric study on cultural heritage and tourism as bases for regional development, there is extensive international literature that analyzes rural development and economic diversification without the aforementioned biases. Many of these contributions are case studies that this research takes as references. For example, Quaranta et al. [ 72 ] use a case study of a southern Italy region to analyze tourism’s potential in activating rural social capital; Iakovidou et al. [ 73 ] and Apostolopoulos et al. [ 74 ] study rural tourism conditioning factors in Greece; Marques [ 75 ] and Gatti et al. [ 76 ] analyze wine tourism’s capacity as an element of rural development through case studies of regions in northern Portugal and Emilia-Romagna (Italy), respectively; perception of the rural populations regarding tourism development impacts is addressed by Milano et al. [ 77 ], Muresan et al. [ 78 , 79 ], Andereck et al. [ 80 ], Kayat et al. [ 81 ], and Brankov et al. [ 82 ]; Robina et al. [ 83 ] study the intangibles driving rural tourism; and Ciolac et al. [84] examine agritourism’s potential as a rural development tool. 2. Research Methodology From a methodological perspective, many authors have explored the usefulness of case studies as a research tool [ 85 – 87 ]. Yin [ 88 ] advocates applying this methodology when there is interaction between the element being studied and its environment. This occurs in this research: it is impossible to separate the longevity of the projects implemented under rural development programs from the resources and characteristics of the La Vera region; there is interaction between the two factors. Additionally, Coller [ 87 ] states that one of the requirements for applying the case study methodology is that the area under study should have well-defined boundaries. La Vera (Figure 1) meets this condition; made up of 19 municipalities, it has a deep-rooted sense of regional identity [ 89 ] and clearly defined borders: to the south by the river Tiétar; to the north, by the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos and the Jerte Valley; to the west by municipalities in the Plasencia region; and to the east, by the border between Cáceres and Ávila provinces. La Vera is a paradigmatic example for evaluating rural development program impact. This is because it possesses all necessary potential for the successfully implementing of such programs, and it is located in the Extremadura region of Spain, considered by González Regidor [90] as an ideal framework for studying this issue. The region’s remarkable environmental and scenic resources derive from its location in the Sierra de Gredos, which shapes its orography and climate. La Vera enjoys milder temperatures than its latitude would indicate, both in winter months (when Gredos protects it from cold Castilian plateau winds) and summer months (when the mountain massif’s proximity mitigates high temperatures). In the summer, Sierra de Gredos and its many gorges offer one of the area’s most prized tourist resources in the form of countless bathing spots with icy, crystal-clear waters that visitors greatly appreciate [ 91 ]. In addition to its natural and scenic resources, La Vera boasts enormous cultural and artistic heritage, as evidenced by the Monastery of Yuste, its five municipalities declared Historic-Artistic Sites, and its many festivals and traditions classified as being of regional tourist interest. All this makes the region ideal for tourism promotion investments. 58 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Figure 1. Location of the region of La Vera. Source: Castellano-Álvarez et al. [63]. Also justifying the region’s suitability as a case study is, its proven experience processing characteristic agricultural products (paprika, goat cheese, tobacco, etc.). This type of activity (agricultural valorization) is an important component of development programs. The main part of the research is fieldwork in which (a) projects implemented by ADICOVER over the three programming periods constituting the research time horizon are analyzed; (b) a project sample is drawn; (c) promoters of selected sample projects are interviewed in person at project sites to provide context for interviewee responses and reflections; and d) an attempt is made to correct any biases that may have been incurred during the interviews by triangulating the results. Prior to fieldwork, ADICOVER’s technicians were contacted to study the development strategy, program management applications, project lists, etc. As is well known, rural development program structure [ 92 ] consists of six measures, three “non-productive” measures used for small infrastructure, public facilities, finances for the operation of the LAG, and cross-cutting training activities. The other three measures are of a productive nature and are aimed at: (a) rural tourism development; (b) SME and, crafts and services support; and (c) agricultural marketing and development. Private promoter projects under these last three measures are the fieldwork focus. However, the productive nature of these measures does not preclude financing public actions for general interest like regional tourism promotion, trail restoration, business fairs, etc. To select a project sample in the aforementioned productive measures, criteria used by Castellano-Álvarez et al. [ 63 , 64 ] in previous studies were followed. These are: (1) primarily private investment; (2) minimum € 12,000 subsidy; and (3) the subsidy representing at least one-fifth of total investment. Table 1 shows results of applying these criteria to total projects implemented in the three programming periods constituting the research time frame. Table 1. Sample of private projects by programming period and their representativeness. Development Program Private Projects Project Samples Investment Private Project Samples % Sample of Private Projects to the Total Investment of the Measure Proder I 36 26 2,947,795.40 82.24 Proder II 43 18 2,019,122.78 54.85 Leader Approach 90 38 4,462,697.52 78.91 Total 169 82 9,429,615.70 72.98 Source: Own elaboration. 59 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Table 2 complements the above information with an overview of sample project importance within the productive measures. In the third section, analyzing development strategy will show that, over the three six-year periods, the sample project distribution correlates with the weight of each productive measure in the development program. Table 2. Sample of private projects by productive measures and their representativeness. Development Program Private Projects Project Samples Investment Private Project Samples % Sample of Private Projects to the Total Investment of the Measure Rural tourism 67 42 6,146,533.27 77.18 SMEs, crafts and services 73 27 2,110,311.47 69.96 Agricultural valorization 29 13 1,172,770.96 60.44 Total 169 82 9,429,615.70 72.98 Source: Own elaboration. Tables 1 and 2 show that applying the aforementioned criteria to the 169 private projects implemented under the productive measures allows selection of 82 actions whose investment represents 72.98% of total investment in these measures. However, in all cases it is impossible to interview the original promoters, as discussed earlier, since some projects ceased activity or were transferred; moreover, some operational promoters declined participation. Table 3 reflects these factors and filters the sample to determine interview numbers conducted in each productive measure. Table 3. Number of interviews carried out according to the measure of productivity. Project Samples Project Failed Project Transferred Disinterest of the Promoter Interviews Conducted Rural tourism 42 12 8 2 20 SMEs, crafts and services 27 10 3 2 12 Agricultural valorization 13 2 1 2 8 Total 82 24 12 6 40 Source: Own elaboration. Table 4 displays the characteristics of the promoters interviewed. Broadly summarizing the profile, the promoters interviewed tended to be male, between 40 and 60 years old and native to the region and to have a basic level of education. Table 4. Characteristics of the interviewees in La Vera region. Sex Age Origin Formation Man Woman <40 Between 40 and 60 >60 Native Returned Neorrural Basic University Rural tourism 14 6 18 2 15 2 3 15 5 Accommodation creation 8 3 9 2 6 2 3 7 4 Accommodation modernization 43 7 7 6 1 Catering 2 2 2 2 SMEs, crafts and services 8 4 2 9 1 10 2 6 6 Agricultural valorization 8 7 1 8 7 1 Total 30 10 2 34 4 33 4 3 28 12 Source: Own elaboration. As the table shows, male promoters outnumbered females by three to one and were predominantly 40–60 years old across productive measures. The majority were also native 60 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 to the region, while those of neo-rural origin were concentrated more in rural tourism projects, specifically new accommodation establishments. These promoters also had higher education levels, contrasting with those modernizing existing accommodation or catering projects who had lower education. The training level of SMEs and crafts and services promoters was heterogeneous. Agricultural valorization project promoters were characterized by basic level education and very few women. Regarding interview structure, semi-structured interviews were chosen as an intermediate option between a closed model (unable to incorporate promoter observations of interest) and an open model (with difficulties focusing attention on research-relevant questions and information processing). In his work on qualitative research, Yin [ 93 ] highlights the value of interviews as a research tool, considering them a valuable information source that allows interviewee interaction and proper response contextualization. Beyond analyzing budget execution and impacts, methodologically, conducting these interviews enriches the research with qualitative analysis tools. This followed Esparcia [ 94 ], Viladomiu and Rosell [ 95 ], and Esteban et al. [ 96 ] who, regarding analysis of regional, rural and local development policies, advocate using such research instruments to transcend the often excessively quantitative results provided by official evaluations. As a final phase of fieldwork, the initial results were triangulated to correct any biases that may have arisen during the interviews and to reinforce the methodological rigor of the research. For this purpose, working meetings were conducted with key personnel involved in implementing the development program, including technical managers from the LAGs and public representatives. 3. Results 3.1. Analysis of the Development Strategy Implemented by La Vera Region Table 5 shows the investment distribution across measures in the three programs constituting the research time frame. The analysis shows the tourist specialization inherent in this region’s development strategy. Resources for rural tourism promotion account for 41.56% of total investment executed by the three programs and 61.63% of the investment in productive measures. Throughout the three programming periods, this specialization, far from diminishing, intensified under the Leader approach, with 45% of the resources allocated to tourism promotion. Table 5. Breakdown by measure of the investment implemented. Proder I % Proder II % Leader Approach % Productive measures 3,584,221.93 66 3,681,236.48 68 5,655,422.77 68 Rural tourism 2,157,490.16 40 2,072,606.99 38 3,733,694.87 45 SMEs, crafts and services 943,459.43 17 722,488.60 14 1,350,660.99 16 Agricultural valorization 483,272.34 9 886,140.89 16 571,066.91 7 Non-productive measures 1,835,873.69 34 1,764,438.74 32 2,640,410.60 32 Operating costs 608,532.98 11 666,967.20 12 1,297,185.49 16 Recovery of the environment 1,227,340.71 23 1,097,471.54 20 1,343,225.11 16 Total 5,420,095.62 5,445,675.22 8,295,833.37 Source: Own elaboration. At the other extreme is the scant importance given to agricultural development projects in the strategy. This measure accounts for barely a tenth of the total implemented investment and 15% of productive measure resources. Throughout the three periods, non-productive measure importance remains constant at around one third of program resources. This is despite a clear increase in the LAG’s operating costs with Leader approach implementation (due to training actions and technical report preparation). 61 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Figure 2 shows investment distribution in productive measures by project type. Blue depicts tourism project investment. The concentration of investment in the rural tourism measures the conditions of the program’s contribution to its economic diversification objective. Above any other, investments in accommodation creation or modernization stand out, accounting for almost 50% of all productive investment. This unequal investment distribution could hamper tourism development itself, as it minimizes resources for other equally necessary tourism projects like complementary activities or catering services. Interviews with promoters will reveal whether the applied strategy has succeeded or introduced a bias hindering sector and regional development. Figure 2. Distribution by type of action of investment in productive measure. Source: Own elaboration. Neither other productive measure shows such high concentration in a single project type. Figure 2 distinguishes investment under the SME and crafts and services promotion measure in orange; and project types financed under the agricultural development measure in green. Resource distribution in these measures aligns with the desired economic diversification objective. An example is investment aimed at strengthening the business fabric and service provision in rural areas, promoting highly heterogeneous businesses (physiotherapy clinics, garages, taxi services, consultancies, training centers, driving schools, local shops, renewable energies, carpentries, paint shops, photography studios) that provide basic services for rural living quality. Investment distribution for agricultural valorization benefits all the county’s production, with projects improving goat cheese production processes standing out; investments in oil mills, pickle factories, paprika factories, poultry farming, etc. are also worth mentioning. The minimal importance of investments in tobacco cultivation (very important in some regional municipalities) is because these productions channel projects through the regional Department of Agriculture. Agricultural cooperatives in the region use program resources to modernize facilities and improve the services for members. 3.2. Operational Projects, Carryovers and Failures Table 2 breaks down sample investments by productive measure. Table 6 details operational, failed and transferred projects and the importance of investment linked to each. Distinguishing between failed and transferred projects is significant: although neither allows interviewing the original promoter, a transferred project forms part of the program’s contribution to regional development; the original promoters life circumstances may have changed but the project driven by the LAG continues operating. 62 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Table 6. Operational projects, carryovers and failures by productive measures. Tourism SMEs and Crafts Agricultural Valorisation Total Operational projects 22 14 10 46 Investment in operational projects 3,887,130.35 1,308,831.98 888,510.30 6,084,472.63 % of total investment in the sample 63% 62% 76% 65% Failed projects 12 10 2 24 Investment failed projects 1,261,780.24 580,879.99 122,803.36 1,965,463.59 % of total investment in the sample 21% 28% 10% 21% Projects carried over 8 3 1 12 Investment in projects carried over 997,622.68 220,599.50 161,457.30 1,379,679.48 % of total investment in the sample 16% 10% 14% 14% Source: Own elaboration. Table 6 shows that relative investment importance associated with operational projects is higher for agricultural marketing and development compared to the other two productive measures. It also shows that investment committed to failed projects is less important in this measure than in rural tourism or SMEs and crafts and services; this represents a paradox since this measure commits the fewest resources (Table 5). On the other hand, of the 12 transferred projects, 8 are tourism projects, potentially evidencing greater mobility among these promoters or lower profitability. Interviews with promoters should help clarify this issue. Table 7 provides an analysis of operational, failed and carried over projects according to the programs under which they have been implemented. As Table 1 shows, sample project numbers vary between programs, with some noticeable differences. Therefore, the percentage of investment linked to operational, failed and transferred projects could be a more reliable indicator here. On this basis, Leader approach results seem more positive across all three parameters, possibly due to the shorter time elapsed since implementation ended. However, Table 7 also seems to show that the time elapsed since the program end is not a major determinant of long-term project success or failure; evidence is the clearly higher percentage of investment associated with operational projects under Proder I compared to Proder II. Table 7. Operational, carried over and failed projects by programming period. Proder I Proder II Leader Approach Total Operational projects 14 8 24 46 Investment in operational projects 1,794,918.21 969,758.41 3,319,796.01 6,084,472.63 % of total investment in the sample 61% 48% 74% 65% Failed projects 8 6 10 24 Investment failed projects 697,870.94 452,053.42 815,539.23 1,965,463.59 % of total investment in the sample 24% 22% 18% 21% Projects carried over 4 4 4 12 Investment in projects carried over 455,006.25 597,310.95 327,362.28 1,379,679.48 % of total investment in the sample 15% 30% 8% 14% Source: Own elaboration. 3.3. Assessment of the Viability of the Investments Made: Interviews with Promoters One of the most interesting aspects explored in promoter interviews was their perception of investments viability. Table 8 provides an initial approximation, classifying the promoter responses by productive measure of project implementation. 