Research On Influence Factors Of Farmers' Grain Storage Behavior In Fujian Province

Since the family-contract responsibility system carried out in 1980s,rural residents in China engage in agricultural production activities on the basis of household.Presently,there are about 629 million rural populations and 268 million rural households,accounting for 45.27%of the total population in China.Farmer household is a huge grain production and consumption group.As an important link between grain production and grain consumption,farmers' grain storage plays a key role in meeting the demand of household grain consumption and ensuring national food security,which is an important component of China grain reserve system.The amount of farmer households'grain storage accounts for about 40%?50%of the annual grain output,and the total amount and spatial distribution determine the national food security to a certain extent.As an effective supplement to national grain reserves,farmers' decentralized grain storage has the characteristics of lower storage cost,close to grain market,flexible sales,and quick release in an emergency,which makes up national centralized grain reserves with the disadvantage of small capacity,insufficient reserve capacity,capitals occupying,and untimely rotation of grain due to ageing.Farmers' grain storage is of great significance to national and regional food consumption security.Farmers' grain storage behavior belongs to a general economic behavior in farmer households,which has a long history and tradition.However,many farmer households begin to abandon the traditional grain storage behavior gradually,along with the reformation of grain circulation system as well as the improvement of people's living standard.Especially in the main food sale area and developed grain market area,the level of farmer households' grain storage declines obviously.As the third largest grain sale province,Fujian has a 10 million tonnes gap between grain supply and demand in recent years,which makes the farmer households' grain consumption security a big concern.In addition to relying on market supply,an effective way to meet farmers' grain rations is to encourage farmer households to store grains on their own,which can not only increase farmer households' grain consumption security through decentralized grain storage,but also reduce the government supply pressure and grain supply cost to a certain extent.In the context of food security strategy and national favor policy,the study of farmers'grain storage behavior based on the reality of weakened storage intention in main grain sale area has a highly practical value.This study focuses on grain farmers in Fujian province.A theoretical framework of the influence factors of farmers'grain storage behavior was built on the basis of related literatures,expert consultation,and farmer interview.Data collection was carried out through the questionnaire,and exploratory factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify the key factors affecting farmers'grain storage behavior.Then structural equation model was conducted to analyze the acting path of the key factors,and the direct and indirect action of the key factors to farmers' grain storage behavior were found out,which can provide theoretical and practical basis to government policy on promoting and guiding farmers' grain storage behavior actively and scientifically.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)The potential influence factors of farmers' grain storage behavior are analyzed comprehensively and summed up systematically based on literature review and status analysis,which are shown in the following five aspects:farmers' personal and family characteristics,production-sale-storage-consumption of grain crops,grain market system and price,government policy and subsidies measures,and natural conditions and social environment.A total of 31 variable indicators are designed.(2)A questionnaire survey of grain farmers in Fujian province is conducted,and the combination of exploratory factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis are applied on the basis of survey data to identify the key factors affecting farmers' grain storage behavior.The results indicate that 6 common factors have a significant effect on farmers' grain storage behavior,which are grain market factor,farmers' attitude and cognition factor,farmers' family characteristics factor,government policy factor,grain storage condition factor,and farmer's age factor,respectively.A total of 21 key variables are generated.(3)Based on the above result,structural equation model is further used to study the acting path of the key factors to the grain storage behavior of farmers who store grains at home,and a total of 7 paths are achieved,which are:"behavior agent characteristics","storage object characteristics","grain market factors",and"government policy factors" all have a significant direct action on "farmers' grain storage behavior";"grain market factors" have a significant indirect action on"farmers' grain storage behavior" through "storage object characteristics" and"behavior agent characteristics",respectively;"government policy factors" have a significant indirect action on "farmers' grain storage behavior" through "storage object characteristics".(4)According to the above results,countermeasures and policies are put forward to promote and guide farmers to store grains actively and scientifically,which include the following aspects:comprehensively raising farmers'grain storage consciousness,guiding farmers' grain storage behavior respectively,supporting farmers' grain production behavior,exploring new grain storage modes for farmers,playing the role of guidance of market price,ensuring grain circulation channel smoothly,improving grain production subsidies policy,and building a long-term mechanism of grain storage subsidies.This study constructed a theoretical framework of potential influence factors of farmers' grain storage behavior,and further analyzed the acting path of key factors,which enriches the theoretical and empirical research results.Furthermore,taking the farmers perspective,this study uses field investigation to obtain the first-hand information and data,which can help to find the motivation and aim of farmers'storage behavior objectively.This will provide important reference for government to make feasible policies on farmers' grain storage,and help to improve the pertinence,rationality and operability of government policies.