Fujian Province Farmer Training Research

The training of farmers in Fujian province was studied in this thesis based on the investigation of 550 households of tea growers in Wuyishan city, Anxi county and Huaan county in Fujian province. Through theoretical derivation and econometric modeling, the farmer households’participation behaviors and their influencing factors for the present training projects were analyzed and the effects of the present training projects on increasing farmers’income were discussed using the heterogeneous treatment model. The technical efficiency among farmer households was calculated by means of stochastic frontier C-D production function and the difference in technical efficiency resulting from farmer households’different study modes was estimated by means of the technical efficiency model. The proficiency of farmer households mastering agricultural production skills after they attended the training projects was analyzed by means of the multivariate linear regression model, focusing on the influence of the training projects upon the behaviors of farmer households using chemical components. The farmer households’ demand for the training projects was analyzed from the aspect of farmer households. The main conclusions were as follows.1. The PROBIT model of the farmer households participating in the tea planting training was regressed by the method of maximum likelihood estimation. The empirical results indicated that the cultural level of farmers, tea planting scale, and farmers’identity as a village cadre or a Party member had a significant positive effects on farmer households’participation in the training. The tea planting experience of farmer households had a significant negative effects and the gender, age and distance from the nearest agricultural technical service station had no significant effects.The empirical study on the relationship between the farmer training and the farmer households’income indicated that a farmer household’s participation in the training of tea production could significantly improve the farmer household’s income from tea production at the statistical level of 1%. The farmer households who participated in the training obtained the income 26.45% higher than those who didn’t. The farmer’s cultural quality had a positive effect on the farmer’s income and so did farmer households’social relations. The income of male fanner from tea planting is higher than that of female farmer. The farmer’s age had a significantly negative effect on the income. Tea planting experience had no obvious effect on tea growers’income. To a certain extent, the mode of "learning by doing" is less efficient than participation in training in respect of income increase.2. The empirical estimation in this research indicated the technical efficiency loss in the tea production, with a present technical efficiency of 68.53%. Therefore, if the technical inefficiency is able to be removed, the output can be increased by around 31% in case of keeping the current levels of technology and investment. The accumulation of farmers’human capital can enhance the technical efficiency. Farmer households’ participation in the training had a significant positive effect on the technical efficiency at the statistical level of 1%, and the technical efficiency of the farmers who participated in the tea production and processing training was obviously higher than that of those who acquired the technique through the mode of "learning by doing". Meanwhile, the technical efficiency of the farmers who learnt techniques from the training participants was higher than that of those who learnt by themselves.3. In terms of the influence of the training projects on farmer household’s behaviors of using chemical components, the empirical results indicated significantly negative correlations between farmer households’participation in the tea production training and their behaviors using the chemical components in tea plantations. The farmer households who had participated in the training used significantly less chemicals than those who hadn’t. Meanwhile, farmer households’tea planting experience and their participation in the training had an interactive function and effect on their behaviors using the chemical components.4. The analyses of the farmers’demand for training indicated that farmers had a strong desire to participate in the training and expected more chances of being trained. Most farmers thought t the most ideal location for training was in their town, secondly in their village and then in their county. The most popular trainers by farmers were tea experts and professors, followed by the local crackajacks at tea planting, technicians in tea enterprises and technicians in the agricultural technical extension station in a county or a town. The most popular training forms by farmers were lecture and field demonstration, followed by consultation, technical publicity materials, and TV and interne. In terms of training duration, farmers preferred "short, easy and speedy" trainings, commonly within 3 days. In terms of training timing, famers favored slack seasons or in tea-growing seasons based on technical demand. In terms of training level, farmers preferred the short-term training, and then the certificated training. In terms of training cost, farmers would not accept high payment. Most farmers expected free charge and only a small portion of farmers were willing to accept the payments of less than 200 RMB. There is a wide demand by tea growers for onsite training in respect to key production techniques, but with severely short offer. This problem cannot be solved efficiently through the market mechanism in a short term and necessary intervention and support from the government departments are needed.To solve the food pollution and ensure safe agricultural production, farmer training is a main approach and should be strengthened in both intensity and scope. In the end, several suggestion and advices were made in this thesis, including intensifying the demand-targeting mechanisms for farmer training, putting special emphasis on training of core farmer households, diversifying the forms of training, properly arranging the time of training, strengthening the financial support, shortening the regional disparity, setting up and perfecting the scientific and technical training systems and the incentive and constraint mechanisms for fanners, and promoting the legislation and construction of various systems for farmer training in due time.