The Deviation of the Behaviors of Rice Farmers from Their Stated Willingness to Apply Biopesticides-A Study Carried Out in Jilin Province of China

The mechanism of internal and external efficacy influences residents' pro-environmental behavior through environmental willingness

The Chinese government's environmental conservation efforts require the active participation of all society. This study investigated how internal and external efficacy influence pro-environmental behavior with environmental willingness as a mediator. This study employed a structural equation model to analyze the data from 1499 survey questionnaires. The analysis revealed that both internal and external efficacy can enhance individuals' pro-environmental behavior in the private and public spheres. External efficacy has a stronger impact on environmental willingness and public sphere environmental behavior, while internal efficacy more significantly influences private sphere environmental behavior. Additionally, environmental willingness only mediates efficacy and public sphere environmental behavior. The innovation of this study is the examination of internal and external efficacy from the perspective of different sources and the comparison of their differential impacts on pro-environmental behavior. Relevant policies should effectively enhance residents' internal and external efficacy to comprehensively improve their level of pro-environmental behavior.

Analysis of Influencing Factors and Mechanism of Farmers' Green Production Behaviors in China

The green production behavior of pig farmers is the basis for high-quality development in animal husbandry. In order to solve the problem of poor green production behaviors in small- and medium-sized pig farmers, it is necessary to analyze the influencing factors and how they interact with each other. The Rational Peasant Theory and Prospect Theory were used in this paper to analyze the occurrence motivation of the green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers. The Logit model and the ISM analysis method were used to test the influencing factors and their mechanisms. This was conducted using data from a study of 747 small- and medium-sized pig farmers in Henan Province. The results show that the green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers are motivated by internal expected return, affected by the monitoring pressure from external stakeholders and limited by their own resource capacity; the influencing factors of different green production behaviors are different, and there are more influencing factors of scientific disease control, standardized management and waste recycling than of rational feeding. The following shows how the influencing factors on pig farmers' green production behavior interact with one another: level of education → external pressure, farming conditions and operating characteristics → cognition of return → green production behavior (i.e., cognition of return is the direct factor; external pressure, farming conditions and operating characteristics are indirect factors; and level of education is the underlying factor). Some measures should be implemented to promote green production behaviors, such as the continuation of the support for green production, the strengthening of supervision and publicity, the increasing of investment in technology and equipment, and the improving of the green production literacy of farmers. In conclusion, this paper deepens the understanding of the mechanism of green production behaviors of small- and medium-sized pig farmers, and provides the theoretical basis and concrete measures for the government and for pig farmers.

Cooperative game theory approach to develop an incentive mechanism for biopesticide adoption through farmer producer organizations

Biopesticides have been recognized as viable alternatives to chemical pesticides in controlling agricultural pests for plants and reducing harmful chemical residues. However, small and marginal farmers are facing challenges while adopting biopesticides, namely, high cost and complicated application techniques, resulting in a low level of farmer acceptance. Accordingly, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), voluntarily formed by farmers, develop mutual technical assistance among their members to solve the technical problems of biopesticide adoption. This study assumes that as a new form of farmer cooperative, FPOs have the potential to promote biopesticide adoption through the implementation of collective pesticide adoption (CPA). Along this line, this paper uses a cooperative game-based hybrid method to develop an incentive mechanism of biopesticide adoption for FPOs to implement CPAs. First, we construct a CPA decision model for mixed pesticides (i.e., biopesticides and chemical pesticides) based on multichoice goal programming (MCGP) to compromise the conflicting objectives regarding cost efficiency and chemical residue reduction, thereby obtaining the optimal total cost of pesticide adoption. Second, recognizing the optimal total adoption cost as a baseline, we devise a cooperative game-based cost allocation scheme to maintain farmers' voluntary participation in FPOs. This study demonstrates that the CPA implemented based on our proposed models can at least match if not surpass the economic and environmental performance of farmers' independent pesticide adoption (IPA). We further demonstrate that the proposed cooperative game solution is more suitable for the FPO's cost allocation issue than the eminent solutions, such as the Shapley value.

Gap between Willingness and Behaviors: Understanding the Consistency of Farmers' Green Production in Hainan, China

The green transformation of production modes plays an essential role in the sustainable development of China's agriculture and the modernization process, but there is often a deviation between farmers' behavior and their willingness regarding green production. This paper analyzed the factors influencing the deviation of farmers' green production behaviors from their willingness, along with their hierarchical logic structure, using the ordered logit model and ISM model with field survey data of 436 households in Hainan Province. The results show that: (1) there are deviations between farmers' green production behavior and willingness; (2) age, number of dependents, peer influence, and social networks aggravate farmers' green production behavior-willingness deviation, while ethnicity, education, land fragmentation, agricultural expenditure, land transfer, neighborhood learning, and green production cognition mitigate the deviation; (3) among the significant influencing factors, farmers' perceptions of green production, peer influence, land transfer, and agricultural expenditure are the direct surface factors, while neighborhood learning, land fragmentation, and number of dependents are the middle indirect factors, and farmers' education, social networks, age, and ethnicity are the deep-rooted factors. This study sheds more light and detail on the understanding of the factors influencing farmers' green production behavior-willingness deviation, and provides more practical and relevant guidance for the agricultural green development in tropical China.

Study on the Influencing Factors of Farmers’ Adoption of Conservation Tillage Technology in Black Soil Region in China: A Logistic-ISM Model Approach

The adoption of conservation tillage technology can improve the production efficiency of black soils (mollisols), and it has great significance to ensure the sustainable development of agriculture. This paper takes farmers in the black soil region of Jilin Province as the research object, uses 442 survey data of farmers in seven municipal areas in the black soil region of Jilin Province, constructs a logistic-ISM model, first determines the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, and then analyzes the hierarchical structure of each influencing factor. The results show that: (1) among the eight significant influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, age, whether they know the government’s subsidies for conservation tillage and the number of labor force are the deep-rooted factors; (2) Education level, whether you know that the government is promoting conservation tillage, and the planting area are intermediate level factors; (3) whether they have received the technical services of conservation tillage and whether the cultivated land is scattered is the direct factors. Based on the significance analysis of the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology and the research on the action mechanism of the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, this paper puts forward policy suggestions to improve the extension system of conservation tillage technology, improve the implementation of land transfer and subsidy policies, strengthen the ability of rural socialized services, and strengthen the publicity of black soils protection.

The Impact of Training on Beef Cattle Farmers’ Installation of Biogas Digesters

Anaerobic digestion is one of the leading ways to manage livestock manure for energy production and move towards the target of carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector. Based on field survey data from China, a binary probit model and the propensity score matching method are employed to empirically examine the impact of agricultural training on livestock farmers’ installation of biogas digesters to manage livestock manure. The survey results show that beef cattle farmers in our study area are reluctant to install biogas digesters and the actual installation ratio of farmers is much lower than that that is willing to install. On the contrary, the beef cattle farmers are enthusiastic to participate in training (e.g., policy-oriented, technology-oriented, and field-based) related to sustainable farming practices. Regression results suggest that training can effectively promote the installation of biogas digesters, and with the increase of training intensity, the probability to install biogas digesters increases. We further find three other factors that affect farmers’ installation of biogas digesters: the education level of a farmer, which is one of the most important factors positively affecting the installation of biogas digesters; longer farming experience of a farmer, which can significantly promote biogas digester installation; and the farther away a farm is from town/urban centers, which means the more likely it is that the farmer will install biogas digesters. Policy implications are discussed.