63 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Table 8. Are you satisfied with the profitability of your business? Development Program No Yes Rural tourism 13 7 SMEs, crafts and services - 12 Agricultural valorization - 8 Total 13 27 Source: Own elaboration. As the table shows, the promoter responses vary by productive measure. In all cases, these are operational projects, but the tourism promoters’ assessments of businesses’ profitability are more negative than those in other productive measures. Over 60% of tourism promoters admit their projects do not offer enough profitability to allow them to make a living from them; in fact, 11 of the 20 interviewed combine businesses management with other economic activities. Table 9 classifies these promoters’ responses by type of project, showing that only one of eleven new rural accommodation promoters is satisfied with business economic viability (although they admit complementing their income with other agricultural activity). This project type was chosen by the three neo-rural promoters and two returnees, none of whom are satisfied with the profitability (although neo-rural promoters admit their aim was not profit but lifestyle change). Table 9. Are you satisfied with the profitability of your tourism project? Development Program No Yes Creation of accommodation 10 1 Modernisation of accommodation 25 Restoration actions 1 1 Total 13 7 Source: Own elaboration. In contrast, most promoters are satisfied with viability when modernizing rural accommodation. All these investments are by regular residents dedicated exclusively to businesses management. Furthermore, most combine accommodation and catering activities (a circumstance often highlighted by this promoter type to justify their investment’s economic viability). The valuations of tourism promoters necessitate reinterpreting the Table 4 data.It was found then that the percentage of investment associated with operational tourism projects was similar to the SMEs and crafts and services measure (and, in both, lower than the agricultural valorization measure). However, despite remaining operational, tourism promoters’ negative viability assessments are not shared by promoters in the other two measures. However, a distinction should be made between SME and craft and service projects and agricultural valorization projects: the former are more modest in scale and provide promoter self-employment, while the latter have greater income generation potential by enhancing raw materials also produced by farmers and livestock breeders who indirectly benefit from the investment. Given the different viability assessments, average investment for operational sample projects in the productive measures was: € 176,687.74 for the rural tourism measure; € 93,488 for SMEs and crafts and services; and € 88,851.03 for the agricultural valorization and marketing measure. Regarding the interview content [ 63 , 64 ], analyzing promoters’ viability assessments requires focusing on those investing in accommodation creation, since viability is not controversial for other promoters. Guaranteeing anonymity, some of their most interesting reflections are transcribed to identify factors they believe jeopardize project viability. 64 Agriculture 2023,13, 2130 Most interviewees agree in denouncing the low demand. Promoter 1 reflects this feeling, stating “official statistics speaking of over 20% occupancy are false”. Similarly, Promoter 2 considers, “data used by the administrations regarding occupancy levels are totally wrong”. In addition to low demand, this promoter blames these low occupancy levels on excessive supply, not hesitating to blame what he sees as “erroneous development program execution”; in fact, he justifies his opinion by referring to the latest Leader Approach aid call, stating: “where most projects have been presented is in the tourism sector; we are changing tobacco monoculture for tourism monoculture, and rural tourism is not a panacea”. Very similarly, Promoter 3 considers, “initially, the development program was fundamental for accommodation creation, but once that first phase was over, it did not reorient its role. More accommodation kept being created, meaning the sector became oversized; there is now more supply than demand”. Promoter 4 complains “we went from a situation with no accommodation capacity to one of oversupply; and this happened before demand decreased due to the economic crisis ( ... ) if I didn’t have to meet subsidy requirements, I would consider closing down”. This idea is fairly widespread among the interviewees; for example, Promoter 5 insisted that “there is an oversupply of accommodation places and yet the development program continues to subsidizing more and more rural tourism projects, oversizing the sector”. Another noted factor conditioning this project type’s viability is investments scale. The promoter is a professional architect acknowledging participating in creating many other accommodation projects. Regarding their architectural characteristics, he admits that “all projects I’ve designed have had quality and scale far superior to the expected return. Investments are not justified and will hardly be recovered”. A good example is Promoter 7, who, states, “many things have been done; real project viability is another matter. I will never recover the investment made in the rooms”. Similarly, Promoter 2 considers, “a bubble was created around rural tourism and the truth is you can’t demand the impossible; you can’t ask for wonderful accommodation, with huge investments that can’t be maintained, and what about profitability?” This promoter continues: “the investment made was not justified by the existing demand. We did not consider the project as a business and now we are paying the consequences; we have reduced all expenses to the max and still the numbers don’t add up”. Other ideas emerging from interviews conditioning viability are seasonality inherent to tourist activity and the necessarily complementary nature of the income derived. Promoter 8 summarizes this, stating “it’s not possible to live exclusively from the rural tourism business. The winter is very long and the season almost depends on August”. This assessment is widely shared by other interviewees, who would also agree with Promoter 1 when he considers that:“if a study was done on rural tourism businesses viability, the vast majority of them are unviable”. Promoter 2 states that “tourism is not what it seems and profitability is very limited. it’s a complementary income source, but you cannot live on it alone”. Promoter 7 states that “whoever wants to make money with rural tourism is wrong”; and Promoter 9 concludes “if someone thought tourism would be the rural remedy, they were wrong”. The interviews also explored neo-rural and returnee promoter motivations and perceptions. Regarding the first, the profit motive is often not the main one. For example, Promoter 1 acknowledges that “creating a Rural Hotel was the way to change my life, and that was the objective”. Similarly, Promoter 5 considers, “a Rural House is not a business; it’s more a lifestyle”. Like these interviewees, when asked about motivations for undertaking his project, Promoter 9 replies, “I’d lived in Madrid my whole life. I did it for a lifestyle and personal reasons”. For none of these interviewees was the subsidy received a relevant factor in project execution. In fact, Promoter 1 states: “those who decided to start a business thanks to a subsidy are already closed because ultimately the numbers don’t add up ( ... ) we carried out our project without going into debt and thanks to this we survived”. Similarly, Promoter 9 considers, “if someone gets into an investment like this because of the subsidy, they don’t know what they’re doing”. Regarding his project’s viability, this last promoter says, “if you have the mortgage paid, maybe you can continue living modestly from your rural house, but not as a business”. 65 Citation: Zhang, Y.; Huai, J. A Case Study of Farmers’ Behavioral Motivation Mechanisms to Crack the Fractal Multidimensional Relative Poverty Trap in Shaanxi, China. Agriculture 2023,13, 2043. https:// doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13112043 Academic Editors: Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez, Rafael Robina-Ramírez and Francisco José Ferreira Silva Received: 18 September 2023 Revised: 16 October 2023 Accepted: 17 October 2023 Published: 24 October 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Article A Case Study of Farmers’ Behavioral Motivation Mechanisms to Crack the Fractal Multidimensional Relative Poverty Trap in Shaanxi, China Yao Zhang and Jianjun Huai * College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang 712100, China; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: China’s approach to addressing rural poverty has evolved from a thorough resolution of absolute poverty to a focus on providing essential support for vulnerable individuals and improving the income and welfare conditions of those who are relatively poor, taking into account multiple dimensions. This study utilizes a dataset consisting of 526 research sets collected from the central region of Shaanxi Province. The research employs structural equation modeling to examine the fractal multidimensional relative poverty trap experienced by farm households. Additionally, the study investigates the behavior motivation mechanism that can potentially alleviate the multidimensional relative poverty trap at the farm household level. The study found that (1) farm households in the central Shaanxi region are caught in a multidimensional relative poverty trap, with education poverty and health poverty having a conduction and amplification effect; health poverty and education poverty amplify employment poverty; and consumption poverty amplifies education poverty and health poverty, and education poverty further amplifies information poverty. (2) Multidimensional relative poverty in farming households creates a self-reinforcing poverty trap, and community relative poverty amplifies the multidimensional poverty trap in farming households. (3) Farmers can overcome the multidimensional relative poverty trap through the behavior motivation mechanism. Keywords: multidimensional relative poverty; poverty trap; behavior motivation 1. Introduction The degree of poverty varies over time, depending on people’s subjective and objective requirements as well as on their environment and social expectations. The United Nations has identified poverty eradication as the primary sustainable development goal, with the target year for achieving this objective set at 2030. In recent years, the Chinese government has implemented several measures to address the issue of poverty, resulting in a notable increase in the average income level among rural inhabitants. Consequently, significant progress has been made in alleviating absolute poverty, leading to a shift in focus toward addressing the issue of “relative poverty”. However, the current focus lies on addressing the issue of relative poverty. Despite notable advancements, there are numerous obstacles to attaining inclusive social development, reducing the disparity in development between urban and rural areas and regions, and guaranteeing complete growth and equitable prosperity for all individuals [ 1 ]. China’s poverty alleviation strategy has also shifted from realizing “Two Assurances and Three Guarantees” (no worries about food, no worries about clothing, and guarantees for compulsory education, basic medical care, and housing security) to alleviating the multidimensional relative poverty of unbalanced and inadequate development. The issue of multidimensional poverty within the population necessitates future attention, encompassing not only income poverty but also other elements of economic poverty and welfare poverty [2]. Agriculture 2023,13, 2043. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13112043 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture 72 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 From a historical, geographic, environmental, and institutional perspective, it is evident that the income growth of Chinese poor people has been sluggish. Consequently, there has been a widening disparity in the standard of living and welfare between urban and rural areas. This unfortunate circumstance has resulted in a significant proportion of poor people experiencing relative poverty across various dimensions, including income, health, culture, and consumption [ 3 , 4 ]. In contrast, within the Loess Plateau region (located in the north-west of China), the presence of disparate socio-economic development, significant population outflow, and an aging demographic, together with the ongoing SARS-CoV pandemic over the past three years, have all contributed to a persistent and elevated state of multidimensional relative poverty among farming households residing in the area [5]. Academics summarize this state of poverty as a persistent and self-reinforcing trap. A number of studies have argued that external policy interventions have a long-term positive impact on breaking the poverty trap [ 6 ]. In addition, some scholars have emphasized that individual attitudes and perceptions are critical to cracking poverty [ 7 ]. It has also been found that there is a dynamic trap of socio-ecological interactions in the countryside [ 8 ]. Poverty traps manifest at both the individual and community levels among smallholder farmers residing in rural regions [9–12]. Studying the pathways and cross-scale effects within the multidimensional relative poverty trap requires consideration of three drivers [ 8 ]. Firstly, one of the reasons that can contribute to agricultural challenges is the individual farmer’s lack of capability [ 13 ] and lack of initiative [ 14 ]. Second is the influence of environmental conditions, such as insufficient rural economic security, inadequate rural community cohesion, and inadequate rural industry integration [ 15 ]. Thirdly, due to policy factors, the necessity to continually adjust poverty governance policies aimed at enhancing farmers’ prosperity in response to evolving conditions and temporal dynamics is evident [ 16 ]. For example, China’s “Precision Poverty Alleviation” policy emphasizes precise identification, precise management, and precise assistance [ 17 ]. External policy incentives place more emphasis on income poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation, and labor poverty alleviation [18], whereas topdown policy incentives lack the subjective and objective impact on smallholder farmers and other dimensions of poverty beyond income, making it difficult to create resilience among poverty farmers. The persistence of long-term, multidimensional relative poverty has resulted in the development of a poverty mentality among farmers. This mentality is characterized by the belief that the assets and resources they possess are insufficient to fulfill their actual needs or generate independent income. Consequently, farmers have come to perceive themselves as trapped in the predicament of multidimensional relative poverty, with little hope of escaping it. This poverty mentality can cause low-income people to fall into the relative poverty trap, i.e., to hesitate and wander and give up on getting out of poverty [ 19 ] and a lack of psychological capital such as the courage to get down to work and the confidence, optimism, and resilience to escape the trap of multidimensional relative poverty. Some of the low-income farming families in Shaanxi have “resilience in adversity” and have the psychological and physical capital that helps them build their resistance to the complex threats they confront on a daily basis. The majority of multidimensional collectives comprised of farmers with limited financial resources often exhibit a lack of understanding regarding income generation and a lack of determination to overcome poverty. These groups tend to display cautiousness in their consumption and investment decisions, prioritizing immediate sustenance over long-term goals. Additionally, they have a tendency toward short-sightedness and a lack of ambition. Stimulated by the subsidy policy, some farmers are reluctant to leave their poverty status, and egalitarianism [ 20 ] may lead these farmers to take advantage of the loopholes in the policy and realize their own interests in the treatment of poor households; behind this phenomenon of voluntary poverty and unwillingness to lift themselves out of poverty is a lack of psychological resilience on the part of some rural households to lift themselves out of poverty. They lack the ability to 73 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 identify poverty, match resources, and choose actions to eliminate poverty, and they are “psychological poverty” because of their dependence on the culture of poverty [21]. Uncertainties, such as the instability of livelihoods and the variability of environmental conditions, might undermine the confidence of individual farmers and provide them with a quandary regarding their willingness to engage in proactive measures. Higher psychological resilience can help individuals cope with changing situations and strengthen their beliefs in the face of difficulties and risks. Enhancing psychological resilience requires the stimulation of personal effectiveness and the use of a strong will and a positive mindset to maximize one’s own interests by integrating available resources, which is the first prerequisite for escaping from the multidimensional relative poverty trap. Enhance prospective productivity and well-being through the implementation of incentives that encourage individuals to reintegrate currently available resources. Developing strong endogenous dynamics for escaping multidimensional relative poverty requires improving the viability of farmers. This psychological expectation based on trust can improve the self-regulatory capacity of multidimensionally relatively poor farmers [ 22 ], and it can further prevent the reverse evolution of ability poverty into “spiritual poverty” [ 23 ]. On the other hand, an individual’s efforts to escape poverty are also influenced by the community environment. Social welfare [ 24 ], public services [ 25 ], and financial services [ 26 ] in rural China are still poorly constructed, and as the income gap between urban and rural areas is widening, the multidimensional relative poverty in rural areas is unable to benefit from the trickle-down effect of economic growth. Farm households residing in underdeveloped rural communities face challenges in terms of access, security, and overall well-being [ 27 ]. These challenges are exacerbated by the absence of adequate