Study On The Professionalization Level Of Fruit Farmers And Its Influencing Factors In The Main Apple Producing Areas Of The Loess Plateau

In the process of China’s agricultural and rural modernization construction,traditional farmers have been unable to meet the needs of the development of modern agriculture.As the main body of the development of modern agriculture,farmers should be a new type of farmers with "culture,knowledge of technology,management skills,and professionalism in line with modern agriculture".As an important agricultural pillar in the Loess Plateau region of China,apple industry still has some problems,such as poor ecological environment,low standardization,price fluctuation and so on,which affect the standardization,industrialization and modernization of the apple industry in China.Therefore,as human production factors,the quality and professionalization level of apple farmers directly affect the development of the apple industry.Traditional fruit growers have been unable to meet the modern development of the apple industry,so it is very important to professionalize apple growers.Based on the human capital theory,competency theory and social division of labor theory,combined with the micro survey data of 1306 fruit farmers in 16 counties(districts)in the main apple producing areas of the Loess Plateau of China,this paper constructs the structural model of fruit farmers’ professionalism level measurement through exploratory factor analysis,and retains 12 influencing factors.It was classified into four dimensions:cultivation and planting knowledge,orchard pruning and shaping technology and flower thinning and fruit thinning technology three variables were classified into the dimension of "cultural and scientific quality";The three variables of mastering the market situation,grasping the opportunity to sell agricultural products and expanding sales channels are classified as the dimension of "management quality".The three variables including initiatively asking to sign a contract,being able to settle disputes by legal means and being able to fairly express one’s own ideas were classified as the dimension of "political and legal quality".The "ecological quality" dimension includes three variables: the ability to discover environmental problems such as soil pollution,the ability to identify the causes of ecological environmental problems,and the ability to master relevant technologies to deal with ecological environmental problems.Each dimension is ranked according to its influence weight,which is ecological quality,management quality,political and legal quality and cultural and scientific quality.Then,confirmatory factor analysis was used to empirically test and calculate the professionalism level of fruit farmers in the major apple producing areas of the Loess Plateau,and a comparative analysis was carried out for different regions.On the whole,the number of fruit farmers in the low professionalism level in the major apple producing areas of the Loess Plateau was large,indicating that the professionalism level of fruit farmers was low and needed to be improved.From the perspective of different regions,the professionalism level of the regions where fruit farmers are located is Gansu Province,Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province from small to large.The fluctuation range of professionalism level in the regions where fruit farmers are located is Gansu Province,Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province.The lowest level of professionalism distribution is in Shaanxi Province,Gansu Province and Shanxi Province.Based on the results of factor analysis,the ordered multiple Logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors that might affect the professionalism of fruit farmers in the major apple producing areas on the Loess Plateau,and the following conclusions were drawn:(1)Based on the analysis of existing literature,three dimensions of influencing factors on the professionalism of fruit farmers in the major apple producing areas on the Loess Plateau were selected: Thirteen variables are involved in individual factors,planting characteristics factors and socialized service factors,and corresponding research hypotheses are proposed based on these variables.(2)In terms of individual factors,only gender had a significant impact.(3)In terms of planting characteristics,income status and the intention to adopt science and technology passed the significance test and both showed positive effects.(4)In terms of social service factors,whether to join cooperatives or fruit farmers’ associations,whether to receive professional training and the degree of understanding of relevant national policies all have significant positive effects.Finally,according to the research conclusions on the professionalization level of fruit farmers in the main apple producing areas of the Loess Plateau,this paper puts forward the following countermeasures and suggestions:(1)Improve the vocational education and training system of fruit farmers;(2)Encourage the development of professional fruit industry organizations;(3)Innovate the apple industry management system;(4)Strengthen policy publicity and support for fruit industry.