Exploring Constraints on Sustainability Practices Among Coffee Farmers in Yunnan Province, China: Insights From Grounded Theory

Abstract

The sustainable development of rural tourism increasingly depends on the participation and transformation of smallholder farmers, yet their roles and constraints remain underexplored in the context of coffee-producing regions. Focusing on Yunnan, China, this study investigates the structural barriers that hinder farmers from adopting sustainable practices within the emerging coffee tourism sector. Drawing on grounded theory, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 participants, including small-scale coffee farmers, tourism-involved producers, and local policymakers—from Purer, Baoshan, and Lincang, collecting approximately 193,000 words of qualitative data. Through open, axial, and selective coding, the study identifies six interrelated constraint categories: financial insecurity, policy inaccessibility, capacity and knowledge gaps, environmental pressures, labor shortages, and limited integration into tourism governance. These constraints are not isolated but form an interlocking system that restricts farmers' agency in navigating the shift toward sustainability.