Consumers' Farmers' Demand Willingness For Agricultural Technology Extension Services In China

Over the 25 years of reform and opening up, the Chinese rural economy has undergone profound changes. Rural economic structure has gradually transformed from the traditional agriculture-oriented structure to a diversified structure with comprehensive development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Similarly, rural household production and operation also have diversified in structure. These changes will inevitably influence farmers' behavior in technological demands. With China's accession to the WTO, Chinese agricultural production will face fiercer competition in both the domestic and the international markets. China cannot afford to under-estimate the shock of such competition on its agricultural production and negative impacts thereof on income and employment of many low to medium-income farmers who mainly depend on agricultural production for a living. As such, strong technical support is required for future agricultural development and structural adjustment in China. As an important link in developing agricultural science and technology, extension of agricultural technology assumes the important task of upgrading agricultural technology and providing technical support for adjusting agricultural structure and enhancing competitiveness of agricultural products.This research aims at exploring the types of technological services that are most needed by farmers, and analyzing factors that influence farmers' demand for such services, so as to provide substantial-evidence basis for concerned authorities to formulate relevant policies and further structural reform of the extension of agricultural technology. For this purpose, the research analyzes farmers' demand for technological services of various types under the current situation and the factors influencing such demand, analyzes staffing structure and investment ratio of current extension of agricultural technology for comparison with farmers' technological demands, and finally puts forward policy recommendations for restructuring extension of agricultural technology in China.The study developed a model on farmers' demand for technological services based on data from 419 rural households in 28 counties of 7 provinces covering Hebei, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangdong, Sichuan and Gansu. Sample provinces, counties, townships and households within township were all selected through random sampling. As the interpreted variable we studied was dispersed variable, and was the most important type of technological service that farmers selected from a variety of technological services, the Multiple Logit Model was adopted to estimate the determinants of the farmers' demand for technological services.Research results indicate that the most needed technological service that the technological extension authorities are required to provide for farmers is the service of livestock and fishery technology, followed by the service of cultivation management techniques and new varieties. Major factors influencing farmers' demand for technological service include farmers' income or wealth, local technological extension services, farmers' technical associations, sizes of farmland and livestock production and characteristics of the rural households. Among these factors, farmers' income is negative relative to farmers' willingness to demand for technological services, which should attract attention from decision-makers. Services from technological extension and farmers' technical associations are conducive to enhancing farmers' technological demands. Other factors such as attributes of farmland and scale of animal production also affect farmers' demand for technological services. Despite the influence of rural households' characteristics on their demand for technological services, these variables do not play a decisive role. The research also shows that although there is limited disparity between staffing structure/investment ratio of current technological extension and farmers' willingness to demand for technological services, farmers find it difficult...