The Study On The Selection And Evaluation Of Agricultural Technology Extension Service Organizations Based On Peasant-Household Differentiation

Agricultural technology is the vital part of agricultural modernization,as well as the essential factor of improvement in agricultural production and farmers' income.Agricultural technology extension services(ATES for short below)play an imperative role in the process of transformation of agricultural science and technology.However,the facts that neither the conversation rate of agricultural technology achievements nor the effect of agricultural technology extension is high,to some extent,mean the system of ATES is imperfect in our country.Especially,the above facts are highlighted under the complex circumstances where there are different agro-technical demand and diverse AETS organizations,which driven by industrialization,urbanization and agricultural modernization.Recently,Central NO.1 Document proposed,“it's high time to support public and profit-making agencies in primary level of agricultural extension,accurately" and "to encourage all sorts of social resources to permeate agricultural technology extensions by the innovated manner of public agricultural extension services" to match differenced agro-technical demand with diversified ATES organizations well.Therefore,under the perspective of peasant-household differentiation,it is considerably important and necessary to analyze farmers' choice and evaluation from ATES organizations,further,to analyze the suitability between different demands resulted from peasant-household differentiation and diversified supply of ATES organizations.The research analyzes two aspects:ATES organizations and peasant-household differentiation.Firstly,the following theories,farmers'behavior theory,the agricultural technology diffusion theory,public goods theory and the customers' satisfaction theory,applied to construct the analytical framework of this research.Secondly,the research compares both characteristics of diverse ATES organizations and farmers'differences in organizational choice based on peasant-household differentiation by the survey data of Sanming,Fujian province.Thirdly,the research constructs the index system evaluated by farmers,which is on the agricultural technology extension effect of diverse ATES organizations,applying the Customer Satisfaction Index Model(CSIM)and the Structure Equation Model(SEM).Then,there are comparing about the evaluation and the behaviors in agricultural technology extension effect of diverse ATES organizations.Finally,the impacts that caused by the characteristics of peasant-household differentiation,on the evaluation of diverse ATES organizations are analyzed by using Multiple Linear Regression Equation Model(MLREM).According to the empirical evidence,the research proposes some policy recommendations.The research mainly comes to the following conclusion:Firstly,the quantity and quality of agricultural technicians as well as institution of organizations in agro-technical station are superior to other organizations.But farmers are not satisfied with its manner and content of agro-technical extension.Agricultural materials dealers who constrained by scale have poor performance in all aspects.In the cooperation of diverse AETS organizations,agro-technical station acts as a technological intermediary who provided certain agro-techniques to agricultural cooperatives and enterprises.Secondly,peasant-household differentiation,which shows variances of household occupation,education level and land scale,does impact on the farmers' choice in aspects of ATES organizations,extension content and extension manner.(1)The choice from ATES organizations.As the degree of peasant household with combined occupation rises,the possibility of farmers' choice that tends to agro-dealers instead of agro-technical stations and cooperatives rises.Along with the improvement of farmers' education level,the proportion that farmers choose agro-technical station gradually deduces.Along with the increase of farmers' household land scale,the proportion that farmers choose agro-dealers deduces,while farmers who choose agricultural enterprise increase.(2)The choice from agricultural technology.The proportion thatfarmers who only engaged in agriculture or who make a living by farming and working are choose agro-technique in middle and post-production process is small.But the proportion that they choose pest-controlled technology,which can reduce risk,is the most.As peasant household improve educational level,the proportion of farmers who choose processing,packaging and transportation in post-production process is gradually increase.With the expansion of land scale,the proportion that farmers choose agricultural mechanical technology with labor saving function and the agro-technique in post-production process increases.(3)The choice from the manners of agricultural technology extension.Regardless of what farmers' occupations are,the extension manner was chosen by farmers as follow,technician guidance,demonstration base visiting and the communication with neighbors,accounts for a large part.Regardless of which farmers' education level is,the extension manner guided by technicians in countryside is the most popular.But the extension manner of issuing materials is unpopular.As the growth of farmers' education level,the proportion that farmers adopt the extension manner depended on network is gradually grow.With the increase of farmers' land scale,the extension manner of concentrated training and communication between professional farmers is more popular.Thirdly,there are differences in farmers' evaluations between diverse ATES organizations.The evaluation sorted from high to low is agricultural enterprises,agro-technical stations,agricultural cooperatives,and agro-dealers.Each ATES organization shows comparative advantage in diverse aspects.Agro-technical stations have the best performance in the organizational image.Agricultural cooperatives have an outstanding performance in the farmers' feedback.Agro-dealers have a well performance relatively in farmers' feedback,although they do not present well in the rest of indicators.Agricultural enterprises have the better performance than other ATES organizations in the farmers' expectation,technical perception,service perception and value perception,due to that they do cater to the market demand in technology and services.Fourthly,It's certain that peasant-household differentiation impact on the farmers' evaluation for diverse ATES organizations.That the peasant householders are older or have higher educational level makes better evaluations on the extension effect of the agro-technical stations.Conversely,that the peasant household have heavier burden or join the agricultural cooperative makes lower evaluations on the extension effect of the agro-technical stations.That the peasant householders have part-time work or have higher educational level makes better evaluations on the extension effect of the agro-dealers.That the peasant households participated in relative agricultural technical trainings makes worse evaluations on the extension effect of the agro-dealers.That the peasant households have larger land scale or contracted with agricultural enterprises makes better evaluations on the extension effect of the agricultural enterprises.That the peasant households contracted with agricultural enterprises or have a greater agricultural income proportion in gross household income makes worse evaluations on the extension effect of the agricultural cooperatives.That the peasant households are co-operative members makes better evaluations on the extension effect of the agricultural cooperatives.Combined with the results of the empirical analysis,this research puts forward the following policy proposal from inside and outside of organizations.Strengthen the financial support and policy support for non-public AETS organizations.Advocate the public AETS organizations to play intermediary functions,and diverse AETS organizations to supply service,synergistically.Set up the relevant monitoring agencies to enhance the self-discipline of the agricultural technology extension.Encourage setting up an agricultural technicians union to optimize the quality of agricultural technicians and services.It is recommended that each ATES organization subdivide the market and clarify their target farmers,respectively.Propose commercial or mixed ATES organizations to develop the brand building of ATES.