| The extension and application of modern forestry technology is important in transformation from traditional forestry to modern forestry,however,the new forest management technologies adoption is low for rural households,and the extension and application system of new technologies did not widely spread,which restricts the improvement of the forest production efficiency in China’s southern collective forest regions,at present.On the other hand,with the continuous acceleration of the process of industrialization and urbanization,a large number of male labor forces have been transferred to non-agricultural industries,resulting in the female labor forces of housheolds in mountain area playing an increasingly important role in the traditional forest production process.Based on this,what is the mechanism of off-farming employment on feminization of forest management? However,does the feminization of forest management caused by the gender division of labor force in families hinder the adoption rate of some new forest management technologies? Answering those above questions is valuable to understand the important factors and reasons that hinder the improvement of the adoption rate of new forest management technologies,and clearify the targets and improve policies for new forest management technologies extension in the future.Based on the survey data of 408 households who made non-timber forest products operation in 13 counties(cities)in Zhejiang Province in 2018,and building a theoretical analytical framework with the theory of gender division and induced technologies change;this study used tobit model to analyze how off-farming employment impact on the feminization of forestry labors;and probit model is used to analyze how feminization of forestry labors impact on farmers’ adoption of new forest management technologies.Finally,policy recommendations were proposed according to the estimator results.The main research conclusions and policy recommendations were as follows:(1)The higher the proportion of male non-agricultural labor in rural households,the more it can increase the family female labors in forestry management,which means there is an obvious feminization in forest management.It argued that with the acceleration of the urbanization process,a large number of rural laborers have migrated to urban areas.With the role of gender division of family labor,young and middle-aged male laborers in the family migranted to the non-agricultural sector,so in order to make up for the shortage of labor in forest management,the female labors left behind by the family gradually participated in forest production.In additional,the total family population,the proportion of family forestry income,the size of largest plot,the distance of largest plot from home and and the availability of forestry policies also have a significant impact on the female family labors in forest management.(2)The higher feminization in forest management,the higher adoption of labor-saving new-technologies in forest management,and less incline to adopt adopt labor-intensive new-technologies in forest management.It argued that with relatively scarcity of family male labors,farmers will incline to adopt labor-saving technologies to alleviate the constraints of scarcity of production factors in forest management.At the same time,the variables including the education of households’ heads,the size of forestland owned by households,the proportion of forestry income,and the households who shared with forest policies support have a significant positive impact on the adoption of labor-intensive and labor-saving technologies.(3)According to the research conclusion,the following policy recommendations have been proposed:(1)To strengthen the forest production trainings for rural female labors,and improve the quality and forest management skills of female labors;(2)The government should provide subsidies policies in forest management and improve the incentives of farmers to adopt new forest management technologies;(3)To clearify the target groups for forestry technologies extension,and improve the application efficiency of forest technologies;(4)To strengthen the construction of forest technology extension stations,and broaden the forest technology information dissemination channels. |
