In recent years, the ecologically-degraded areas, such as rocky desertification, have often been taken as one of the main pilot types of the fallow cultivated-land in China, where the conflicts between man and land are prominent and the village committees are responsible for the management and protection in fallow pilot. To explore the main problems arising in the different fallow management and protection modes with the new types of the business entities as the fallow management entity in ecologically degradation area and its applicable operating conditions, on the basis of the actor- network theory, taking Songtao county of the country's first batch of fallow pilot as a case study, with 5 districts (7 villages) selected as samples, this research focuses on the main problems arising in different fallow pilot stages, and analyzes the stability of the actor-network with the different fallow management and protection modes and the characteristics and its applicability of the different fallowing management modes. The findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Songtao county witnessed four types of fallow management and protection modes in different stages, that is, Mode I (management and protection by planting peasants), Mode II (management and protection by the cooperatives for some peasants), Mode III (management and protection by some companies or enterprises) and Mode IV (management and protection by the cooperatives of village collectivity). The translation process of the fallow actor-network went through two stages under different fallow management and protection modes, and nine problems arose during fallow period, thus leading to the instability of the actor-network during the trial stage and its divergences during the adjustment stage. It is found that "the substantial reduction in fallow subsidies and the current unified fallow subsidy standards" were the two main factors for the actor- network divergences. It is suggested that a set of flexible, step-by-step fallow subsidy standards should be established, the fund management during fallow period be reinforced, some investment and financing approaches be innovated, and the investment in machinery be promoted. (2) In the fallow actor-network, the rational behavior of human actors was the key to the smooth progress of the fallow pilot, the fallow management and protection modes as well as strategies should be adjusted to local conditions. Mode I is suitable for the dam areas with good agricultural basic conditions, but the existing subsidy standards needs to be raised as appropriate; Mode II suits any area, but needs to allocate fallow subsidies reasonably and raise the existing subsidy standards as appropriate. Some profitable crops such as peanuts can be grown under the premise of taking risk prevention measures; Mode III is more suitable for areas with severe rocky desertification, but the participation requires those companies or enterprises with strong financial foundation and related agricultural industries; Mode IV is more suitable for relatively remote and backward mountainous areas governed by the village officials with strong management capabilities, yet lack of fees for land circulation, on the condition that the basic requirements must be met in these fallow areas. (3) No matter which kind of fallow management and protection mode is adopted, the key to selecting appropriate fallow areas in the severely ecologically-degraded areas is to maintain a balance between improving land fertility and promoting farmers' income, meanwhile to strictly select fallow districts and control the fallow duration, to ensure the sustainable use of fallow cultivated land when it comes to cultivation period again and to make efforts to get the fallow farmers employed. In addition, it is advisable to make improvement in other related fallow actors, such as township governments, agricultural service centers, some committees in villages, and risk prevention systems, in order to further improve the stability of the fallow actor-network.