community support, substandard infrastructure conditions, and the inadequate provision of public services. Consequently, farmers in such communities are constrained in their options for pursuing viable livelihood strategies. To view multidimensional relative poverty among farm households simply as a problem addressed by one dimension and one mechanism, and to analyze only the interactions between the behavioral choices of farm households and their community environments, ignores the interplay between the poverty trap of the farm household and the poverty trap of the community. Improving the psychological resilience of farm households and establishing a perfect dynamic mechanism and welfare improvement mechanism for multidimensionally relatively poor farm households is the key to breaking the multidimensional relative poverty trap. In order to break the trap of low-level multidimensional relative poverty, it is necessary to stimulate farmers’ personal capabilities, improve their initiative, stimulate the internal motivation of farmers to become rich and live happily, establish a stable and sustainable community mechanism for poverty eradication, and break the traps of “poverty of ability”, “welfare poverty” and “spiritual poverty”. Therefore, the research questions in this paper are: (1) What dimensions of relative poverty exist in Shaanxi farming households? (2) How is the multidimensional relative poverty trap formed, and what is its interaction mechanism? (3) How does behavior motivation mechanism action stimulate the personal effectiveness of multidimensional relative poverty farmers? (4) How does the behavior motivation mechanism action break the multidimensional relative poverty trap? Therefore, the contribution of this paper lies in verifying the self-reinforcing effect of the fractal multidimensional relative poverty trap in which Shaanxi farmers live and proposing a mechanism for farmers’ behavior motivation mechanism action to crack the multidimensional relative poverty trap. 2. Theory and Assumptions 2.1. Relative Poverty Dimension Relative poverty emphasizes that the poverty of individuals is below average. Multidimensional relative poverty includes dimensions such as “spatial poverty”, “intergenerational poverty”, and “hidden poverty” [ 28 – 30 ], whose dynamic characteristics need to be taken into account. Existing studies have examined the dimensions of income, education, health, housing, livelihood, and assets [ 3 , 31 ]; some scholars have also introduced 74 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 information technology levels [ 32 ] with infrastructure development [ 33 ], food nutrition structure [ 34 ], energy [ 35 ], and residential deprivation [ 36 ] dimensions. There is a downward trend in the multidimensional poverty level in rural areas of China, with obvious spatial disequilibrium [ 37 ]. In central Shaanxi, the economic income of farming households is relatively inadequate compared to the requirements of education, health, and overall well-being. This situation is influenced by historical, geographic, cultural, and economic factors; the development of farming households’ communities is hindered by challenging natural conditions, remote geographic location, and regional development disparities (Table 1). Table 1. Multidimensional relative poverty. First Dimension Second Dimension Connotation Relative economic poverty Relative income poverty The income of farming households is less than 50% of the average income of society, reflecting the relative disparity in economic status and income inequality [38]. Relative capability poverty Relative education poverty Insufficient and poor quality of public education resources in the rural areas where individuals or families live, even to the extent that they are unable to satisfy the need for all school-age members of local rural families to participate in and complete the compulsory stage of education, and there is a gap between them and the average level of education [39]. Relative employment poverty Insufficient labor force, insufficient hours of work, high labor burden coefficient, inequality, and relative disparity in comparison with society as a whole or with specific groups in farm households [40]. Relative health poverty The existence of sub-health or disease states among members of farming households, including physical and mental health poverty, reflects inequalities and relative disparities in the area of health [41]. Relative information poverty Farmers still have a single way of obtaining outside information, a weak awareness of the use of new information, a low sensitivity to new information, and an insufficient ability to judge the truth or falsity of the information, reflecting the inequality and relative disparity in information acquisition and utilization [8]. Relative welfare poverty Relative consumption poverty Family consumption of basic necessities, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, is lower than the average level of social consumption, making it difficult to meet the normal living needs of family members [42]. 2.2. The Fractal Poverty Trap The poverty trap is a state of persistent poverty that is autonomously reinforced at the individual or community level [ 8 ]. The poverty trap keeps the farm household or community in a stable and inefficient systemic equilibrium [ 43 ]. Therefore, escaping from relative poverty requires breaking this self-reinforcing equilibrium system and placing farmers or community groups in an alternative equilibrium with a higher sense of wellbeing [44,45]. Fractal Poverty Trap Theory explains the simultaneous occurrence of multiple levels of poverty traps [ 46 ]. Fractal poverty traps are poverty traps that are self-reinforcing with multiple dimensions, self-recycling and amplifying at different levels at the same time, and self-reinforcing through cross-feedback. Therefore, in lower productivity environments, dynamic poverty reduction focusing on only one dimension has little effect, while integrated interventions in all dimensions can reduce poverty significantly. Some farming households in central Shaanxi are in a fractal multidimensional relative poverty 75 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 trap. Farming households are confronted with various factors that contribute to their entrapment in multidimensional relative poverty. These factors include population aging, a limited labor force comprised of immediate family members, a high burden coefficient, possession of small plots of arable land that are of low quality, the poverty health status of household members, and a decline in income [ 47 ]. In addition, community factors such as industrial development, social network relationships [ 48 ], and infrastructural environments determine the relative poverty traps in the communities where Shaanxi farmers live. The multidimensional poverty trap arises from a combination of factors. Firstly, it is influenced by the value choices made by farmers, the accumulation of negative emotions within individuals, and the depletion of resources that are essential for farmers’ livelihoods. Secondly, it is exacerbated by the inadequate development of infrastructure and public services, the degradation of the natural environment, and the unfavorable subsistence conditions prevalent in the communities where farmers reside. Ignoring the key cross-scale interactions between the relative poverty trap of the farm household and the relative poverty trap of the community may lead to a wrong assessment of multidimensional relative poverty, which in turn biases poverty reduction strategies and policy formulation. Therefore, in analyzing the fractal relative poverty trap in Shaanxi, the interplay of multidimensional relative poverty across levels should be emphasized. The self-reinforcing of the poverty trap posits that there exists a reciprocal relationship between multidimensional relative poverty in agricultural households and multidimensional relative poverty in communities, whereby each reinforces the other. Therefore, a hypothesis is postulated as follows: Hypothesis 1 (H1): The interaction between community multidimensional relative poverty and farm household multidimensional relative poverty results in a mutually reinforcing relationship. Self-recycling effects of poverty exist between different dimensions of the same dimension. If one dimension of multidimensional relative poverty in the same dimension is negatively correlated with another dimension of relative poverty, there is an offsetting effect of these dimensions of poverty; if different dimensions of relative poverty in the same dimension are positively correlated, there is a magnifying effect between them. For instance, farmers with limited financial resources possess a modest amount of livelihood capital. The majority of their available cash or savings is allocated towards meeting essential life necessities, leading to a state of relative poverty in various aspects such as education, skills, employment, and health. Conversely, farmers who possess stable and substantial cash reserves are more inclined to increase their consumption expenditures. This, in turn, elevates the overall consumption level of farmers, enhances the composition of their consumption patterns, and facilitates the transition from inflexible consumption to more adaptable forms of consumption [ 49 ]. Farmers engage in the diversification of their consumption patterns, encompassing sectors such as education and health, which consequently leads to a reduction in relative poverty levels, particularly in domains associated with subsistence consumption. Relatively affluent incomes can significantly improve the cognitive ability of farm households, thereby improving their relative educational poverty [ 50 ]. The higher the level of education of a farm household, the more livelihood options it has and the more income it generates from livelihood diversification; therefore, a reduction in relative poverty in terms of education is better able to reduce relative poverty in terms of income [ 51 ]. At the same time, education protects and improves farmers’ own rights and interests, enhances life skills and their innovative capacity, promotes diversified employment of the labor force, and increases non-farm income [ 52 ]. Thus, reducing relative poverty in education means reducing relative poverty in employment. More income for farm households enhances their stock of assets such as physical capital, durables, and property [ 53 ], which in turn leads to better living conditions [ 54 ]. In conclusion, at the farm household level, there is a positive correlation between multidimensional relative poverty. Therefore, a hypothesis is postulated as follows: 76 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Hypothesis 2 (H2): There is an amplification effect within the multidimensional relative poverty of farm households. 2.3. Mechanisms of Farmers’ Behavior Motivation to Crack the Multidimensional Poverty Trap The behavior motivation mechanism consists of two components: personal effectiveness and future value orientation. Personal effectiveness is one of the three elements of an individual’s mechanism to address poverty [ 55 ] and refers to the ability of a farmer to change his or her poverty situation through his or her own actions and efforts. This mechanism places significant emphasis on the active engagement of economically disadvantaged farmers with diverse dimensions in enhancing their socio-economic status. It also aims to regulate the efficacy of farmers in stimulating their own productivity, thereby establishing a foundation for their involvement in poverty alleviation initiatives and preventing relapse into poverty. Due to a deficiency in inherent motivation within the rural impoverished population, rural households have experienced a reduction in their needs, a decline in cultural practices, diminished confidence, inadequate commitment to combat poverty and pursue independent development, and a persistent reliance on external assistance through the mindset of “waiting, relying, and asking for help”. Consequently, their behavioral initiative is insufficient, and their sense of participation is weak. Behavior motivation mechanisms reduce the risks and losses associated with shocks by mobilizing farmers’ own personal effectiveness to adapt to new modes of production activities, policies, and environments and to change adaptive behaviors in the face of shocks [ 56 ] and losses [ 57 ]. Therefore, the long-term income-generating mechanism for low-income farmers is a mechanism for farmers to adapt on their own under the government’s program adaptation and to realize farmers’ income increase by improving their livelihood capital [ 58 ]. The effective resolution of the multidimensional relative poverty trap is contingent upon a substantial reliance on ambition and proactive measures to elevate individuals from impoverished conditions [ 59 ]. Enhancing “income aspirations” constitutes a significant element of individual initiative, as it can serve as a driving force behind investment behavior, engagement in non-agricultural jobs, and consequent alleviation of poverty within farm households and families. Existing research on the subjective factors influencing poverty highlights the significance of the future value orientation of impoverished populations. This research underscores the notion that individuals in poverty, such as farmers, engage in decision-making processes that enable them to break free from multidimensional relative poverty. These decision-making processes involve carefully considering various options and opportunities, as well as making predictions and formulating plans based on anticipated future outcomes [ 60 ]. The future value orientation requires that multidimensional groups of relatively poor people have long-term goals and visions for their productive lives, are able to grasp the state of their future economies, and are able to make clear and rational decisions in pursuit of their future goals. If multidimensional groups of relatively poor people believe they have the ability to change their lives, have a clear goal, have a high level of psychological resilience, and have confidence in their future prospects as well as an unambiguous understanding of them, then they may be more motivated to pursue that goal and be willing to change the status quo. On the contrary, if they do not have clear goals for the future and are not confident that they will be able to achieve them, they may give up and are more likely to fall into the poverty trap, which also implies a lack of psychological resilience. Personal efficacy beliefs, personal control beliefs, fear of failure, and future development planning influence poverty people to increase production and income [ 61 ]. Therefore, the mechanism of behavior motivation in this paper can stimulate personal effectiveness, increase the willingness to get rid of poverty, enhance belief in action, reduce concern about risk, increase the future value orientation to plan for the future and help farmers choose familiar paths to get rid of poverty in advance. Therefore, a hypothesis is postulated as follows (Figure 1): 77 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Figure 1. A theoretical framework for farmers’ behavior motivation to crack the farmer-community fractal multidimensional relative poverty trap. Note: The arrows in the figure indicate poverty self-reinforcing effects, the solid arrows indicate the hypotheses to be tested, and the related concepts are shown in the list of variables. The yellow color represents the multidimensional relative poverty trap of the community, the blue part indicates the multidimensional relative poverty trap of the farm household, and the green part represents the behavior motivation mechanism. Hypothesis 3 (H3): Behavior Motivation mechanisms are effective in reducing multidimensional relative poverty among farm households. 3. Methodology 3.1. Data In this paper, based on the documents (The aforementioned documents include the Opinions on the Establishment of a Poverty Withdrawal Mechanism and the Implementation Measures for the Special Assessment and Inspection of the Withdrawal of Poverty Counties in Shaanxi Province.) presented by the Shaanxi Provincial Government, the last exited poverty counties in Shaanxi Province were selected as the study area, covering 10 districts and counties in the northern part of Guanzhong, Shaanxi, including Fufeng County, Qianyang County, Long County, Linyou County, Xunyi County, Baishui County, Pucheng County, Fengxiang District of Baoji City, Yaozhou District of Tongchuan City, and Yintai District (as shown in Figure 2 below). We used regional stratified sampling with the sample random sampling method; under each district and county, we randomly selected three towns, and under each town, we randomly selected three villages and conducted household face-to-face interview questionnaire research. Based on the proposed calculation of the income-relative poverty line based on a fixed proportional value of 50 percent of the median disposable income, income-related poverty is used as the threshold for determining multidimensional relative poverty for farm households. That is when income relative poverty exists, then individuals are in multidimensional relative poverty. We collected 600 questionnaires in May–August 2022 and screened 526 valid questionnaires from multidimensional relative poverty groups for empirical analysis in this paper. 78 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Figure 2. Study area located in central Shaanxi. 