Understanding the adaptive behavior of farmers' livelihoods is vital to the explanation of how farmers adapt to changes caused by the human-environment system. This study constructed a new conceptual framework to analyze farmers' livelihood adaptation and selected Minqin in the arid region of northwest China, as a case to explore farmers' adaptive behaviors and their influencing factors. Social surveys in thirteen townships of the county were conducted and 582 valid questionnaires and 32 valid interviews were collected. The findings show that government policies promoted changes in the rural human-environment system. Subsequently, farmers' use of natural resources decreased, planting structures were adjusted, and the government provided more resources to support farmers' livelihoods. Farmers' choice of adaptive behaviors was based on the socio-economic characteristics of their households. Traditional agriculture adjustment was the preferred adaptive behavior. External factors, including afforestation areas; effective irrigation rates; labor training and agricultural technicians; and farmers' livelihood capital, such as education and awareness, natural capital, income and expenditure, and social networks, were significant drivers of the adoption of diverse adaptive behaviors. The results indicate that the government's adaptive measures and farmers' adaptive behaviors both need to be incorporated into the policymaking process for ecological restoration and rural development.

了解农民生计的适应行为对于解释农民如何适应人为环境系统造成的变化至关重要。本研究构建了一个分析农民生计适应性的新概念框架，并选择了西北干旱地区的民勤县，以探讨农民的适应性行为及其影响因素。在该县的13个乡镇进行了社会调查，收集了582份有效问卷和32份有效访谈。调查结果表明，政府政策促进了农村人环境系统的变化。随后，减少了农民对自然资源的使用，调整了种植结构，政府提供了更多资源来支持农民的生计。农民的 适应性行为的选择基于其家庭的社会经济特征。传统的农业调整是首选的适应行为。外部因素，包括造林面积；有效灌溉率；劳动培训和农业技术员；农民的生计资本，例如教育和意识，自然资本，收入和支出以及社会网络，是采用多种适应行为的重要驱动力。结果表明，政府的适应措施和农民的适应行为都需要纳入生态恢复和农村发展的决策过程中。外部因素，包括造林面积；有效灌溉率；劳动培训和农业技术员；农民的生计资本，例如教育和意识，自然资本，收入和支出以及社会网络，是采用多种适应行为的重要驱动力。结果表明，政府的适应措施和农民的适应行为都需要纳入生态恢复和农村发展的决策过程中。外部因素，包括造林面积；有效灌溉率；劳动培训和农业技术员；农民的生计资本，例如教育和意识，自然资本，收入和支出以及社会网络，是采用多种适应行为的重要驱动力。结果表明，政府的适应措施和农民的适应行为都需要纳入生态恢复和农村发展的决策过程中。