The Influence Of Livelihood Capital On The Adoption Of Agricultural Socialized Services For Small Farmers In Mountainous Areas

Since the implementation of the household contract responsibility system in the1980 s,China’s agriculture and rural labor force has been greatly liberated and developed,leading to the significant progress of the three agricultural sectors and promoting the development of China’s agricultural modernization.However,the agricultural operation status of small farmers in China has not changed,and they remain the most fundamental agricultural production and operation entities.Therefore,there is an inseparable and close relationship between small farmers and modern agriculture,and socialized services have become an important bridge to connect small farmers with modern agriculture.To explore the future development direction of agricultural socialized services,we conducted a survey on the adoption of agricultural socialized services by small farmers in mountainous areas and analyzed the influencing factors.Based on the actual situation of Lushi County,a sampling survey method was used to select six sample towns,and two sample villages were selected according to the agricultural development overview of each sample town.Finally,about ten households were selected from each sample village as sample households to understand their basic family situation,livelihood capital status,and the actual adoption of various agricultural socialized services.We statistically analyzed the life cycle of the households and used it as a control variable in multiple linear regression models and group regression models to analyze the impact of livelihood capital on the adoption of agricultural socialized services among households in different life cycle stages.The results show that the average level of adoption of agricultural socialization services by rural households in the sample areas is 0.286,which is at a low level.Rural households’ overall livelihood capital and various livelihood capitals have a positive and significant impact on their adoption of agricultural socialization services.The impact of livelihood capital on the adoption of agricultural socialization services varies among households in different family life cycle stages.Among them,in the child-rearing period,the adoption of agricultural socialization services by rural households is mainly influenced by human capital and financial capital;in the burden-bearing period,the adoption behavior is mainly positively affected by human capital and material capital;in the stable period,it is mainly influenced by natural capital,material capital,and social capital;and in the elderly care period,the adoption behavior is positively affected by human capital,material capital,financial capital,and social capital.Therefore,we propose policy recommendations such as comprehensively improving rural households’ livelihood capital level through multiple approaches,fully considering the differences among households in different life cycle stages,and implementing multiple measures to improve the adoption of agricultural socialization services by rural households.