Search

BACKGROUND: Although a great deal of research has examined the impact of socialized pest control service, few studies have discussed the relationship between socialized pest control service and pesticide use intensity. In particular, the literature ignores the impact of advanced application technologies (drone sprayers) on the intensity of pesticide use by farmers. RESULTS: Based on a survey of 1185 rice growers in Hubei Province, China, this study found that 64.13% of the sample farmers used pesticides more than three times in one rice season. Importantly, socialized pest control services have a significant negative effect on the pesticide use intensity of farmers. Compared to the sample that did not purchase the service, farmers who purchased socialized pest control services demonstrated 9.30% less pesticide intensity. Further, there was a significant difference among farmers using different application devices on pesticide use intensity. Compared to the sample using ground backpack sprayers, farmers using drone sprayers used 12.40% less pesticide intensity. CONCLUSION: This study found that the frequency of pesticide use by farmers during rice cultivation was generally high. Socialized pest control services have played a positive role in reducing the intensity of pesticide use, especially with the more obvious pesticide reduction effect of the adoption of drone sprayers. Therefore, improving socialized pest control services and promoting advanced equipment such as drone sprayers may be an important way to reduce the use of pesticides in China. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural extension services play an important role in promoting pesticide reduction and green production, although the mismatch between farmers' needs and service supply in rural China seriously affects the application and promotion of biological pesticides, which has been generally ignored by existing studies. Taking 1160 rice farmers in Hubei Province, China, as an example, this study constructs a need-supply fit model of agricultural extension services from the perspectives of need and supply. We further use the logit model and propensity score matching method (PSM) to estimate the effect of service need-supply fit on farmers' biological pesticide adoption behavior. The specific results are as follows: First, the level of need-supply fit for agricultural extension services was low for the overall sample. This indicates that the agricultural extension service supply is not consistent with the actual needs of farmers. Second, the agricultural extension service need-supply fit significantly and positively affects farmers' biological pesticide adoption behavior. Third, there are significant differences in farmers' biological pesticide adoption behaviors under different need-supply fit. When the level of service need-supply fit exceeds the 0.2 threshold, the positive effect of service need-supply fit on farmers' biological pesticide adoption behavior gradually increases. Fourth, the agricultural extension service need-supply fit indirectly increases farmers' motivation to adopt biological pesticides by regularizing biological pesticide use behavior and alleviating path dependency. Therefore, the main body of agricultural extension services should optimize the adjustment of the supply mode of agricultural extension services to fully grasp the reality of farmers' need for biological pesticides in order to promote the application of biological pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies have explored the potential contributions of the Internet and smartphone use to agricultural production and environmental governance. However, there is a lack of in-depth exploration of the internal mechanism of smartphone use influencing farmers' decision-making. Based on survey data of farmers in the Hubei and Henan provinces, this study uses the endogenous switching probit model to empirically test the impact of smartphone use on farmers' willingness to participate in the centralized treatment of rural domestic sewage (WTP-RDSCT). The results of the study showed that 63.71% of the samples used smartphones, and 73.62% of the sampled farmers were willing to participate in rural domestic sewage-centralized treatment. Smartphone use can increase WTP-RDSCT by an average of 29.6%, and there is a positive correlation between use intensity and WTP-RDSCT. In addition to the direct impact, smartphone use also indirectly affects WTP-RDSCT through the intermediary effects of information search costs, environmental awareness and social capital. In addition, the information presentation form (video and text) has a significant positive impact on WTP-RDSCT, and the impact of the presentation form of video is greater than that of text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon agricultural practices have received increasing attention, and the rapid development of agricultural product quality certification in China has provided a potential way to implement low-carbon agriculture. This study employs an endogenous switching regession to examine the effects of quality certification on low-carbon production behaviors using the survey data of 1,042 rice farmers in Hubei Province, China. The empirical results show that, first, the quality certification participation has a positive and statistically significant impact on farmers' low-carbon production behaviors. In particular, the treatment effect of quality certification participation is to increase farmers' low-carbon production level to appropriately 71.85%. Second, a disaggregated analysis by quality certification type reveals no significant difference between public geographical indication certification and private green food and organic product certification in promoting farmers' low-carbon production behaviors. Nevertheless, the effect of multiple certifications on low-carbon production behaviors is significantly stronger than that of single certification. Third, disaggregated analysis indicates that new agricultural business entities are more likely to implement low-carbon production after participating in quality certification than traditional farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the successful experience of pesticide reduction in China, this study uses survey data from Hubei Province to measure rice farmers' technology preferences for pesticide reduction considering their needs, and compare the heterogeneous factors influencing farmers' adoption behavior. The results show that large-scale farmers prefer drone services and efficient machinery, while small-scale farmers prefer scientific standards and biopesticides for pesticide reduction. Second, farmers' adoption behavior of pesticide reduction technologies is mostly influenced by education, risk attitude, income, agricultural labor, scale, rice price, residue testing, brand, training, subsidy, and demonstration. Among them, education, risk attitude, scale, rice price, cost, and training, significantly affect farmers' adoption level of multiple pesticide reduction technologies. Further, higher rice prices and participation in training could promote the use of pesticide reduction technologies in a larger area by farmers. Therefore, the real needs of farmers should be focused on the promotion of pesticide reduction technologies, and pesticide reduction programs in different regions should carry out precise intervention policies. These findings can provide practical policy guidance for effective pesticide reduction in the central region of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the beneficial effects of the agricultural extension of