3.2. Measurement Scale In order to assess the multidimensional relative poverty of farm households, we employ data pertaining to income, employment, health, education, access to information, and consumption. Similarly, to gauge the multidimensional relative poverty of the community, we consider factors such as the natural environment, local education and medical care, and the local business environment. The measurement indicators were assessed using Likert five-point scales. The descriptive statistical analysis of the entire dataset (Table 2) reveals that the average values for income, information, and living consumption among farm households are comparatively low. Conversely, the levels of employment, health, and the natural environment within the community, as well as the personal effectiveness and future value orientation of farm households, are relatively high. Table 2. Measurement scale and descriptive statistical analysis. Latent Variable Indicator Description Five-Point Likert Scale Mean SD Median Income Annual disposable household income (IN1) 1 = ¥0–¥1400; 2 = ¥1400–¥2800; 3 = ¥2800–¥4200; 4 = ¥4200–¥5600; 5 = ¥5600–¥7000 (RMB) 2.049 1.213 2.000 Annual household income from agriculture (IN2) 1 = ¥0–¥1000; 2 = ¥2000–¥3000; 3 = ¥3000–¥4000; 4 = ¥4000–¥5000; 5 = ¥5000–¥6000 (RMB) 2.103 1.170 2.000 Annual household income from employment (IN3) 1 = ¥0–¥1000; 2 = ¥2000–¥3000; 3 = ¥3000–¥4000; 4 = ¥4000–¥5000; 5 = ¥5000–¥6000 (RMB) 1.922 1.141 2.000 Discounted value of the family’s main real estate, car, and financial assets (IN4) 1 = 0–1; 2 = 1–2; 3 = 2–3; 4 = 3–4; 5 = over 4 (Ten Thousand RMB) 2.279 1.151 2.000 Employment Number of family laborers (EM1) 1 = 0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 3.951 0.988 4.000 Percentage of labor hours per year for household heads (EM2) 1 = 0–20%; 2 = 20–40%; 3 = 40–60%; 4 = 60–80%; 5 = 80–100% 4.139 0.895 4.000 Household labor burden ratio (EM3) 1 = 0–20%; 2 = 20–40%; 3 = 40–60%; 4 = 60–80%; 5 = 80–100% 3.850 1.028 4.000 79 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Table 2. Cont. Latent Variable Indicator Description Five-Point Likert Scale Mean SD Median Information Number of agricultural materials purchased through the Internet (INF1) 1=0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 1.677 0.935 1.000 Amount of agricultural materials purchased by households through the Internet (INF2) 1 = ¥0–¥50; 2 = ¥50–¥100; 3 = ¥100–¥150; 4 = ¥150–¥200; 5 = over ¥200 (RMB) 1.819 0.972 2.000 Household access to agricultural information (INF3) Number of devices accessing information 1=0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 2.150 1.059 2.000 Education Number of family members completing primary education (ED1) 1=0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 2.935 1.222 3.000 Family education budget (ED2) 1 = Spend very little; 2 = Lower spending; 3 = Moderate cost; 4 = More expenses; 5 = Spending a lot 2.504 1.315 2.000 Number of family members completing junior high school (ED3) 1=0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 2.641 1.263 2.000 Educational level of the head of household (ED4) 1 = Illiterate; 2 = Primary school; 3 = Junior high school; 4 = High school; 5 = Bachelor’s degree or above 2.359 1.281 2.000 Consumption of life Monthly household expenditure on travel (CL1) 1 = Spend very little; 2 = Lower spending; 3 = Moderate cost; 4 = More expenses; 5 = Spending a lot 1.951 1.028 2.000 Monthly household expenditure on fuel (CL2) As above 2.338 1.211 2.000 Monthly household spending on clothing (CL3) As above 1.589 0.857 1.000 Monthly household expenditure on food (CL4) As above 2.106 1.058 2.000 Health Household spending on medical care in the past year (HE1) 1 = Spending more than ¥5000; 2 = Spending ¥4000–¥5000; 3 = Spending ¥3000–¥4000; 4 = Spending ¥3000–¥2000; 5 = Spending less than ¥2000 2.648 1.197 2.000 Number of persons in the household who are incapable of self-care due to illness or disability (HE2) 1 = 4 and above;2=3;3=2; 4=1;5=0 3.846 0.847 4.000 Number of persons living in households with chronic diseases (HE3) 1 = 4 and above;2=3;3=2; 4=1;5=0 2.243 1.162 2.000 Natural resources Percentage of household crops affected (NR1) 1 = 0–20%; 2 = 20–40%; 3 = 40–60%; 4 = 60–80%; 5 = 80–100% 3.570 1.063 4.000 Cultivated land at the disposal of the household (NR2) 1 = 0–0.82 acres; 2 = 0.82–1.65 acres; 3 = 1.65–2.47 acres; 4 = 2.47–3.29 acres; 5 = more than 3.29 acres 3.312 1.079 3.000 Level of green cover around household cultivated land (NR3) 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Quite disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Quite agree; 5 = Strongly agree 3.738 1.072 4.000 Duration of crop damage (NR4) 1 = 0–5 days; 2 = 5–10days; 3 = 10–15 days; 4 = 15–20 days; 5 = over 20 days; 2.323 1.105 2.000 Types of crops affected (NR5) 1 = 0 disasters;2=1disaster; 3 = 2 disasters; 4 = 3 disasters; 5 = more than 3 disasters 2.108 1.073 2.000 80 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Table 2. Cont. Latent Variable Indicator Description Five-Point Likert Scale Mean SD Median Educational institutions There are enough schools in your neighborhood to meet your needs (EI1) 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Quite disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Quite agree; 5 = Strongly agree 1.968 1.041 2.000 The educational institution attended by the family member boasts a very competent faculty (EI2) As above 2.414 1.161 2.000 The school in which the family member resides has a commendable standard of e-learning. (EI3) As above 2.243 1.093 2.000 The provision of educational enrichment within the school attended by family members. (EI4) As above 2.198 1.061 2.000 Medical institution The quality of service provided by the physicians at the hospital that your family regularly visits is of exceptional standard. (MI1) As above 3.228 1.123 3.000 The quality of medical facilities provided by the hospital catering to your family is of a commendable standard. (MI2) As above 3.017 1.112 3.000 There are enough hospitals, clinics, and health centers near your home (MI3) As above 2.850 1.120 3.000 Business environment Number of people in your household working in the tertiary sector in the local area (BE1) 1=0;2=1;3=2;4=3;5=over 3 1.899 0.978 2.000 Number of people in your household working in the secondary sector in your local area (BE2) As above 2.502 1.109 2.000 Sufficient number of rural institutions, and cooperative organizations in the village (BE3) 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Quite disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Quite agree; 5 = Strongly agree 2.703 1.104 3.000 The village has a large area of cooperative facility agriculture, shared farm machinery and equipment (BE4) As above 1.802 0.962 2.000 Personal effectiveness Regarding farming, you are in a positive state of mind. (PE1) As above 3.435 1.100 3.000 Throughout the agricultural production process, you have the ability to continuously inspire yourself. (PE2) As above 3.390 1.054 3.000 You’ve been able to maintain a sense of normalcy in your productive life (PE3) As above 3.819 1.067 4.000 You are able to be conscientious in the agricultural process (PE4) As above 3.517 1.041 4.000 Future value orientation You are certain to continue your current production model in the future and are at an advantage (FO1) As above 3.930 1.033 4.000 You are optimistic about the future of the agricultural production you are currently engaged in (FO2) As above 3.502 1.085 4.000 You have a clear plan for your future production strategy (FO3) As above 3.593 1.089 4.000 You have a solid understanding of the agricultural industry’s future growth (FO4) As above 3.152 1.088 3.000 3.3. Model Setting Based on the covariance matrix of variables, structural equation modeling can effectively analyze the structural relationship between latent variables that cannot be directly 81 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 A multi-cluster analysis of two types of farmers was conducted to analyze the differences in the multidimensional relative poverty cycle traps as well as the behavior motivation mechanisms of the farmers. The RMSEA for both Model III and Model IV is less than 0.1, and the GFI, AGFI, and CFI are all greater than 0.8, resulting in a better model fit. Table 7 shows that the significance of the path coefficients is basically consistent with Models I and II; the cyclic effect of multidimensional relative poverty for high-endowment farmers is greater than that for low-endowment farmers, and the effect of the behavior motivation mechanism to reduce the cycle of multidimensional relative poverty traps is more obvious. The reason is that health and income are the key mediating dimensions of the multidimensional relative poverty trap, and only when the endowment of health and income is high will the impact among other dimensions be more significant, whereas lowendowment farmers are unable to satisfy their basic needs on the mediating dimensions of health and income, and it is difficult to have a further impact on the other dimensions. Table 7. Results of multi-cluster analysis of high and low endowment farmers. Model III Highly Endowed Group Low Endowment Group Path Coefficient pPath Coefficient p IN←NR −0.018 0.843 0.421 *** HE←IN 0.359 *** 0.019 0.821 ED←IN 0.093 0.180 0.046 0.538 HE←CL 0.040 0.799 0.068 0.277 HE←CL −0.459 *** −0.080 0.255 HE←MI −0.296 *** −0.372 *** ED←EI 0.646 *** 0.056 0.383 EM←HE −0.523 *** −0.337 *** INF←ED 0.661 *** −0.020 0.753 EM←ED 0.325 0.001 0.142 0.012 EM←BE −0.296 0.009 0.374 *** Model IV Highly Endowed Group Low Endowment Group Path Coefficient pPath Coefficient p FO←CL 0.488 *** 0.149 0.018 PE←IN −0.101 0.267 0.340 *** IN←ED 0.226 0.007 −0.062 0.461 IN←HE 0.358 *** −0.092 0.286 CL←HE −0.548 *** −0.17 0.019 PE←ED 0.428 *** 0.208 0.002 HE←EM −0.496 *** −0.098 0.121 ED←INF 0.629 *** −0.023 0.716 FO←EM 0.076 0.345 0.571 *** Note: *** is significant at the 1% levels. 5. Discussions The phenomenon of the multidimensional relative poverty trap is influenced by a range of elements, encompassing restricted opportunities for education, healthcare, and jobs, with instances of discrimination and social marginalization. At the farmer level, multidimensional relative poverty traps can occur when farmers lack access to basic services such as health care, education, clean water, and sanitation facilities [ 44 ]. At the community level, multidimensional relative poverty traps can occur when entire communities lack access to basic services and opportunities such as education, health care, and employment. The absence of opportunity to obtain necessary resources can result in adverse health outcomes, reduced educational achievements, and restricted economic prospects, hence perpetuating intergenerational poverty. Furthermore, it is important to note that social exclusion and discrimination can serve as additional barriers that restrict the potential for upward socioeconomic mobility and perpetuate the self-reinforcement of poverty within certain communities. 88 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Individuals belonging to impoverished communities may have lower levels of psychological resilience due to a multitude of factors. (1) Insufficient access to fundamental necessities and services: Individuals residing in impoverished conditions may encounter limited access to essential provisions, including sustenance, potable water, adequate housing, healthcare, and educational opportunities. This could potentially restrict their capacity to fulfill their fundamental needs and achieve their aspirations. (2) Constrained economic chances: Individuals residing in impoverished conditions may face restricted access to economic opportunities, including employment prospects and entrepreneurial ventures. This could potentially restrict their capacity to create revenue and enhance their socioeconomic status. (3) Social exclusion and discrimination: Individuals experiencing poverty may encounter social exclusion and prejudice, constraining their ability to obtain resources and avail themselves of opportunities. (4) Mental health issues: Poverty can exert detrimental effects on mental well-being, precipitating conditions such as depression, anxiety, and various other mental health disorders. These factors may potentially intensify sensations of despondency and contribute to a diminished sense of ambition. Multidimensional groups of relatively poor people can become highly psychologically resilient by developing a sense of collective identity and working together to address the underlying factors that lead to poverty and limited ambition. (1) By building social capital, poorer groups with shorter ambitions can work together, share resources, and knowledge, and support each other to achieve their goals [ 65 ]. (2) Encourage collective action and promote the active participation of individuals and groups in development. This includes the formation of community-based organizations, participatory planning processes, and other mechanisms that enable individuals to have a say in how resources are allocated and policies are developed [ 66 ]. (3) Promote Leadership Development: Promoting leadership development includes identifying and developing emerging leaders in the community [ 67 ]. (4) Mitigating structural barriers: The process of mitigating structural barriers includes the identification and resolution of fundamental problems that contribute to the existence of poverty and hinder the development of aspiration. This may entail the implementation of policies and initiatives aimed at fostering inclusive economic growth, mitigating discriminatory practices, and enhancing accessibility to resources and opportunities [ 68 ]. (5) Commemorate accomplishments: Commemorating success entails acknowledging and appreciating the achievements of a community. By engaging in the practice of acknowledging and commemorating accomplishments, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities with limited aspirations can cultivate a collective sentiment of self-esteem and assurance in their capacity to surmount obstacles and attain objectives. In order to further assist poverty groups with low psychological resilience to escape the multidimensional relative poverty trap, it is important to address the underlying factors that lead to poverty and having limited aspirations with effective strategies, including the following: (1) Facilitate educational and training opportunities: The provision of access to education and training can enable individuals to gain the necessary skills and knowledge required to seek economic opportunities and enhance their overall quality of life. This intervention has the potential to disrupt the perpetuation of poverty and foster a heightened sense of ambition. (2) Fostering entrepreneurship and innovation: The promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation can serve as a catalyst for generating novel economic prospects and stimulating economic advancement. This can potentially offer a means of upward social mobility for people and families with ambitious aspirations, enabling them to escape poverty. (3) Provision of support and resources: The provision of assistance and resources to individuals and families residing in impoverished conditions might contribute to the disruption of the cyclical nature of poverty, hence facilitating social mobility. This may encompass the provision of financial resources, healthcare, and several other social services. (4) It is imperative to engage the communities that are directly impacted by interventions in both the design and implementation processes. This approach ensures that interventions are tailored to address the specific needs and priorities of these groups. 89 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 6. Conclusions and Implications Based on a survey of 526 multidimensionally relatively poor households in central Shaanxi, this paper used structural equations to identify the fractal relative poverty traps of farm households and communities and their behavior motivation mechanisms. The study reached the following conclusions: First, there is a self-reinforcing poverty trap in the multidimensional relative poverty of farm households. Second, there is a transmission mechanism between community multidimensional relative poverty and farm household multidimensional relative poverty, which amplifies the overall fractal multidimensional relative poverty trap. Thirdly, the mechanism of behavior motivation of farmers can break the trap of multidimensional relative poverty of farmers. Personal effectiveness stimulates the production will and income-generating drive of farmers, and enhances their confidence in education investment, thus solving the relative poverty of farmers in the dimensions of education, health, income, employment, and information; future value orientation has a stabilizing effect on the production and life of farmers, enabling the proper allocation of resources within limited resources. The future value orientation will have a stabilizing effect on the production and life of farmers, enabling them to allocate resources properly within limited resources and solve consumption and employment poverty. The study’s findings suggest several key insights. Firstly, it is recommended to increase investment in infrastructure development within rural communities located in central Shaanxi. Additionally, it is advised to enhance government expenditure on community education and health care services. These measures aim to effectively address the multidimensional relative poverty trap within the community, taking a top-down approach. Furthermore, individuals can enhance their psychological resilience by forming cohesive groups, cultivating a shared sense of identity, and collaborating to tackle the root causes of poverty and the constraints on their goals. Additionally, it is crucial to enhance educational opportunities and training, foster entrepreneurship and innovation, allocate necessary assistance and resources, and engage impacted communities in the development and execution of strategies aimed at assisting impoverished populations in breaking free from the multidimensional state of relative poverty. Furthermore, there is a pressing need for further research in the crucial field of examining multidimensional relative poverty traps. (1) There is heterogeneity in relative poverty traps at the individual level across different demographics, ages, geographies, and modes of agricultural operation. (2) The operational processes by which community-level multidimensional poverty traps function remain unclear. The involvement of community groups and the creation of policies have a significant impact on the internal dynamics of multidimensional relative poverty within communities, as well as the interactions that occur across different levels. (3) In the future, there will be an expansion of research efforts to encompass a broader area, hence enhancing the generalizability and value of the findings. Ultimately, it is anticipated that this research will serve as a catalyst for generating interest in the examination of rural relative poverty, as well as for the exploration of poverty traps across several levels of analysis. The operational processes by which community-level multidimensional poverty traps function remain unclear. Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Y.Z.; methodology, Y.Z. and J.H.; software, Y.Z.; validation, Y.Z. and J.H.; formal analysis, Y.Z.; investigation, Y.Z.; resources, Y.Z.; data curation, Y.Z.; writing— original draft preparation, Y.Z.; writing—review and editing, Y.Z. and J.H.; visualization, Y.Z.; supervision, J.H.; project administration, J.H.; funding acquisition, J.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Fund of China (Nos. 42075172, 71473196). Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available within the article. 90 Agriculture 2023,13, 2043 Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. References 1. Tang, J.; Gong, J.; Ma, W.; Rahut, D.B. 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[CrossRef] Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. 93 Citation: Widawski, K.; Krzemi´nska, A.; Zar˛eba, A.; Dzikowska, A. A Sustainable Approach to Tourism Development in Rural Areas: The Example of Poland. Agriculture 2023, 13, 2028. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agriculture13102028 Academic Editors: Rafael Robina-Ramírez, Francisco Javier Castellano-Álvarez and Francisco JoséFerreira Silva Received: 15 September 2023 Revised: 2 October 2023 Accepted: 9 October 2023 Published: 20 October 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Article A Sustainable Approach to Tourism Development in Rural Areas: The Example of Poland Krzysztof Widawski 1,*, Alicja Krzemi´nska 1, Anna Zar˛eba 1and Anna Dzikowska 2 1Department of Earth Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, Uniwersytecki Square 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland; [email protected] (A.K.); [email protected] (A.Z.) 2Faculty of Security Sciences, Institute of Safety Engineering, Department of Safety and Technical Rescue, General Tadeusz Ko´sciuszko Military University of Land Forces in Wrocław, Czajkowskiego St. 109, 51-147 Wrocław, Poland; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The research presented in this article concerns the issue of rural tourism, which is associated with significant economic and landscape changes in the countryside. It is important that tourist development in these areas be subject to the principles of sustainable development, which are important for the preservation of the environment in which tourism operates. The research topic is related to two of the most salient features of rural tourism today, environmental sustainability and pro-environmental behavior, which are considered the right ways to achieve sustainability goals. The main research aim presented is to indicate which of the postulates of sustainable development are being implemented and how concerning the functioning and development of rural tourism is on the Polish tourism market. Another goal is to indicate what types of resources in the rural environment are the basis for the preparation of a tourist product; for whom and how these resources are to be used; as well as the participation of the local community in the management of the resources that constitute its own environment, one of the basic principles of sustainable development. The primary method used was a document analysis and an analysis of selected websites presenting rural environmental resources used in this form of tourism. The research identified that sustainable approaches to tourism development in rural areas in Poland are appropriate with respect to the resources available there and to both natural and cultural values. For resources used in a rural environment, emphasis is placed on the protection of both elements. It has been identified that one idea for their protection is sustainable sharing, which assumes rational use to an extent that would not affect the nature of the assets but at the same time could benefit the local community. Both values are used in different ways but, in addition to their purely recreational value, their educational value is equally important each time. Keywords: sustainable development; rural tourism; educational homesteads; participation; local action group 1. Introduction Nowadays, it comes as no surprise that tourism can be counted as one of the most significant global economic sectors. Since the end of World War II, it has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the world economy [ 1 ]. The multiplicity of forms of tourism and leisure activities is due to many factors. These could be a tourist’s interests, curiosity about the world, cultural or recreational offerings, tourist resources, infrastructure, technical possibilities, or a destination understood as a specific area or type of landscape. One of the more popular forms nowadays, which combines some of these factors, is rural tourism. Recent decades have been a period of particularly intensive development for this type of tourism [ 2 , 3 ], and this is connected to changes in the rural economy and landscape. It is satisfying, however, when such tourist development is subject to the principles of sustainable development. These are important for the preservation of the environment in Agriculture 2023,13, 2028. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13102028 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture 94 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 which tourism operates on the one hand and, on the other, for the possibility of a type of tourism that minimizes its negative impact on both natural and social environments. Many studies point out [ 4 – 7 ] that rural tourism is becoming increasingly important all over the world and is seen as a kind of subsidiary strategy for the sustainable development of rural areas. Rural tourism, through the concept of sustainability, focuses on the protection of natural and cultural environmental resources, and explicitly emphasizes the participation of local people and the responsibility of the tourists using its resources [ 8 , 9 ]. The central, or one of the main roles in the development of sustainable rural tourism, is pointed out by many researchers [ 10 – 12 ]. It is emphasized in EU documents that sustainability is a contributing factor in the competitiveness of a destination, including rural environments [ 13 ], and rural tourism is a viable alternative that can positively influence sustainable regional development in villages and communes with less environmental impact compared with classic tourism models [14–16]. Furthermore, global agendas indicate the need to apply sustainable development to the management of rural areas to create a quality tourism product. Agenda 21 pointed out environmental problems and how to manage resources in terms of eco-development above all, as well as guaranteeing a participatory management system for these areas [ 17 ]. Rural sustainable tourism also fits in with the objectives set by Agenda 2030 [ 18 ] by referring to the following: • Objective 1: end poverty (drawing attention to the earning potential of those living in rural poverty). • Objective 4: good quality education (improving the quality of education through learning by example and exposure to nature). • Objective 7: clean and accessible energy (promoting renewable energy sources in the countryside). • Objective 10: less inequality (redressing gender inequalities in tourism product development). • Objective 12: responsible consumption and production (sustainable use of space for cultivation and recycling). •Objective 13: climate action (sustainable crops and agricultural production). •Objective 15: life on land (protection of biodiversity). In the coming years, the implementation of the goals contained in Agenda 2030 for the economy, including rural tourism, and the monitoring of their implementation, will become one of the most important challenges for the politics and economics of countries worldwide [19]. The need for consultation when initiating a tourism development process in a region is pointed out by many authors [ 20 – 22 ]. In recent years and even decades, tourism has become one of the main economic activities in rural areas. It has the potential to definitively generate new sources of income and employment [ 23 ] and appears to be crucial to the long-term sustainability of rural areas that attract tourism [ 24 ]. Rural tourism can be used as a diversification or adaptation strategy to supplement existing livelihoods and improve the ability of local people to secure income to reduce the risk of economic decline. However, this will not take place without the involvement of the people living in these areas [ 5 ]. As long as the local community is increasingly aware of the role of tourism in providing them with additional income or even wealth, a shift in the local economy towards tourism to improve livelihoods is an almost natural direction [ 23 , 25 ]. It can also be a tool for revitalization. Contemporary approaches to tourism that address negative impacts are not only concerned with minimizing the impacts of tourism but also look at the long-term viability of good quality natural and social resources, the quality of life of communities receiving tourism, visitor satisfaction, and the conservative use of natural and social resources in the context of sustainable tourism development [ 26 – 28 ]. The tourism industry was one of those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In addition to being an important branch of an economy 95 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 with a large impact on the value of its gross domestic product (GDP), it is also a powerful job base, providing employment for many inhabitants of depopulating villages. The main goal of the analysis presented is to indicate which postulates of sustainable development of rural tourism are concerned with the Polish tourism market. The research is related to rural areas in Poland that, according to the definition, are areas outside the administrative boundaries of cities, consisting of rural communes and rural parts of urban– rural communes. According to EUROSTAT, ‘rural areas’ are all areas outside urban clusters. ‘Urban clusters’ are clusters of contiguous grid cells of 1 km 2 with a density of at least 300 inhabitants per km 2 and a minimum population of 5000 [ 9 ]. For statistical surveys in Poland, they are distinguished on the basis of the territorial division of the country using the identifiers of the National Official Register of the Territorial Division of the Country (TERYT) [ 29 ]. According to data from the Central Office of Geodesy and Cartography, in 2020, rural areas occupied 29.0 million ha, which accounted for 92.9% of Poland. In 2020, there were 1533 rural communes and 642 urban–rural communes, and the largest percentage were those with a population of less than 5000 (37.8%) [30]. As of 31 July 2020, there were 4700 tourist accommodation facilities in rural areas (45.6% of all such facilities), which had 30,690 beds (39.6% of the total). Compared with 2010, the number of facilities in rural areas had increased by 61.9% and the number of beds by 29.7%. 2. Sustainable Tourism in the Rural Environment: Literature Review In tourism, sustainability is usually linked to the issue of development and is defined as ‘new tourism’ [ 31 , 32 ], the essence of which is its low environmental impact. Sustainable tourism in rural areas is often reduced to farms hosting tourists, local food and crafts, smallscale businesses, and transport. Almost always in tandem with the development of rural tourism, which emphasizes a sustainable approach, is the need for nature conservation [ 30 ]. Its absence can have consequences for the future quality of life of the local community but also for the tourism product offered [ 33 ]. Sustainable tourism, including that practiced in the rural environment, focuses on natural and cultural environmental resources in order to protect them, and emphasizes the responsibility of tourists and the need for the local community to participate in these efforts [ 34 ]. One of the most salient features of rural tourism today is environmental sustainability, and pro-environmental behavior is recognized as one of the ways to achieve this goal [ 34 – 39 ]. Such development is more than just sustainable economic growth. The concept of sustainable development takes into account environmental, economic, cultural, and social factors in rural areas. As Erokhin [ 40 ] emphasizes, each element matters, and rural tourism represents a new element of sustainable development in the tourism industry [41,42]. According to Gilbert and Tung [ 43 ], rural tourism is a form of tourism in which farmers play an important role, providing tourists with accommodation and the necessary conditions for various leisure activities in a farm environment. It can be seen that rural tourism is multi-faceted, not only because of farming activities but also in terms of the tourist product offered. Bramwell and Lane [ 44 ] emphasize other forms such as nature tourism, ecotourism, exploratory tourism, sports tourism, health tourism and other forms of active tourism such as hiking, mountain biking, horse riding, fishing, etc. They also point to forms of tourism related to heritage such as cultural and traditional tourism, folk and ethnic tourism [ 44 – 46 ], and educational tourism. Many researchers [ 47 , 48 ] emphasize the link between tourism activities and the rural environment. So far, literature on the subject has emphasized the small scale of the rural tourism market and few have noticed that it is not only seasonal tourism but all year round. This type of tourism has been particularly appreciated since lockdown when the excellent organization of this market was noticed. Two decades ago, Roberts et al. [ 4 ] had already emphasized that it is a small-scale but well-managed market, often of great educational value. Thus, proper management and a responsible policy influencing the promotion of rural tourism is crucial. In the EU, the development of rural areas is pivotal. Both Cork declarations 1.0 and 2.0, concerning the future of rural areas, set out the main policy goals to reverse rural migration; fight 96 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 poverty in the rural environment; stimulate employment; and, finally, meet the demand for quality, health, safety, and personal growth to increase rural environmental quality. Declaration 2.0 goes even further, advocating the promotion of prosperity in rural areas with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, investment, and innovation. It emphasizes the need to invest in their vitality, and this would include the elimination of digital exclusion. An important demand is the protection of the environment, and this should translate into local economic development; the development of ecological forms of tourism; and, more broadly, recreation in rural areas. It is also important to support climate action, especially in the production of sustainable energy from renewable sources, and to increase knowledge and innovation [ 49 ]. These postulates have a direct or indirect impact on the development of tourism in rural areas. Sustainable rural tourism is seen in this context as a tool for the development not so much of agriculture (although that too) but as an element stimulating the development of the rural collective economy, which will increase employment opportunities for farmers, promote the marketing of agricultural and other local products, ultimately improve production in rural areas, and improve living conditions by effectively increasing the income received by rural residents [ 50 – 52 ]. Non-agricultural activities in the countryside can contribute to the economic growth of a region [ 14 , 15 , 53 ], and rural tourism provides the opportunity for regional economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability [ 54 – 56 ]. This element may also be important in building global food security. Climate change along with the liberalization of trade affect rural agricultural areas and, consequently, the practical survival of small farmers all over the world [ 57 – 59 ]. Therefore, the postulate of developing sustainable rural tourism, referring to the principles of social justice and economic profitability, is all the more important [ 60 – 62 ]. 2.1. The Concept of Sustainable Development in Rural Tourism Sustainability in tourism is reflected in three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. The first refers to income management and the development of institutions and business ventures; the second translates into mutual cooperation, innovation, and creativity; while the third includes environmental awareness, the management of environmental resources in the spirit of rational use, and the management of tourism that occurs in the region [ 63 ]. However, other researchers [ 64 , 65 ] point to four dimensions of sustainable activities in the rural environment, which should be coherent at economic, social, environmental, and ecological levels so as to be able to satisfy present needs without harming future generations who will use the same resources. Sustainable development involves appropriate progress simultaneously in all four dimensions [ 66 , 67 ]. This reaches back to the definition proposed in the 1987 Brundtland Report, which defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without depriving future generations of the opportunity to meet their needs [ 68 ]. Three characteristics of sustainable development are mentioned by He [ 69 ]. Firstly, both present and future development should be taken into account to avoid harming future generations. Secondly, the development of one aspect should not undermine or restrict the development of others. Thirdly, natural resources—or more broadly, the natural environment—should be protected without abandoning the development of the economy; however, care should be taken to ensure a harmonious relationship between the economy, society, and natural resources. In this view, sustainable tourism development has become widely accepted and is seen as an important and politically appropriate tool for tourism development [ 70 ]. It resonates with an approach to tourism as a tool for improving the livelihoods of local communities by identifying tourism as the main remedy to eradicate poverty [ 71 , 72 ]. This is also the case for rural tourism, whose objectives are essentially aligned with those of sustainable development, e.g., eradicating poverty (Objective 1), promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as full and productive employment and work (Objective 8), and ensuring sustainable consumption and production (Objective 12) [73]. 