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Socioeconomic factors are key driving forces for the occurrence and development of soil erosion, but their effects are not well understood. To analyse the relationship between the socioeconomic system and soil erosion, a framework was proposed and validated with structural equation modelling. Population pressure, economic development, agricultural inputs and outputs and soil erosion are latent variables of the framework. A case study was conducted in Jiangxi Province. The results showed that economic development was the key controlling factor and that agricultural output was the main promoting factor for soil erosion, with path coefficients of −1.321 and 1.609 in 1995 and -0.624 and 0.453 in 2010, respectively. This implied that the contradiction between socioeconomic development and ecological protection was alleviated during the study period. Agricultural input controlled severe soil erosion (-‍0.322) while promoting mild soil erosion (0.095), which indicated that more attention should be paid to the adverse impact of excessive agricultural inputs on soil erosion control. The identification of the socioeconomic driving forces of regional soil erosion could help adjust the development strategy and mitigate the negative effects of economic development on soil erosion control and ecological conservation. • Latent socio-economic variables have considerable influences on soil erosion. • Economic development is the most important driving force of soil erosion. • The promotional effect of surplus inputs on mild soil erosion should be of concern. • Structural equation modelling is a suitable framework to decouple this relationship.. • Contradiction between socio-economy and soil erosion have been alleviated in Jiangxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production in China is mainly decentralized, small in size, and involved by independent single households. Farmers are the main implementers of soil erosion control projects. Their willingness and abilities, which are crucial to the effectiveness of these projects, are closely related to their social networks. However, the relationship between farmers' social networks and soil erosion control remains unclear. Hengxi, a typical village in Jiangxi Province, China, was used as a case study. Traditional- and new-type of farmers' social networks were built according to the planting structures based on survey data. The results showed that both types of networks had the characteristics of small-world network and scale-free network. The ability to obtain and dispense information was the significant distinction between the two networks. The dealer was an influential key node in both networks. The government agencies were key nodes in the new-type network but not in the traditional-type network, which made it difficult for traditional farmers to obtain indispensable information about soil erosion control. The characteristics of farmers and their corresponding networks had significant influences on their awareness of soil erosion. Soil erosion management projects could be deployed smoothly by the key farmers and government agencies in the new-type social network, but difficultly in the traditional-type social network. To improve the effectiveness of soil erosion control projects, cooperation with dealers is important for government agencies. • Characteristics of farmers' social networks are distinct based on planting structure. • Information diffusion is more efficient in new-type social network. • Betweenness centrality affects farmers' awareness of soil and water conservation. • Government agencies should undertake proper roles in traditional-type social network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]