Organic agriculture can sustain rural development and ease poverty. However, whether it could be a viable pathway to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the context of urbanisation and demographic change has been less studied. To understand this, household surveys were conducted in 2007 and 2014 in Wanzai, Jiangxi Province China, where organic farming started in 2000. The results show that organic farming did contribute to higher farm incomes for small-scale farmers (<1ha land) compared to those practicing conventional agriculture, regardless of whether the profitability is measured on a per land unit or per household basis. The annual farmers household net income increased from 2007 to 2014, however, the farm income of small-scale farmers only makes up a minor part of total household income and its percentage becomes less and less over time. For medium-scale organic farmers (>1ha land), the proportion of income from farming was higher (56% in 2007 and 77% in 2014), leading to average farm incomes of USD16,108 in 2014. Among organic farmers, cooperatives members performed better economically than those not in cooperatives. Organic agriculture can ensure stable and sustainable alternative livelihoods, especially in a situation where available land offers opportunities for scaling up. •Organic farming could provide higher farm income to small-scale farmers (<1 ha land) compared to conventional agriculture.•Organic agriculture impact for livelihood improvement depends on their available total organic arable land.•The farm income for organic medium sized farmers (>1 ha land) was 2 times more of the national average household income.•Organic agriculture could be an alternative livelihood strategy from the socio-economic perspective.•Farmers in cooperatives performed better in economic terms than those not in cooperatives.