Study On The Influence Of Organizational Mode On Farmers’ Fertilizer Reduction And Substitution

Promoting green development of agriculture is an inevitable requirement for implementing the new development concept and advancing agricultural supply-side structural reform.Fertilizer reduction and replacement is one of the important goals of green development of agriculture.Fertilizer has always been an important means of production for improving crop yields,and has played an important role in ensuring national food security and effective supply of important agricultural products.However,at present,the inefficient and excessive use of chemical fertilizers is still very common in China’s main crops,especially cash crops,and the contradiction between agricultural development and environmental protection is becoming more and more serious.Therefore,it is urgent to realize the efficient use of fertilizers by reducing the amount of chemical fertilizers and using organic fertilizers instead of fertilizers.The agricultural industry management organization is an important subject of the linkage between small farmers and green development of agriculture.The government wants to realize the reduction of fertilizers through those organizations.However,after selecting different models of industrial organizations,farmers do not necessarily have the behavior of chemical fertilizers reduction and replacement,and explore effective organizational models.It is urgent to explore an effective organizational model to promote fertilizer reduction and replacement for farmers.Given this,this paper raises two questions: What is the effect of current farmer organization mode selection on its fertilizer reduction substitution? What is the mechanism that the selection of farmer organization mode affects the reduction and replacement of fertilizer?Based on the hypothesis of profit maximization and the fertilizer reduction and replacement behavior of farmers have the characteristics of organizational constraints and policy incentives.According to the farmer behavior theory,On the one hand,the generation mechanism of fertilizer reduction was analyzed from the yield-based optimization income of farmers;on the other hand,the generation mechanism of fertilizer replacement was analyzed from the quality-based optimization income of farmers,and the influence of contractual arrangement and policy incentive on the optimal input amount of fertilizer and organic fertilizer of farmers was further analyzed.Hence,a theoretical analysis framework based on “model selection→organizational control + policy incentive→reduction and substitution” is constructed.Then,based on the questionnaire survey data of citrus farmers in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces who replaced chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers in fruits,vegetables and tea,the research hypothesis proposed by theoretical analysis was empirically verified.First,the recursive bivariate probit model was used to analyze the effect of the selection of organization mode on whether the fertilizer was reduced and whether the fertilizer was replaced,and the average treatment effect of the selection of organization mode was calculated.The second is to analyze the influence of organization mode choice on fertilizer application and expenditure level of farmers by using propensity score matching method.Thirdly,the paper analyzes the organizational constraint mechanism and policy incentive mechanism of the influence of organizational model selection on farmers’ chemical fertilizer reduction and replacement by using the mediating effect test model.Fourthly,the logic idea of "organizational control + policy incentive→reduction and substitution" is further verified by using the relevant algorithm of decision tree in machine learning.Finally,based on theoretical analysis and empirical test results,reasonable policy recommendations are proposed in exploring effective organizational models to promote green development of agriculture and to give full play to the promotion of agricultural fertilizer reduction and fertilizer replacement by farmers.The main findings of this paper can be summarized as follows:(1)Under the assumption that farmers are pursuing the maximization of net income,based on the theory of farmers’ behavior,the organization model and the generation mechanism of farmers’ chemical fertilizer reduction and substitution behaviors are analyzed.The results of the analysis are as follows: First,in order to increase the long-term total output of the land,if farmers optimize the yield-based income,fertilizer reduction behavior will occur when contracts are signed.Second,if farmers optimize the income based on quality,in order to meet the quality requirements,they will increase the application of organic fertilizer when the order is signed and the price is guaranteed,resulting in the substitution behavior of chemical fertilizer.Third,because with the increase of farmers endowment ability of farmers fertilizer marginal productivity increase,normally to make farmers fertilizer reduction it has to make the absolute value of the absolute value of the marginal revenue is less than the marginal cost.In this case,the marginal cost of fertilizer use can be increased by signing a contract or an order to achieve fertilizer reduction.However,the increase of farmers’ endowment ability usually reduces the marginal productivity of organic fertilizer input.In order to increase the application amount of organic fertilizer,the marginal revenue of organic fertilizer must be greater than the marginal cost.At this time,the marginal revenue of farmers can be increased through policy subsidies to realize the increase in the application of organic fertilizer.(2)The empirical results of the impact of organizational model selection on fertilizer reduction and replacement of farmers show that: First,there is an alternative relationship between the loose organization mode selection and the farmer’s fertilizer reduction and substitution.There is a complementary relationship between the compact organization mode selection and the farmer’s fertilizer reduction and substitution.However,the selection of semi-tight organization model had no significant effect on the farmer’s fertilizer reduction and substitution.Second,the loose organization model of farmers is not conducive to the reduction of chemical fertilizers.The possibility of reducing fertilizers will decrease by 25.57%.However,the farmers’ choice to compact organization mode is conducive to the reduction of fertilizers,and the possibility of chemical fertilizer reduction will increase by 13.31%.Thirdly,the amount of fertilizer applied by farmers in the loose organization mode will be 80 kg/mu more than that of other organization models,while the amount of organic fertilizer applied is 150 kg/mu less than that of other organization models.Farmers who choose a compact organization model have a fertilizer application rate of 37 kg/mu less than that of other organization models,but the application rate of organic fertilizer is 200 kg/mu more than that of other organization models.(3)The empirical results of organizational constraint mechanism and policy incentive mechanism show that: First,the signing of the contract is beneficial to farmers to reduce the amount of fertilizer,but has no significant effect on the amount of organic fertilizer.Order signing is beneficial to the increase of the application amount of organic fertilizer,but has no significant effect on the reduction of fertilizer.Second,contract signing has a significant mediating effect between the choice of organizational model and the reduction of fertilizers for farmers.The signing of orders has a significant mediating effect between the choice of organizational model and the replacement of fertilizers by farmers.In terms of contract types,written contracts are beneficial to farmers’ fertilizer reduction,and verbal agreements are not conducive to farmers’ fertilizer reduction.In terms of order types,both short-term orders and long-term orders are beneficial to farmers’ fertilizer replacement.Third,the more farmers choose the compact organization model,the more favorable they are to participate in the policy project,and the participation of policy projects increases the possibility of farmers’ fertilizer reduction and replacement,and the participation of policy projects plays an intermediary role between the choice of organizational model and the reduction of fertilizer and the replacement of fertilizer for farmers.