97 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 Figure 4. Examples of thematic activities carried out on the farms belonging to the National Network of Educational Homesteads (created by the authors based on data [115]). The National Network of Educational Homesteads defines the target groups to which it addresses its offer [ 115 ]. There are six main groups: children and adolescents without adult supervision, kindergarten children, primary-school-aged children, special groups, adults, and school-aged adolescents (Figure 5). Figure 5. Main addressees of an educational homestead offer: analysis based on applications to farms belonging to the National Network of Educational Homesteads (created by the authors based on data [115]). The research indicates that of the six target groups defined by the Network, they are mainly formed of groups of children or schoolchildren; however, 263 educational homesteads have mixed offers for adults with children. There is also an important educational offer for special groups, emphasizing the therapeutic nature of the resources important for those groups, as well as an offer aimed at specialists. Staying and participating in activities at the educational homesteads can vary in duration and price (Figure 6). 104 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 Figure 6. Scope of the offer in an educational homestead: analysis based on applications to farms belonging to the National Network of Educational Homesteads (authors based on data [115]). Previously, the educational offer was complementary to the basic tourism activity present in the rural environment, which was accommodation. Nowadays, education is an equally important activity, which often does not presuppose the possibility of staying longer than one day, and this is enough to visit a farm or take part in a proposed program. 4.2. The ‘Heather Land’ Association: An Example of Integrating a Region’s Potential The ‘Heather Land’ Association, a local action group (LAG), is an example of an organization able to foreground the region’s potential. The association is located in Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland—a geographical region and at the same time an administrative one at the rank of voivodeship. The total area of the communes comprising the association is 1590.32 km 2 , which is slightly more than 10% of the voivodeship’s area. The population, however, accounts for approximately 3% of the total for the region with 94,860 inhabitants. ‘Heather Land’ is in the east of the Lower Silesian Forests, one of the largest forested areas in Central Europe (forest cover ratio—44%), which influences the profile of tourist use. Nature tourism, green tourism, ecotourism, and sustainable tourism naturally fit into the economic activity in the region. Monuments of nature, five Natura 2000 areas, six nature reserves, and the Przemków Landscape Park mean that almost 80% of the area is protected; therefore, tourism in this area should be carried out in a sustainable way. The association is committed to environmental sustainability in its strategy by operating within the European Green Deal, which will improve the quality of EU citizens’ lives while helping to play a leading role in the global fight against climate change. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) combines social, economic, and environmental approaches to build sustainable agricultural systems in the EU. The CAP also recognizes and promotes the links between rural communities and the rural environment. Measures that protect the landscape, wildlife, and natural resources, such as clean air and rivers, benefit not only agriculture and the environment but also contribute to improving the quality of life in rural areas and open up opportunities for recreational activities and tourism, all while serving to support rural communities [111]. In addition to the most valuable natural resources, cultural resources are also important for the tourist offer (the heritage of the local community organized in various ways, from local products to eco-museums, educational homesteads, and thematic villages). This heritage is a reflection of the complicated history of Poland and the region. After World War II, the area where the association now operates was settled by immigrant populations from various regions of pre-war Poland. The communities brought their own traditions and customs to their new, small homeland, which are translated into the current way of life, wealth, and diversity of resources. This is seen in regional products having their roots 105 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 either here or coming from areas hundreds of kilometers away that are recognized as its own. These include the following: • Preserves, especially heather honey from the Lower Silesian Forests, which has held a European Protected Geographical Indication certificate since 2008, as well as nuts in honey, bee platter in honey, and jams and fruit preserves; •Venison sausage and pâtéfrom ‘Heather Land’; •Keselica—smoked Przemków carp; •Wine vinegars with herbs; •Pressed oils; •Local wines; •Honey gingerbread from Przemków; •Country bread. Local products and traditions are a pretext for organizing cultural events of tourist value as well (Figure 7). Tourist assets are accompanied by tourist infrastructure and the tourists that use them. In 2021, the region offered 53 catering establishments and 51 accommodation facilities, which were used by 26,873 tourists (this is an increase of 11.5 per cent compared to 2014), and the number of nights provided amounted to 49,026 in 2021. It should be noted that the above figures do not take into account the number of tourists using the agrotourism offer; therefore, it slightly underestimates the volume of tourism in the region [111]. The beginning of the ‘Heather Land’ Association was the Przemków Landscape Park Partnership Group, established on 17 September 2004 and co-founded by representatives of local governments, companies, NGOs, and state and scientific institutions. The aim was to prepare and implement actions to solve the economic, social, and environmental problems of the associated municipalities. In 2005, the name was changed to the ‘Heather Land’ Partnership Group, and in 2006, the ‘Heather Land’ Local Action Group Foundation was established. In 2008, the ‘Heather Land’ Foundation and local government units were established, which still operate today. The association works on the basis of the Act of 7 March 2007, supporting rural areas through the participation of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development [ 131 ], and Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005, supporting rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development [ 132 ]. The association covers the rural communes of Gromadka, Lubin, Chojnów, Bolesławiec, Miłkowice, and Kunice; the urban–rural communes of Przemków and Chocianów; and the town of Chojnów. According to the statute of the ‘Heather Land’ Foundation, its objectives include supporting the development of the rural areas of the communes that are its members, promoting its area; stimulating the initiatives of the local community; protecting what is of historical, cultural, urban, natural, or landscape value; as well as giving opinions on undertakings related to the development of the region. Finally, it promotes social integration, activities on the labor market, as well as building a common identity. According to §8 of the statutes, the Foundation pursues its objectives through the following: • Creating and implementing strategies, programs, plans, and projects related to the development of the region; • Carrying out research, analyses, giving expert opinions, and collecting materials concerning the area; • Organizing meetings, seminars, training courses, conferences, competitions, exhibitions, concerts, and other forms of cultural life; •Conducting informational, promotional, and publishing activities; •Organizing and supporting charitable activities; •Acting as an opinion-former with regard to the decisions of local authorities; • Providing free advice on the preparation of projects related to the implementation of the Integrated Rural Development Strategy for the region; • Cooperation and exchange of experience with public institutions and NGOs at national and international levels [133]. 106 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 Figure 7. ‘Heather Land’ ( A ); Village of tastes ( B ); Agritourism farm: Village of Darów Lasu ( C ); Capercaillie heath ( D ); Gajówka Głuszec Eco-museum ( E ); Village of Gifts, Forest Lipa Wró˙ zka, Mill Pond ( F ); Village of Gifts of the Forest Blueberries Path of the Senses, a path on which tourists walk barefoot (G) (photos taken by the authors). 107 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 The objectives of the association are defined in the Local Development Strategy to be implemented in the years 2023–2027: •Objective 1. Development of the tourist offer and the local brand ‘Heather Land’. •Objective 2. Activating the local community to strengthen local capital. Activities supporting Objective 1 are addressed to entities operating in tourist and tourism-related services who want to operate under the ‘Heather Land’ brand. The implementation of this objective will foster the development of entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs; this will translate into economic development in the spirit of innovation and an increase in residents’ incomes, which itself will translate into a better quality of life of the region’s inhabitants. Emphasis is placed on giving preference to undertakings of an innovative nature, and pro-climate investments will allow synergies to be achieved in terms of natural resources and environmental protection. Reducing emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and implementing good practices for nature and climate protection will allow the local community to gain additional benefits from living in a healthy and clean environment. A conscious approach to environmental protection and heritage conservation in the region will promote responsible tourism and support the education of both local residents and tourists on ecological forms of travel and the preservation of local culture and traditions [ 111 ]. Within this objective, two main undertakings have been identified: infrastructure for tourism and local heritage as well as support for entrepreneurship in tourism and local branding. Within the infrastructure framework, support will be given to those activities that will improve the tourist attractiveness of the area through the creation of new places for recreation and tourist activities along with a dispersion of tourists through a network of cycle routes and educational paths, taking into account the promotion of natural potential. Support for entrepreneurship will give preference to those tourism service activities that will relate to investments of an innovative and pro-climate nature, such as RES (Renewable Energy Sources) installations in local tourist entities. Objective 2 supports initiatives for the broadly defined activities of the local community, especially for young people; the implementation of the Smart Village concept; and the social inclusion of the elderly and identified socially disadvantaged groups. The strategy defines quite precisely the groups of people who are disadvantaged or at risk of exclusion, which includes women, those with disabilities and their carers, those seeking employment, low-skilled and young people without work experience, subsistence farmers, young people under 25, and seniors older than 60. Measures to stimulate social activity and combat digital exclusion are important here. 4.3. The Participatory Nature of Associations Promoting Rural Tourism Based on the Example of ‘Heather Land’ The ‘Heather Land’ LAG relies on a holistic approach in acting and in implementing tasks. The idea of the LAG is to work in each of the three sectors—public, social, and economic—together with the inhabitants. The LAG’s 104 co-founding members include 15 institutions representing the public sector, 69 members from the social sector, and 20 entities from the economic sector [ 111 ]. Decisions made within the LAG are taken by a 15-member council comprising representatives of all three sectors. In addition, each member of the council should be a resident of the LAG area. The participatory character of the LAG is best seen in its activities, which are regulated and formed through actions defined in detail in relevant documents and development strategies formulated for specific periods of time. In strategy development, many bodies have been involved, representing all sectors co-founding the LAG, i.e., local entrepreneurs; tourism service providers; representatives of institutions cooperating with excluded groups such as Social Assistance Centers or the Poviat Employment Office; representatives of those excluded groups; local leaders from each commune; the local community; representatives of the senior citizens’ community; representatives of educational institutions; the National Agricultural Support Centre; the Social Economy Support Centre in Legnica; members of the Council and the Management Board; the General Meeting and employees of the LAG office; communes and their em108 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 ployees; representatives of cultural centers; and, finally, representatives of eco-museums, educational homesteads, and thematic villages. The Local Development Strategy was drawn up based on widely applied participatory methods, including information meetings, setting up a working group for the Local Development Strategy, setting up an on-line information and consultation point with the use of the ZOOM platform, holding call-in meetings in the LAG office, questionnaire surveys among the region’s inhabitants and interested groups, consultation meetings with LAG members, consultations with groups of excluded people, social consultations on the draft document, data collection using a contact form, thematic meetings of LAG authorities, and making everything available on the website dedicated to the document. Activities using the above methods were carried out between June 2022 and May 2023 [ 116 ]. It was also decided to set up a working team for the Local Action Strategy, an Enterprise Club, a Senior Citizens’ Forum, and an e-sports league for young people. It was assumed that they will be actively involved in the implementation of the document under development as well as in the implementation of regional innovations for LAG activities. They will also become platforms for cooperation in the implementation of new ideas and concepts. The idea of sustainable development is included in the declaration signed when joining the ‘Heather Land’ Association as a member, which is an annex to the statute and contains a significant section specifying the means of achieving the objectives set out in that document. In the first place, emphasis is put on the sustainable development of rural areas with regard to the protection and promotion of the natural environment as well as the landscape, historical and cultural resources, and equal opportunities. Some other points are as follows: •To activate the rural population. •To promote rural areas and LAG communes. • To mobilize the local community to participate in the process of sustainable rural development in the LAG area. • To take initiatives and actions to stimulate the activity of local communities and their active participation in the development and implementation of the Local Development Strategy (LDS) and other programs, and to support and disseminate the idea of selfgovernance in this framework. • To undertake initiatives and actions for the development of the LDS area aimed at the development of regional products, tourism, entrepreneurship, human resources, and civil and information society; improvement of the aesthetics of the villages in the LAG area and the safety of the inhabitants; aesthetic and artistic education of the inhabitants; economic and professional activation; counteracting social exclusion and social pathologies; promotion of a healthy lifestyle; and the preservation of cultural heritage in the LAG area. • The creation of local products and services, particularly tourist services and the creation of a tourist infrastructure in the area covered by the LDS. • Protection of women’s rights and activities for equal rights for women and men [ 134 ]. One of the main tasks of sustainable rural development is to raise the standard of living of local communities without them having to leave their home environment. This is important in the case of Poland because a significant part of the community lives in the countryside and, two decades ago, made a living from agricultural activity. In addition, economic changes and accession to the EU have caused a decline in the profitability of agricultural production. There was a threat that the village, for economic reasons, might begin to depopulate. Hence, the idea of creating a center coordinated at the ministerial level (which indicates the importance attached to it by the national administration and the government) was put forth, which works for rural development in four main areas: • Supporting non-agricultural forms of economic activity for farmers and their families; •Cultural heritage of the countryside; •Support for rural tourism; •Support for rural households. 