A Research On The Pro-poor Agricultural Technology Policy In China

This research focuses on China's Agricultural Technology Policy and explores the reasons for the low rate of transformation of agricultural technology. It argues that the Agricultural Technology Policy is not pro-poor, while most end-users are still poor, which results in the low rate of adoption of the agricultural technology.A research framework combining the macro-level analysis with the micro-level analysis is constructed and applied in the paper. Macro-level analysis refers to understanding the policy by reviewing the policy discourses of the government, such as prescriptions, regulations and decisions using a top-down approach. In contrast, micro-level analysis identifies the impacts of policy at the grassroots level and refers to policy analysis by reviewing the discourses of farmers using a bottom-up approach. The panorama of the policy can be clearly exposed through the two levels of analysis. This research is both positive and normantive, with systematic literature review in which qualitative methods dominate.The macro-level analysis indicates that the Agricultural Technology Policy is characterized by "supply bias". That is, the focus of the policy is on the supply side of agricultural technology. The government is overwhelmingly preoccupied with the new technology generation, but neglects the coordination and integration of the new technology and the social realities of applying the technology. Thus, farmers' livelihoods are not taken into account in the policy framework. Instead, the emphasis of the policy framework is to improve the technological capabilities of the end-users.However, according to the results of the micro-level analysis, even when farmers' technological capabilities are improved, fanners still face many difficulties in adopting modern technologies due to the realities of their living situations. These difficulties include the vulnerability of their livelihoods, low profitability from agricultural production, shortage of financial capital, and lack of human capital. Without the improvement of the farmers' livelihoods, new technologies cannot be adopted and hence be translated into productivity.Tension exists between the macro-level intentions of the policy and micro-level situational realities that will ultimately result in the failure of the "Strategy for Invigorating the Country through Science, Technology and Education." Therefore, the Agricultural Technology Policy should be designed to promote the development of the appropriate technology to meet the needs of farmers, based on their livelihood realities. In order to achieve this goal, several suggestions are proposed in the last part of this paper: Firstly, toconstruct an integrated policy framework that considers the concerns of farmers in addition to furthering agricultural research and extension systems; secondly, to adjust the logic of the Agricultural Technology Policy so that it is no longer biased against farmers and works to improve their livelihoods, as well as strengthening communication between the suppliers of technology and the fanners and improving the integration of the technological systems; thirdly, to adopt the induced policy instruments that are based on the farmers' livelihood realities; and fourthly, to promote the development of farmers' organizations to voice their needs and opinions.