Mechanisms and Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Soil and Water Conservation on the Livelihood and Well-Being of Farmer Households: A Case Study in Desert–Loess Transition Zone of China

Climate change brings great uncertainty to the sustainable livelihood of farmers. Soil and water conservation measures are the key measures to adapt to climate change, and studying their effects is of great significance to formulating and adjusting future work. Based on the analysis framework of sustainable livelihood, this study constructed a path model to analyze the influence path among soil and water conservation, farmers’ livelihood and well-being from the perspective of model integration and discussed the mechanism of the effect of soil and water conservation well-being. The results show that (1) soil and water conservation has a significant effect on both the livelihood and well-being of farmer households. Soil and water conservation has a positive effect on farmer households’ livelihood capital, and farmers who participated in soil and water conservation prefer to engage in agricultural activities, with a cumulative effect of livelihood capital and livelihood strategies dependence. However, the direct effect of soil and water well-being is not significant, but only in terms of farmers’ security and health. (2) Through the “livelihood capital accumulation mechanism”, “livelihood strategies dependence mechanism” and “livelihood chain mechanism”, soil and water conservation affects the basic material needs, safety and health, freedom of choice and movement of farmers’ well-being. (3) In order to further promote soil and water conservation measures, relevant policy makers can indirectly enhance the soil and water conservation well-being effect by optimizing the livelihood portfolio of farmers, thus attracting the extensive participation of farmers. This study provides analytical ideas for exploring the role of the relationship between soil and water conservation, livelihood and well-being, and offers suggestions for increasing the participation of farmers in soil and water conservation.