109 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 Three of them directly or indirectly relate to non-agricultural activities linked to the development of tourism. The key is a balanced approach that gives local communities a chance to prepare a tourist product that concerns spatially dispersed, small-scale activities. This excludes mass tourism and gives an opportunity for the development of small family businesses that will be able to provide funds to function in their home areas without having to leave them. One of the main initiatives, if not the main one, in the field of rural tourism is the Educational Homesteads project. It has been planned in detail so that it can function in a rural environment without the risk of degradation, thus translating into the quality of the offer. Quality is also an important feature of those tourist products required by the modern tourist, which is why it is so important to analyze the assumptions that underlie the creation of this idea. The first step to the development of tourism in a sustainable way is to properly design the rules of operation. These principles have been clarified in documents that, on the one hand, limit or even eliminate the risk of undesirable phenomena appearing on the rural tourism market, harming both the environment and the local community, as well as the image of a rural region, usually perceived as a pro-ecological area. The assumptions contained in the documents are crucial for the sustainable functioning of the rural tourist environment and are the starting point for all activities, which is why it seems so important to present these elements because they shape rural tourism, indicate the potential and use of resources, and are a signpost and tool for local communities that allows them to act in a sustainable way. 5. Discussion Sustainability is the key word for the functioning of modern tourism in rural areas [ 8 , 11 – 13 , 135 , 136 ]. It refers to many factors such as environmental protection and the economy, as well as the participation of local communities, which leads to combating social exclusion [ 17 – 19 ]. One of the main aspects of the sustainable approach is the protection of the resources available in the rural environment. Two types of tourist value are available, natural and cultural, complementing each other and making tourists aware that people and their culture cannot and do not function isolated from the nature that they use for their needs. It is important to demonstrate in the educational programs (the case of Poland is quite a good example) [ 111 , 112 , 125 ] how to use these resources in a sustainable way, where not only the present counts but also the future. It is not so much that we pass on resources to the next generation but rather we borrow them from future generations. It seems that the economic aspect shapes the sustainability of rural tourism and convinces farmers to go green. The economic status of the communities that live in rural areas is very important, and the opinion of the groups running both ‘Heather Land’ and ‘Educational Homesteads’ is also reflected in the literature [ 133 , 134 , 137 , 138 ]. Nowadays, in the era of commodity agriculture, it is increasingly difficult to preserve smaller farms that are unable to compete in this market. Farmers leaving their businesses, their home, and their traditions are a real threat to the heritage of rural areas. Such a situation is seen in the rural areas in Poland. This is why there is an urgent need to diversify rural activities in order to prevent this threat, which is a common problem for developed countries globally [ 139 – 141 ]. One such tool is a sustainable approach to rural tourism, which takes care of the resources and, thus, increases the quality and attractiveness of the offer (these are the factors that the modern tourist is looking for). This fits in with the view expressed in the literature emphasizing the multi-tasking of sustainability in rural tourism [ 5 ]. If activities are supposed to be effective, they cannot be reduced to nature conservation alone. The aim should also be to preserve the culture and character of the communities that are opening up to tourism, the sustainability of the landscape and habitats, the sustainability of the rural economy, and maintaining a tourism industry that is viable in the long term rather than focused on short-term profit. Finally, the implementation of a sustainability strategy should involve organizing the local community around the goal: from developing an understanding of the need for such action to shaping leadership and vision among decision-makers so that everyone is aware of both the benefits but also the risks of relying too much on tourism 110 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 alone, and continuing to work towards a sustainable and diverse rural economy [ 142 – 144 ]. Such an approach, seen in the literature, appears in this article in both the case studies presented, i.e., Educational Homesteads as well as ‘Heather Land’. A sustainable approach to resources is pivotal in many documents describing their activities [ 111 , 125 ]. In order to develop the right approach, it is important to involve many actors and virtually the whole community; although, of course, the degree of involvement varies. A key word that is important for a sustainable approach is participation [ 145 – 147 ]. The activities of ‘Heather Land’ are a good example of such bottom-up activities whose bases are constant contact with the local community and the use of the resources in a sustainable manner, which are emphasized in its strategy and other documents in many places [ 111 , 133 , 134 ]. The economic benefit of preparing a tourist offer is not the main objective but, rather, a means used to integrate the community; reduce exclusion by continuously involving these groups [ 4 , 144 ] in tourism and recreational activities; and reduce migration from the area by showing new kinds of economic activity, thus sparing the necessity of leaving the region. The activities of ‘Heather Land’ and Educational Homesteads stress the role of women in planning and realizing the tourist offer in the rural area [ 134 ], and this is part of a world trend. Many emphasize the need for engagement [ 148 , 149 ], pointing to the importance of support for small-scale, community-focused tourism initiatives because this offers the greatest potential for enhancing the lives of economically marginalized groups, including rural women. The offer described in this article is an excellent example of a sustainable approach to tourism based on resources of local social capital not necessarily appreciated in mass tourism, which often attracts transnational corporate tourism businesses and external labor [2]. An equally important element is to point to such directions of development that translate into care for the natural and cultural environments of the region. Appropriate education shows the local community a way of development thanks to which resources will be preserved because of their regional or supra-regional uniqueness, as well as an element thanks to which a new kind of activity enabling a visitor to stay in the region is possible [ 150 , 151 ]. This approach, the preservation of nature and local culture through its economic attractiveness for the local community, also responds to the demand for sustainable development. An asset that is only a tourist resource if it remains intact and is preserved for future generations fits in with the philosophy of local groups, including ‘Heather Land’. Finally, a sustainable approach to rural tourism can also be spoken of in terms of the information distributed about tourism assets and, more broadly, the tourism activities of rural operators. A correlation can be drawn between the development of tourism, including rural tourism, and the use of new technologies [ 152 – 155 ]. The role of this tool has been noticed and appreciated in rural environments where tourism has developed. Both ‘Heather Land’ as well as Educational Homesteads recognize this means of communication as the most effective way of meeting the potential recipient of their offer. 6. Conclusions A sustainable approach to tourism development in rural areas is expressed in an appropriate approach to the resources available to the rural environment including both natural and cultural assets. For resources used in the rural environment in Poland an emphasis is placed on the protection of both types. One idea for this protection is sustainable sharing, which assumes rational use to an extent that would not affect these assets but at the same time could benefit the local community. Both assets are used in different ways; however, each time, in addition to their purely recreational value, their educational value is important. This stems from the belief that only what is known and liked is easier to protect, as it stems from an awareness of their uniqueness, fragility, and transience if they are subjected to the mass pressure that usually accompanies mass tourism. Further, it is not only about natural value. It might even be asked which type is more threatened: Is it the natural, which is now more and more strictly and formally protected, and where the 111 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 law provides clear and strong tools to stand up for it? Or is it perhaps the cultural ones? Culture being a community feature is perhaps even more difficult to defend, especially in an era of globalization and over-tourism, as it is often not protected by specific laws designed to preserve the traditions or customs of a region. Culture depends on the strength of a community that is aware of its traditions and appreciates their value, which results in a positive attitude and pride about such customs and traditions. This is the first step towards preserving and promoting this kind of asset, and this philosophy seems to be the one most often implemented nowadays for the development of tourism in rural areas in Poland. An excellent tool in the battle to maintain and disseminate cultural resources is education. Knowledge is the first and necessary step in the struggle to preserve values. Knowledge needs to be passed on in various ways so that both host and visitor communities approach the visited environment in a sustainable manner. The local communities living in rural areas in Poland do not consider which should be cared for as they use a holistic approach (natural and cultural) to their protection in the education process. One of the most important tools in this education process is the tourist offer in the rural environment, as can be seen from the example of Educational Homesteads; this is a concept that has been present in the rural environment of Poland for at least two decades and is based on teaching to think outside the box. Instead of classrooms, there is the countryside, homesteads and meadows, and forests and lakes; instead of teachers, there are their hosts who share their skills, knowledge, and daily life; instead of a lecture, there is interaction, in which each participant feels part of the environment. The offer of Educational Homesteads is practically never only about cultural values or only natural values. It is worth stressing the role of rural tourism in Poland in the context of its functioning, which is typical for world trends where the economy counts as much as ecology, local community participation, and sustainability. At present, in Poland, smaller-scale rural tourism is promoted, which uses environmental resources to advocate both ‘get to know’ and ‘not to harm’. Rural tourism in Poland uses the internet. Its use, which is emphasized, is optimal for many reasons. This is a trend in which basically the whole world of contemporary information and its distribution is already globally sustainable. In conclusion, one can risk stating that the success of sustainable rural tourism development lies in the following: • The description and proper utilization of the natural and cultural value of an area emphasizing its uniqueness; • A local community that is aware of and actively shapes the image of tourism in its area; • An appropriate presentation of the potential of using the latest technology and its ability to shape and modify information in real time. It is worth adding that the whole offer based on sustainable rural tourism is a knowledge-based endeavor resulting from the appropriate education of both the local community and those using its potential. This has multi-dimensional significance for tourists, the area’s inhabitants, and the natural environment, and only appropriate management of these assets can positively influence the natural resources of a tourist region. Author Contributions: Conceptualization, K.W.; methodology, K.W. and A.K.; software, K.W., A.K. and A.Z.; validation, K.W., A.K. and A.Z.; formal analysis, K.W., A.K. and A.Z.; investigation, K.W., A.Z., A.K. and A.D.; resources, K.W., A.K., A.Z. and A.D.; data curation, K.W. and A.D.; writing— original draft preparation, K.W.; writing—review and editing, A.K., A.Z. and A.D.; visualization, A.K.; supervision, K.W., A.K. and A.Z.; project administration, K.W. funding acquisition, A.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research received no external funding. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: Data are contained within the article. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. 112 Agriculture 2023,13, 2028 References 1. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (Ed.) 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It is characterized by its development in a rural environment, which is perceived by tourists and tour operators as [ 21 , 22 ] (a) an environment characterized by an abundance of natural spaces with little transformation, interspersed with spaces dedicated to traditional agricultural activities; (b) small rural villages (especially those with fewer than 5000 inhabitants); and (c) the survival of a traditional cultural heritage and a local way of life, in many cases associated with the use of this environment, among other factors. Although the implementation of rural tourism in depressed municipalities was initially an attractive and effective complementary activity, the fact is that the excessive growth of rural lodgings associated with this type of tourism and the enormous territorial coincidence of many of them (in Extremadura a large percentage is concentrated in the north of the province of Cáceres) has made it a less viable option from an economic point of view [ 23 ]. In this regard, the measures described by Montiel [ 24 ] and Muñoz [ 25 ] to consider in the sustainable implementation of new rural accommodation in these environments are remarkable. The inclusion of a model of equipment with a low impact on the environment, obtaining resources on a local scale, and the consideration of the tourist activity itself as complementary and not the only important one, while involving the local population in the management of the tourist activity (incorporating into the offer activities linked to knowledge of the cultural heritage, experiences, customs, etc., that promote dialogue between population and tourist), are some of the most important measures in this regard. Within rural tourism and considering the measures of Muñoz in 2015 [ 25 ] and Shen et al. in 2022 [ 26 ], agrotourism is beginning to be seen as a feasible model with which to promote economic diversification and viability in rural environments and less-favored areas or LFAs according to the EU [ 27 ], which are characterized by population densities of less than 150 inhabitants/km 2 and the presence of outstanding agricultural activity [ 28 ], while preserving their heritage and associated landscapes [ 29 ], as in the Spanish case in Extremadura’s municipalities [ 30 – 33 ]. This type of tourism varies widely depending on the country that legislates it and the activities that the promoter wishes to offer, but basically, it is closely related to farmers who offer on their active farms local food or outdoor recreation linked to the usual activity on that farm [ 34 ]. In the particular case of the autonomous community of Extremadura, this is related to providing lodging on farms where the tourist can enjoy the typical local cuisine and/or actively participates in some of the traditional agricultural production tasks that occur in that area [ 35 ]. Some of the benefits of this type of rural tourism are the improvement in complementary incomes to those acquired through the agricultural activity (which should continue to be the main economic activity) [ 31 , 36 ], the increase in local employment, and the preservation of a traditional rural landscape that would otherwise disappear [ 37 , 38 ]. However, in Extremadura the agrotourism phenomenon has yet to be exploited, despite the potential that this territory harbors (according to the MAPA in 2023 [ 1 ], more than 324.324000 hectares in Extremadura are under cultivation, which represents 34% of the Spanish cultivated area, and tobacco and tomatoes stand out as the crops whose percentages in Extremadura exceed 80% of the national area), and the volume of its surface are destined to the primary sector in general and to the dehesa in particular: 97.4% of the municipalities (378) and 98.5% of the population of Extremadura, according to the INE [ 39 ], have pasture land in their municipalities (representing 24.4% of the total surface area of 1,014,865 hectares). In addition, it is noteworthy that 68.3% of the dehesa in Extremadura is concentrated in municipalities with a population of fewer than 5000 inhabitants (Figure 2 and Table 1). Although there is a significant percentage of the de120 Agriculture 2023,13, 2078 hesa in the municipal group with the largest population, there is a predominant dedication to the service sector, with a very reduced weight given to the primary sector (oriented to irrigation and the scarce agri-food transformation industry which has little to do with the dehesa). In addition, the municipalities are generally very extensive, and to this is added the fact that there is an enormous population concentration in the main centers, leaving most of the territory without demographic resources. This means that the link between the large municipalities of Extremadura and the dehesa is very residual. On the other hand, municipalities with fewer than 5000 inhabitants (considered rural environments) are much more socioeconomically dependent on the ecosystem services offered by the dehesa; they are traditionally very dependent on the primary sector, with a marked use of a traditional or less mechanized type [ 40 ]; they concentrate most of the dehesa surface area in their municipalities and, in addition, these are on average much smaller than those of the large municipalities. These are also the environments that concentrate the largest traces of cultural heritage linked to traditional uses. On the other hand, if we consider the density limit estimated by the EU to speak of the risk of depopulation (12.5 inhabitants/km 2 ), in Extremadura 44% of the municipalities (171) would meet this standard. Hence, rural environments are the ones chosen to evaluate the implementation of agritourism activities as a complement to their income within the use of the dehesa (Table 1). Figure 2. Study area. Table 1. Dehesa area and population related by municipal group in 2022. Municipal Size (Inhab.) Inhab. % Inhab. Count Muni. % Muni. Average Surf. Muni (ha.). Inhab./km2 Average Average Surf. Dehesa (ha.) % Dehesa ≥20,000 441,025 41.8 7 1.8 73,712 121.02 128,827.96 12.68 10,000–19,999 85,482 8.1 6 1.6 16,297 127.98 27,896.99 2.74 5001–9999 137,133 13.0 21 5.4 25,547 92.47 165,038.43 16.24 <5000 375,706 35.6 344 88.7 8476 19.66 694,620.36 68.34 Total 1,039,346 98.5 378 97.4 10,757 127.30 21,016,383.75 100.00 1–2 Average weighted by the number of municipalities included in each group. 