Effect Of Capital Endowment And Government Support On Farmers’ Adoption Behavior Of Soil And Water Conservation Technology

Soil and water loss is an important ecological environment problem in the development process of the Loess Plateau,which has a serious impact on agricultural production and sustainable development of national economy.The harm of soil and water loss is far-reaching in many aspects,and may even be irreversible.Practice shows that soil and water conservation technology can not only increase crop yield,but also improve the production and living environment of farmers,as well as improve the ecological environment.Therefore,promoting soil and water conservation technology in Loess Plateau area with serious soil erosion is of great strategic significance for improving land productivity,reducing floods and other disasters,and realizing coordinated development of ecological environment and economic environment.Farmers are the end users of soil and water conservation technology.Their adoption behavior is not only conducive to reducing unit production costs,but also can get the return of increasing production,increasing income,and providing positive externalities of environmental products.However,in the current agricultural production,farmers are not motivated enough to adopt soil and water conservation technology,their ability is not strong,and their adoption rate is not high,which makes the economic,social and ecological benefits of soil and water conservation technology not fully developed.Farmers’ technology adoption behavior is mainly influenced by farmers themselves and their environment.Capital endowment and government support,as two important aspects of farmers themselves and their environment,play an important role in farmers’ water and soil conservation technology adoption.On the one hand,capital endowment,as the resources and abilities of family members and the whole family,has a significant impact on individual behavior choice and decision-making.Peasant households usually face certain capital endowment constraints.In the process of decision-making,peasant households must consider their own and family capital endowment.If their own capital endowment is insufficient,peasant households may not adopt soil and water conservation technology,so they will show lower adoption behavior.On the other hand,soil and water conservation technology is a technology with positive externalities.Soil and water conservation technology can not only bring economic effects to farmers,but also bring ecological effects to farmers themselves and society.Moreover,some soil and water conservation technology have relatively large investment.Therefore,it is necessary for the government to effectively promote,publicize,invest,organize and supplement soil and waterconservation technologies with good performance to encourage farmers to adopt soil and water conservation technology,in order to achieve the purpose of soil erosion control.In addition,while farmers make decisions based on their own capital endowments,they will adjust their behavior according to government support policies.Then,under the current system of China,what impact does capital endowment have on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technology? How does government support affect farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technologies? What is the relationship between capital endowment and government support policies? What is the effect of soil and water conservation technology? The purpose of this study is to answer these questions.From the dual perspectives of capital endowment and government support,based on the systematic review of relevant research,based on the theories of behavior theory,sustainable livelihood theory,externality theory,public goods theory,ecological compensation theory and other related theories,a series of studies were carried out.Firstly,this study summarizes the progress of soil erosion control in the Loess Plateau region and the situation of sample farmers is described.Secondly,This paper constructs the index system of capital endowment and government support,and uses the method of entropy to measure capital endowment,using weighted average method to measure government support.Thirdly,using Order Probit model,this paper explores the influence degree and mechanism of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology.Using bivariate Probit,this paper explores the influence degree and mechanism of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ decision-making on Soil and water conservation technology adoption.Using binary logistic model,this paper explores the influence degree and mechanism of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ choice of soil and water conservation technology.Using Heckman sample selection model to explore the influence degree and mechanism of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ adoption degree of soil and water conservation technology,and uses binary probit model to explore the effect degree and mechanism of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ sustainable adoption of soil and water conservation technology.The economic effects of water and soil conservation technology adopted by farmers were examined by endogenous transformation model,the ecological effects of water and soil conservation technology adopted by farmers were examined by Order Probit model,The moderating effect model was used to explore the moderating effect of government support on the capital endowment influencing farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation technology.The main contents and conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The current situation of farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technology in the Loess Plateau.Through analysis,it is found that: among the 1152 valid samples obtained in this survey.65.19% of peasant households have a certain understanding of the ecological environment improvement value of soil and water conservation technology,53.56% of peasant households have a certain understanding of the increasing production value of soil and water conservation technology,and 48.78% of peasant households have a certain understanding of the increasing income value of soil and water conservation technology.This shows that the value of farmers’ cognition of water and soil conservation technology is not very high.63.63% of the sample farmers adopt engineering soil and water conservation technology.54.08% of the sample farmers adopt biological technology.20.92%of the sample farmers adopt tillage technology.Generally speaking,the adoption rate of soil and water conservation technology is not very high.45.75% of farmers adopt one soil and water conservation technology,29.34% adopt two soil and water conservation technologies,11.37% adopt three soil and water conservation technologies and 13.54% adopt none.It can be seen that the proportion of farmers who adopt the whole set of soil and water conservation technologies is very low,and the degree of farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technologies is relatively low.