Research On Green Production Technology Diffusion Of Wheat And Its Driving Mechanism

Over the years,the traditional planting method of wheat with plenty of water and fertilizer not only restricts the improvement of wheat quality making it difficult to meet the growing demand of consumers for green and high-quality wheat products,but also leads to serious tightening of water resources and a series of ecological problems such as groundwater pollution,soil desertification,excessive content of heavy metals and so on.As an important main wheat producing area in China,Hebei Province ranks among the top four in terms of sowing area,unit yield level and comprehensive advantages all year round,and gathers Jinsha River,jinmailang and other leading wheat processing enterprises.Whether it can develop green production technology of wheat is the key to solve the above problems and realize the green development of wheat industry.However,the complexity of green production technology of wheat puts forward higher requirements for the subject and external environment of technology diffusion,and the interest game between the subjects makes it more difficult for technology diffusion.Therefore,this study explores the deep reasons for the difficult diffusion of wheat green production technology from a systematic perspective,and constructs a technology diffusion driving mechanism to solve the last kilometer problem of wheat green production technology diffusion.This study is based on farmers’behavior,agricultural technology diffusion,agricultural information system and evolutionary game theory,using a combination of sample surveys,typical cases,and statistical analysis methods such as multivariate statistics,DEMATEL-ISM,evolutionary games,and system dynamics.Firstly,the level of wheat green production in Hebei Province was evaluated from the macro and micro perspectives,and the problems existing in the diffusion of wheat green production technology were put forward;Secondly,by analysing the stakeholder groups and the external environment of the wheat green production technology diffusion system,the key factors influencing farmers’ wheat green production technology adoption behaviour were clarified,and the reasons why wheat green production technology is difficult to diffuse were explored in depth.Once again,the dynamic evolution process of wheat green production technology diffusion was simulated through system dynamics,the driving mechanism of wheat green production technology diffusion was constructed,and the relevant theoretical research results were verified by dissecting a typical case of wheat green production technology diffusion in Jinshahe Cooperative.The main findings and conclusions of the study are as follows:(1)The overall level of green production of wheat in Hebei Province is low and in the lower middle of the main wheat producing areas.On the one hand,the average fertilizer application intensity of wheat in Hebei Province in the past 10 years was as high as 450.56 kg/hm2;the reduction rate of pesticide application intensity of wheat was 20.2%lower than the national average;although the water consumption of wheat irrigation decreased by 18.4%compared with 2014,the average annual over-abstraction of groundwater due to wheat irrigation was 461 million m3.On the other hand,the average adoption rate of pre-production and in-production green production technologies for wheat,with the exception of straw return technology,was only 34.01%.Only 24.77%of farmers were concerned about post-production green storage technologies,with an adoption rate as low as 4.82%.(2)The diffusion of green production technologies for wheat in Hebei province is mainly characterised by the following problems:difficulties in technology research and development,insufficient policy support,low industrial integration of agricultural technology extension service organisations,inadequate price mechanisms,and low levels of farm household organisation and lack of awareness of environmental protection and agricultural product quality and safety.(3)The diffusion of green production technology of wheat involves leading group species(government scientific research institutions and agricultural enterprises),key group species(Government Agricultural Technology Extension institutions,farmers’ professional cooperatives and farmers)and supporting group species(consumers,financial institutions,logistics enterprises and agricultural management departments),and constitutes a complex system with specific functions and evolving with specific natural,social,government and market environment.(4)Farmers,as a key group species,are influenced by factors that affect their adoption behaviour to varying degrees and in different ways.The type of agricultural business entity is the most significant causal and deep-rooted factor;awareness of agricultural product quality and safety is the largest outcome and direct driver;the cost of green production technology for wheat,the risk attitude of household heads,awareness of agricultural product quality and safety,the expected benefits of green production technology,the quality of technology extension information,and the type of agricultural business entity are key factors,with the input cost of green production technology for wheat is the most critical factor.(5)There is an obvious game relationship among farmers,government departments and new business entities represented by agricultural enterprises.Reducing the adoption cost of green production technology of wheat and increasing the expected income can significantly increase the proportion of farmers adopting technology.The reduction of supervision cost of wheat green production can promote the management and control of green production by government departments.Significantly increasing the penalty of non distribution of green income by agricultural enterprises and making it greater than the cost of farmers’order breach can encourage agricultural enterprises to drive farmers to adopt technology.(6)The results of diffusion and evolution of green production technology of wheat show that the improvement of scientific research level and cooperation between industry,university and research can significantly enhance the comprehensive advantages of green production technology of wheat.The certification and tracking system of green and high-quality wheat has a significant positive role in promoting the quality of technology extension service.The improvement of wheat farmers’ education can enhance their ability to absorb green production technology.The government and financial service organizations are moderately inclined to the research and development of wheat green production technology in terms of financial and policy support,so as to accelerate the diffusion process of wheat green production technology.The focus should be on the five driving poles of technology R&D incentives,green certification and traceability,farmer cultivation,government input and financial support to build a mechanism to drive the diffusion of green production technology in wheat.(7)Among the environmental factors affecting the diffusion of green wheat production technologies,price satisfaction,quality of training on green wheat production,and the relationship between farmers and the cooperative have a significant positive relationship with the adoption of green production technologies,while the social network of farmers and the level of supervision of green production have a significant negative effect on the application of green production technologies.In this regard,the Jinshahe Cooperative has built up a multi-equity alliance interest linkage mechanism,provided "six unified" professional production and marketing services and key linkage tracking and supervision,innovated technology demonstration and social network integration information sharing mechanism relying on new media,and strengthened the cultivation of high-quality farmers in order to promote the diffusion of green wheat production technology.The innovations of this paper are as follows:(1)Green production technology of wheat is a key player in the green development of the wheat industry.By combining green production technology of wheat with traditional agricultural technology diffusion problems,the system dynamics model is used to simulate the dynamic evolution of the diffusion of green production technology based on a system analysis framework,and the important driving poles of the diffusion of green production technology are analysed.(2)The influence degree and logical relationship among the influencing factors of farmers’ wheat green production technology adoption behavior is analyzed with integrating the DEMATEL-ISM method,the cause factors,result factors,deep root factors and direct driving factors are identified,and the key factors affecting farmers’ wheat green production technology adoption behavior are selected.(3)A mechanism has been established to drive the diffusion of green production technologies in wheat,namely an incentive mechanism for research and development,a certification tracking mechanism,a farmer cultivation mechanism,a government input mechanism and a financial support mechanism,so as to accelerate the formation of a green production model for wheat that saves water,fertiliser,medicine,labour and time,in order to achieve green development in the wheat industry.