farmers' biopesticides adoption have been largely demonstrated, the questions of what approaches can better extend biopesticides and how to improve their effectiveness still need to be explored. In a survey of 1148 rice farmers in Hubei Province, China, the technology supply and demand theory is used to explain the low efficiency of biopesticides extension. The endogenous switching probit model is used to estimate the impact of biopesticides technology publicity, training, demonstration and subsidies on farmers' adoption. The results show that biopesticides extension can promote rice farmers' adoption probability by 10.3 ~ 11.7%. And technology demonstration is currently the best way to extend biopesticides. Moreover, inadequate supply and demand of biopesticides are important for explaining the inefficiency of biopesticides extension in China. Extending biopesticides is better for farmers with smaller scales, younger ages, and lower education and for those who are cooperative members. Therefore, we should not only actively conduct biopesticides demonstration but also more importantly induce farmers' biopesticides demand and secure the market supply of biopesticide products. These findings will provide useful guidance for biopesticides extension and pesticides reduction in China and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Although scholars have become increasingly concerned about finding ways to encourage more farmers to use biopesticides and fewer to use chemical pesticides, few studies have investigated the prevalence of Chinese rice farmers' mixed use of biopesticides and chemical pesticides for pest management. RESULTS: Based on a household survey in Hubei Province, China, this study found that 59.18% of the sample rice farmers used a mix of biopesticides and chemical pesticides. There is mainly a complementarity relationship between rice farmers' decision to use biopesticides and chemical pesticides. The pursuit of multiple production purposes is the main reason why farmers decide on the mixed‐use of pesticides. Specifically, farmers generally tend to use biopesticides to ensure food safety for consumption, and chemical pesticides to reduce costs for profitability. The decision of farmers to mix pesticides has led to an increase of pesticide varieties and costs. However, it reduces the frequency of pesticide use, and does not result in a significant increase in rice yield and output value. CONCLUSION: While food safety should be emphasized in working towards greater use of biopesticides, rice farmers' mixed use of biopesticides and chemical pesticides will remain for a long time until the biotechnology is more developed. In fact, programs that investigate the effects of a combination of biopesticides and chemical pesticides should be implemented to achieve pesticide reduction, because biopesticides and chemical pesticides have specific disadvantages. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to global climate change, the Chinese Government has taken numerous measures to promote low-carbon management practices, but the overall adoption rate has been lower than expected. Empirical studies on the path dependence of farming experience, that is, long-standing planting concepts that will hinder farmers from adopting new technologies, have not been reported. Hence, to fill the research gaps, this paper uses survey data from 805 rice farmers in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, China, to examine the impact of farming experience on the adoption of soil testing and fertilizer recommendations. The results show that farming experience significantly negatively affects the adoption of low-carbon practices, especially among farmers with low resource endowment. However, farmers, who make decisions based jointly on farming experience and social networks, are more likely to adopt low-carbon practices. This means that as long as farming experience is used reasonably, for example, by broadening the social network of farmers and urging them to form a decision-making method that comprehensively utilizes farming experience and social networks, it can also demonstrate value. Our findings contribute meaningfully to the development of efforts to promote the adoption of low-carbon management practices in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticide overuse is still prevalent in many developing countries. And improving farmers' pest control ability is considered to be the key to achieve pesticide reduction. Based on the survey data of 822 rice farmers from Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces in the Yangtze River Basin, we demonstrated the impact of pest control ability and technical guidance on farmers' pesticide overuse. We find that rice farmers' insufficient pest control ability does not necessarily lead to pesticide overuse, which depends on whether there is external technical guidance. The technical guidance of government agrotechnical stations and pesticide retailers can weaken pesticide overuse caused by lack of personal ability. In terms of sample, variable and method substitution, the above estimated results are still robust. In addition, we find that different subjects and links of pesticide technical guidance will bring different impacts. The technical guidance of agrotechnical stations mainly plays a role in the time and type of pesticide application, while the pesticide retailers mainly play a role in the time and dosage of pesticide application. This paper emphasizes that strengthening the guidance and regulation of pesticide technology guidance subject is also an efficient way of pesticide reduction. This will help to improve the effect of agricultural extension and accelerate the realization of pesticide reduction target in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the effects of agricultural insurance on pesticide application in China. • Purchasing agricultural insurance helps to encourage farmers to apply biological pesticides. • Purchasing agricultural insurance reduce the use of chemical pesticides. • Agricultural insurance can reduce the risk of applying biological pesticides. • Moral hazard is an important factor in encouraging farmers to apply biological pesticides. Based on the survey data from farmers in Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, this paper constructs a theoretical model of the impact of agricultural insurance on farmers' biopesticide application behavior. Furthermore, it adopts the endogenous switching probit model to empirically analyze the effect of agricultural insurance on farmers' biopesticide application behavior. We also estimate the probability that farmers will buy agricultural insurance and apply biological pesticides under the counterfactual framework. The results show that, first, 59.12% of the farmers in the sample area have purchased agricultural insurance and that 62.45% of the farmers have used biological pesticides. Second, the overall average treatment effect is 0.082. This indicates that, if all farmers buy agricultural insurance, the probability that farmers will apply biological pesticides increases by 8.2%. It can be seen that purchasing agricultural insurance encourages farmers to apply biological pesticides. Third, purchasing agricultural insurance can encourage farmers to increase the use of biological pesticides and reduce the use of chemical pesticides. In addition, purchasing agricultural insurance increases the ratio of the amount of biological pesticides to chemical pesticides. This finding shows that agricultural insurance can increase the relative importance of biological pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]