Abstract: To protect grassland eco-environments, a prohibiting grazing policy was instituted in 2002 in China, and grassland ecological environments were successfully restored. Farmers were the main economic actors in these grasslands; thus, the policy had the greatest effect on farmers. The adaptability of farmers to this policy had a direct impact on whether the policy was smoothly implemented and affected the sustainable development of the eco-environment. In this paper, household survey data from Yanchi County in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, China, were used to study the perceptions of farmers with regard to the eco-environmental effects of the prohibiting grazing policy, and the adaptability and adaptation strategies of farmers were assessed based on the differences in the farmers' livelihoods and income levels. Finally, this paper discusses the main factors that influenced the adaptation strategies of farmers in Yanchi County. The main conclusions are obtained. The farmers' perception index of the environmental efficacy of the prohibiting grazing policy was relatively high; however, the farmers' perception index of their satisfaction with the policy was moderate. The diversification index of farmers' adaptation strategies decreased sequentially from pure farmers to semi-farmers to non-farmers, and the diversification index increased sequentially from low-income farmers to middle-income farmers to high-income farmers. The key factors influencing the diversification index of farmers' adaptation strategies included environmental efficiency, impact effects, adaptation costs, self-efficacy perception, human capital, financial capital and farmer attributes. The main factors influencing the farmers' adaptation strategies included adaptation costs, self-efficacy, adaptation effects, human capital, and financial capital.

Key words: prohibiting grazing policy, adaptability, perception, farmers, Yanchi County