(2)The measurement and characteristics analysis of farmers’ capital endowment and government support.The results show that,On the whole,the capital level of peasant households is quite different.The average comprehensive capital is 5.666,while the lowest is 3.461,the highest is 9.041,and the difference is nearly 6 units.As far as the comparison of various types of capital is concerned,social capital(1.622)> human capital(1.215)>material capital(1.213)> financial capital(0.809)> ntural capital(0.805),and the differentiation among peasant households is relatively large.Through statistical analysis,it is found that the capital endowment of farmers who adopt soil and water conservation technology is higher than that of farmers who do not adopt soil and water conservation technology.46% of farmers said that the government had carried out propaganda activities related to soil and water conservation technology.38% said that the government had carried out promotion activities related to soil and water conservation technology.65% said that the government had invested in soil and water conservation technology.64% said that the government had organized the implementation of soil and water conservation technology.64% said that the government had subsidized the adoption of soil and water conservation technology.Through statistical analysis,it is found that the government support of farmerswho adopt soil and water conservation technology is higher than that of farmers who do not adopt soil and water conservation technology.(3)The impact of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology.The results show that,human capital,natural capital,finacial capital,social capital,and government support have an important impact on farmers’ value cgnition of increasing production of soil and water conservation technology.Natural capital,social capital,and government support have a promoting effect on farmers’ value cognition of increasing income of soil and water conservation technology.Human capital,social capital,and government support have an important impact on farmers’ value cognition of the ecological value of soil and water conservation technology.(4)The impact of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ decision-making of soil and water conservation technology adoption.The results show that,There is a highly positive correlation between farmers’ cognition of soil and water conservation technology and their adoption behavior.Material capital,natural capital,and government support have a positive significant impact on farmers’ decision-making of soil and water conservation technology.Finacial capital has a negative significant impact on farmers’ decision-making of soil and water conservation technology.Government support has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between capital endowment and farmers’ decision-making of soil and water conservation technology adoption.(5)The impact of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ actual adoption of soil and water conservation technology.The results show that,The impact of capital endowment on different soil and water conservation technologies is heterogeneous.Capital endowment,government support have a positive role in promoting farmers’ adoption of water and soil conservation engineering technology.Government support has a positive moderating effect on the impact of natural capital,financial capital and social capital on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation engineering technology.Capital endowment and financial capital have negative effects on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation biotechnology.Material capital,government support have positive effects on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation biotechnology.Government support has a positive moderating effect on the impact of human capital,material capital,natural capital and financial capital on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation biotechnology.Capital endowment,natural capital,financial capital,government support have positive effects on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation tillage technology.Government support has a positive regulatory effect on the impact ofphysical capital,natural capital and financial capital on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation tillage technology.Capital endowment,material capital,natural capital,financial capital,government support have positive effects on the degree of farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technology.Government support has a positive moderating effect on the impact of material capital,natural capital and financial capital on the degree of farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation technology.(6)The impact of capital endowment and government support on farmers’ sustainable adoption of soil and water conservation technology.The empirical results show that the total income of financial capital has a negative effect on farmers’ willingness to continue adopt soil and water conservation technology.Capital endowment,natural capital,cultivated land area in natural capital,mutual trust in social capital and government support have a positive impact on farmers’ willingness to continue adopt soil and water conservation technology.(7)Through the analysis of the effect of the adoption of soil and water conservation technology.The results show that soil and water conservation technology can increase agricultural output and improve the ecological environment,with significant economic and ecological effects.Based on counter-factual hypothesis,if farmers who adopt soil and water conservation technology do not adopt the corresponding soil and water conservation technology,their per mu output will decrease 0.1433(2.01%),if farmers who do not adopt soil and water conservation technology adopt the corresponding soil and water conservation technology,their per mu output will increase 0.1433(2.01%).(8)According to the results of empirical research,policy recommendations are put forward.Firstly,strengthen the propaganda of water and soil conservation technology,strengthen the ecological green education of farmers.Secondly,enrich the capital endowment of farmers,break through the endowment restriction of farmers to adopt soil and water conservation technology.Promote land circulation,increase natural capital.Strengthen training,increase human capital of farmers.Strengthen financial support,increase financial capital of farmers,and enrich material capital for farmers with relatively scarce material capital.Strengthen the social network and increase the social capital of peasant households.Thirdly,increase government support,use technology subsidies,propaganda,promotion and other forms,gradually strengthen government agricultural technology extension services.Carry out certain government investment in order to attract social investment,constantly improve the compensation mechanism for soil and water conservation,increase compensation efforts,and further enhance the enthusiasm of farmers to adopt soil and water conservation technology.