121 Agriculture 2023,13, 2078 A good way to analyze the level of implementation of this type of agritourism activity in a territory, and to identify its resources with greater tourism potential, as well as the relationships among economic actors, is to generate a value chain. This is a representation of all the promoters that offer goods or services, their resources, and the relationships among them. The purpose is to generate added value to the activity in which they interact (in this case agritourism) from an economic, social, cultural, heritage, and identity point of view [ 41 ]. In the value chain, each specific activity is evaluated within four large blocks or components (production, transformation, distribution, and marketing) to detect problems that prevent goods or a service from being economically viable and generating the value for which it was created [ 42 , 43 ]. The value chain has been applied to tourism for quite some time, but if we consider those recent ones that take into account the territory as a key element, the work reported in [ 44 ] is interesting. It proposes a methodology for identifying value chains associated with gastronomic tourism. In it, the authors take into account the territoriality of the components of the tourism value chain, and the sensitive and specialized demand for this type of activity, which seeks quality over quantity in non-mass tourism, and the assessment of the potential (the importance of an element to the rest of the chain according to the interest it has for the demand) and functionality concepts (whether a resource has the services considered basic by the demand for a satisfactory experience) of the resource. The methodology consists of four groups: group 1 includes all the elements extracted directly from the territory and with a very direct link and identity associated with it (they are the indispensable elements for the development of the tourism activity); group 2 is formed by elements that do not come from the territory itself but are very important for marketing; group 3 is composed of those elements that make up the tourism offer (restaurants, accommodations, activity promoters, etc.; they are not essential but contribute a lot of value to tourism); and group 4, the final group, corresponds to elements that are transversal to the rest of the groups, such as the contributions of innovation, and training in all the links of the tourism chain. As a research problem and a recommended stage towards the implementation of these agritourism activities in a territory such as Extremadura, the aim of this work is to analyze those agritourism experiences in areas similar to the farmscape [ 45 ] of the dehesa and rural environments in Extremadura that have been collected in a bibliography, in order to subsequently identify the traditional agricultural activities and resources with sufficient tourist potential to satisfy the increasing demand for this type of unique experience linked to the Extremadura pasture and to evaluate their possibilities for implementation. To this end, we start from the premise that such agritourism activities must serve as a complement to the main traditional activity and not as a substitute model (a predominant trend in Extremadura since the end of the last century). Studies relating agritourism activities with dehesas such as this one are not very abundant in the literature (as they are mostly linked to mountain areas, pastures, vineyards, and olive groves, among others, as reported in [ 46 , 47 ]), despite the fact that the extensive use of these semi-natural ecosystems has been reduced in recent years due to the lack of generational replacement, among other issues, and where tourism as a complement has not been proposed as an alternative to mitigate such problems [ 48 – 50 ]. For this reason, and through a recent bibliographic analysis of the agritourism and its value chain in rural environments, this article pursues the following specific objectives: 1. Identify the most influential sectors in agritourism associated with the dehesa and the resources with the greatest potential for tourism; 2. Consider which relations can exist between the supply of agritourism products and livestock farming in the dehesa, considering their specific value chain; 3. Determine the possible problems to be taken into account when implementing these types of agrotourism activities in general and in those less favored European areas (LAZs) linked to the dehesa, as is the case of the autonomous community of Extremadura in particular. 122 Agriculture 2023,13, 2078 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Study Area Extremadura is an autonomous community located in the southwest of Spain and Europe and on the border with Portugal. This autonomous community is divided into two provinces, north and south, Cáceres and Badajoz, respectively, with a total of 388 municipalities. The average population density of this region is 27 inhabitants/km 2 , although the average density of the rural environments drops to 19.6 inhabitants/km 2 , well below the national and European average (just over 95 inhabitants/km 2 and 109 inhabitants/km2, respectively). The main axes of socioeconomic development are located around the A66-Ruta de la Plata highway (north–south in the center of Extremadura) and the A5-Badajoz/Madrid highway (southwest–northeast), which concentrate eight of the nine main population centers in Extremadura (those with more than 20,000 inhabitants, listed in Figure 2). This extensive Spanish region is home to numerous unique natural, semi-natural, and artificial ecosystems, as shown by the fact that 30.6% of its surface area is under environmental protection and there are even overlaps between them. Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), both included in the Natura 2000 Network, are worth mentioning. In addition, there is also a Network of Protected Natural Spaces (ENP) made up of Natural Parks, Natural Reserves, Natural Monuments, etc. Of course, there is also a National Park, three Biosphere Reserves or Ramsar Areas, and a Geopark declared by UNESCO in 2011 [ 51 ]. Landscape diversity and biotic heterogeneity are complemented by different agro-livestock and forestry activities, which for decades have coexisted in perfect balance. One of the examples of coexistence and traditional silvopastoral and forest uses that are most respectful of the surrounding environment is the dehesa. There is quite a lot of literature dedicated to the analysis of agritourism in natural and semi-natural ecosystems of pastures, mountain areas, and mixed areas. However, there are hardly any studies that analyze the dehesa as an agritourism resource, or that describe value chains associated with this specific activity and ecosystem. The dehesa is not in itself a pastureland (such as, e.g., those existing in the vicinity of ˇ CeskýKrumlov in the Czech Republic), much less a mountain area (such as those found in the Alpine or Pyrenean regions). According to [ 52 ], this is defined as a multifunctional livestock and/or hunting exploitation system in which at least 50% of the surface area is occupied by pastureland with scattered adult acorn-producing trees and with a fraction of the area covered between 5 and 60%. To this definition the Extremadura law [ 53 ] adds an exploitation unit whose minimum surface area exceeds 100 hectares. These large seminatural expanses of open pastures with holm oak (Quercus ilex) and cork oak (Quercus suber) woodland, whose origins date back to the middle of the 7th century, are found exclusively in the center–south of the Iberian Peninsula and are linked to plains or slightly undulating reliefs with little slope (the Spanish or Portuguese mid-mountain areas are already home to the Mediterranean forest from which it originates). The dehesa ecosystems are characterized by a multitude of traditional ecosystem uses closely linked to the nearby rural environment and its economy, in which the primary sector is very important. There is extensive grazing with native species of sheep, such as the Merino breed, cattle (some of them brave breeds), and pigs (highlighting the Iberian breed for its gourmet products) [ 54 ]; the complementary agricultural uses are very focused on the cultivation of cereals (mainly wheat, barley and rye) and the different seasonal forestry uses of the existing quercus trees, such as the pruning of the trees to obtain firewood, the different types of charcoal with a high caloric power and durability, and the extraction every eight to ten years of the bark of the cork oak to obtain cork. Furthermore, the fruit of these species, acorns, are used as a human food base (in bread and different sweets) and as feed for the livestock (the richness of acorns as healthy fats for livestock such as the Iberian pig is well known), as well as hunting activities itself. To this multitude of economic resources are added others of a scenic nature linked to the agricultural sector that make it unique in Europe, numerous traditional trades and associated cultural heritage which are of no less magnitude, and its 123 Agriculture 2023,13, 2078 ecological functions for endangered or very vulnerable species as promoters of ecological connectivity of their habitats, which form an environment with great potential for tourism that so far has not been exploited [ 28 , 34 ]. All this has led to its consideration by the EU as a High Nature Value Farming and Forestry (HNV) area, which, with more surface area and one of the most valuable areas in Europe, is worthy of being protected and maintained over time with its traditional forms of exploitation [ 55 , 56 ]. This is the ecosystem to which this article associates the resources with the potential to implement agritourism activities in LFAs such as Extremadura, and which is so closely linked to the economic system of many of the municipalities in the region, most of them rural environments. 2.2. Methods of the Literature Review To achieve the objectives, a bibliographic search of recent works (from January 2016 to June 2023, both included) related to agritourism and those value chains that link rural tourism with traditional agricultural use of rural environments was performed, with special emphasis on uses linked to Spanish and Portuguese dehesas or large extensions of farms in the case of foreign works. The bibliographic selection was made on the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Dialnet platforms, the latter more focused on Spanish production. The keywords used in all of them as search engines were agrotourism, rural tourism, tourism and agriculture, rural tourism in dehesas, farm tourism, and farm tourism in EU. From more than 8000 initial references, 250 were selected. The criteria for selecting the references were related to the location of the studies (centered mainly in Spain, or at least in southwestern European regions), the subject matter addressed (successful experiences in implementing agritourism activities in large areas similar to the Extremadura dehesa, or analysis of problems related to rural tourism versus agriculture and/or livestock farming on a local scale). Regarding the identification of elements that make up the value chain of agritourism in dehesas, with special emphasis on the case of Extremadura, the work of [ 44 ] is very fascinating, in which they propose a methodology to identify value chains (in this case of gastronomic tourism) considering the following: • The territoriality of the elements of the value chain for a given tourism, distinguishing those that are key from the other essential but more ancillary elements; • The demand for such tourism, which is very focused on experiences, sensitivity, and the quality of these, rather than quantity; • In relation to the first concept, they evaluate the degree of importance of an element in the value chain in terms of whether it meets the requirements that make it attractive to visit from the point of view of the demand of the tourism sector analyzed; in relation to tourism functionality, the authors identify whether the elements evaluated have a series of basic minimum services so that the visitor can have a satisfactory tourism experience. In the case of this study, the generic elements of the agritourism value chain for the Extremaduran dehesa were adapted from the literature consulted, without losing sight of the general approach proposed by [ 44 ]: territoriality, the relationship between producers/supply and demand as part of the value chain itself, and the tourism potential and functionality of the elements of the chain. This article focuses on the identification and grouping of elements that make up the dehesa value chain in Extremadura (the equivalent of Phase 1 of the related paper). 3. Results The value chain considers the main elements related to the use of Extremadura’s dehesas. It is based on the premise that tourists seeking agritourism activities seek a variety of active learning experiences. Among them, the literature includes learning and connection with the rural environment, the land uses, the agricultural and livestock use, and the direct contact with the people who live in that environment. Furthermore, the literature discusses the remarkable natural and cultural, tangible and intangible tourism potentials of 124 Agriculture 2023,13, 2078 Extremadura [ 57 ]. Therefore, in the literature analyzed, a series of activities and distinctive characteristics of agritourism are highlighted. Many of them can be developed in the Extremadura dehesas, since they maintain unique traditional agricultural and livestock activities in the local environment in which they are located [23,58,59]. 3.1. The Dehesa as a Tourist Resource On this basis, the Extremadura dehesa offers a multitude of possibilities linked to traditional economic activities, with sheep and cattle grazing, cork extraction, cereal sowing, or uses derived from oak or cork oak wood (charcoal, picón and firewood), and hunting, perhaps some of the most outstanding [60,61]. Associated with the previous uses, there are a series of activities and crafts that are currently at a high risk of disappearing, such as dry stone constructions for the demarcation of farms, huts for the personnel who work the fields, the tools used by the shepherds in their daily lives (bowls, spoons, bags, etc.), or even the knowledge of medicinal plants in this environment. A key element for the bibliography is the development of agritourism activities characterized by being active experiences. These include the observation of the natural and/or agricultural landscape, where situations or activities typical of daily primary activities are recreated and, in many cases, there is an offer of traditional products for direct sale and the hospitality of the lodging, in which both parties benefit: farmers and local population, as well as tourists [ 41 , 58 ]. In relation to this, some authors highlight the low predisposition of agricultural producers to collaborate in the creation of connections and associative networks to diversify their economies towards agritourism tasks from the point of view of maximizing sustainability in the sector. Structured associationism is key in a rural tourism model based largely on the private sector, such as agritourism, to promote efficient and equitable development that helps to preserve the related heritage (natural, cultural, intangible, etc.) [ 62 ]. In addition, in these cases, a lack of information, training, and skills training necessary to meet the increasing volume of tourists seeking experiences linked to agritourism in some of its varieties is detected [ 63 ]; it is also essential that entrepreneurs of agritourism activities are included in the main tourism dissemination websites, given that much of the demand chooses accommodation through this route [64]. Another activity that is highly applauded by the scientific community is the existing relationship between the rural environment in general and the agricultural and livestock farming sector in particular, with a series of typical products of the area and various types of agricultural and livestock farming activities, even at certain times of the year, depending on the farming activities that were carried out in each of them. Gastronomic tourism is another complement to the agritourism offer [44,65,66]. 3.2. The Value Chain of Agritourism in the Dehesa A very interesting study on agritourism activities with an analysis of the most influential factors affectiung the increase of income in the farms that implemented them is [ 67 ]. Its authors showed that the agritourism activities that offered the greatest opportunities for increasing incomes were those related to the tasting and direct sale of typical local products, or the offer of cultural and sports activities (active) in the environment of the farm. These two groups of alternative activities favor the preservation of the cultural and landscape heritage and the economic activity of the primary sector of the nearby local environment, while at the same time increasing the economic benefits of the business, eliminating unnecessary intermediaries and favoring the rapprochement between producers and consumers. On the other hand, it is also necessary to identify which resources are the most appropriate, or which actors and services of the value chain we have to make our offer known to in order to maximize the endogenous resources of the territory in question. Thus, following the methodology proposed by [ 44 ] to identify the elements of the agritourism value chain, and taking into account part of the methodology proposed by [ 68 ], the value chain for agritourism in dehesas is shown below, adapted to the particularities of 125 [Document text truncated for crawler view.]