Research On Farmers’ Willingness And Behavior For Cleaner Agricultural Production And Its Influencing Factors

Since the implementation of the household production contract responsibility system in 1978,China’s agriculture has been in a stage of rapid development,and grain output has also achieved 19 consecutive increases.However,in this process,the excessive pursuit of high yield and high input has led to the emergence of problems such as over-exploitation of agricultural resources,deteriorating ecological environment,and low competitiveness of crop markets.Since 2010,agricultural pollution has become the largest contributor to non-point source pollution in China,and it is necessary to change traditional agricultural production methods and vigorously promote farmers’ clean agricultural production.In view of the above problems,with the help of social capital theory,behavioral decision theory and planned behavior theory,taking Fuyang City,Anhui Province,China as an example,starting from the four dimensions of social network,social norm,social trust and social support,the influencing factors of farmers’ agricultural cleaner production are explored through multiple linear regression model,and feasible and constructive suggestions are put forward to further promote farmers’ agricultural cleaner production.From the empirical analysis results,the conclusions obtained are mainly as follows:First,there is a phenomenon of "high willingness and low behavior" in the current agricultural cleaner production.Second,there are large differences in farmers’ willingness and behavior when participating in different agricultural cleaner production projects.The comprehensive utilization level of straw is the highest,followed by chemical fertilizer reduction and substitution,and finally the level of water-saving irrigation.Third,social network,interpersonal trust,institutional trust,social support and policy norms all have a significant positive impact on farmers’ willingness and behavior of cleaner agricultural production,while positive village rules and regulations have no significant impact on farmers’ willingness and behavior of cleaner agricultural production.In addition,farmers’ age,annual household income,and annual household agricultural income are also important factors affecting farmers’ willingness and behavior in clean agricultural production.To sum up,the following suggestions are put forward: First,increase farmers’ participation in cleaner agricultural production from three aspects: decision-making,publicity and policy.Second,increase support for agricultural cleaner production projects with low economic benefits,such as water-saving irrigation.Third,increase trust in neighbors,fellow villagers and relatives,and build a village-level trust platform.Fourth,make informal norms such as active village rules and people’s covenants more binding.Fifth,set an "example" around the villagers and play an active role as a demonstration and leader.