Farmers’ Perceived Value,intention,and Capability Of Adopting Greenhouse Gas Emission Voluntary Reduction Program

Greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions are the main cause of anthropogenic climate change,which has seriously damaged the balance of the natural ecosystem.So far,the world is still looking for funding for dealing with climate change,and now the market mechanism is highly valued.Funding from the carbon market is important for all sectors’GHG emission reduction,so is China’s agricultural low-carbon development regime.China’s agricultural sector has a huge potential of emission reduction,and its reduction cost is relatively lower than most industrial sectors.The GHG voluntary reduction program is conducive for attracting resources,such as technology,talents,and funds through market mechanism,and its implementation is an important opportunity for China to develop and achieve low-carbon modern agriculture.The current situation of agricultural GHG voluntary reduction program in China is an important concern.In addition,China has a large number of farmers.They are the main implementer of agricultural production and the development of low-carbon modern agriculture.It is crucial to take advantage of their effort in promoting the development of low-carbon agriculture.Therefore,the deep-rooted factors such as socio-economic and psychological structure influencing farmers’ adoption of the GHG voluntary reduction program are another important concern.This study attempts to answer the following questions:What is the current situation of agricultural GHG voluntary reduction program in China?How about farmers’perceived value of agricultural the GHG voluntary reduction program?What are the driving factors that influence farmers’ intention to adopt the GHG voluntary reduction program?To what extent are farmers capable of engaging in agricultural emission reduction?How to formulate effective policy proposals and strategies through above analysis to guide and encourage farmers to engage in emission reduction?This study focuses more on the psychological factors that drive farmers to adopt the GHG voluntary reduction program,and follows the logic of "current situation-perceived value-intention to adopt-capability to adopt-solutions".First,based on the statistical data and field survey,this study analyzes the current status of China’s carbon trading mechanism and the GHG voluntary reduction projects,as well as the current status of agricultural the GHG voluntary reduction projects,the main implementers,and the measurement of emission reduction.Second,taking rural household biogas utilization program,which belongs to China’s certified emission reduction system,as an example,this study examines farmers’perceived value of agricultural voluntary reduction program,which means weather the adoption of the program is beneficial.Using an ordered logit model it also analyzes the factors influencing farmers’perceived value.Third,using structural equation model and stepwise regression analysis method,this study analyzes the driving factors that influence farmers’intention to adopt the GHG voluntary reduction program.Also,the differences of influencing factors for farmers regarding different individual and family characteristics are investigated.Fourth,this study proposes a farmers’ carbon capability framework,and uses correlation analysis,structural equation model,and bootstrapping to investigate whether farmers are competent for the role of the GHG emission controller,and the aspects in and extent to which farmers are equipped to engage in climate change mitigation.Finally,based on the research conclusions,and the social,economic and environmental development goals of our country,the study proposes strategic measures to promote farmers’engagement with emission reduction.The main conclusions of the abovementioned analyses are as follows:(1)China’s agricultural GHG voluntary reduction programs have been put into practice effectively.The program can attract capital,technology,talents and other resources,and mobilize various participants to engage in agricultural emission reduction,so as to promote the development of low-carbon agriculture in rural region.(2)With regard to farmers’perceived value of GHG voluntary reduction program,most farmers agree with the multiple value of the program,but the economic value of it is relatively low.Farmers who are younger,have green production training experience in recent years,have higher income,have biogas digesters at home,are more worried about environmental degradation,and have more positive feelings for the environment,agree more with the value of the program.(3)With regard to farmers’ intention to adopt GHG voluntary reduction program,farmers’psychological driving mechanism includes both rational dimension that they seek their own interests and emotional dimension that they hold moral responsibility.Personal norms,subjective norms,perceived behavior control and attitude can directly affect farmers’ behavioral intention,while subjective norms,consequence awareness and responsibility attribution can indirectly affect farmers’ behavioral intention.The variable of subjective norms is the most important driving factor of farmers’ intention,followed by personal norms and consequence consciousness.(4)With regard to farmers’ability to engage in emission reduction,they have strong psychological driving capability and moderate cognitive capability,but they do not have the capability to control low-carbon behavior,and finally they show low-to-medium behavioral capability and slight influence capability.Farmers’ behavioral control capability emerged as the strongest predictor of the behavioral capability of farming,which,in turn,was an essential prerequisite for both the behavioral capability of socializing and influence capability.Behavioral control capability is the most significant shortcoming of farmers’carbon capability,and its enhancement is important to promoting farmers’ low carbon capability.(5)In order to promote farmers’adoption of agricultural GHG voluntary reduction program,it is necessary to take measures at both macro and micro levels,which could not only ensure that farmers’emission reduction efforts are reasonably compensated,but also build an effective behavioral intervention mechanism to drive farmers’ active involvement.Such measures are to encourage farmers to adopt low-carbon farming measures extensively,and to promote the transformation of a carbon-intensive agriculture mode into a low-carbon mode.The possible innovations of this study are as follows:(1)The study focus on agricultural GHG emission reduction from the perspective of farmers’adoption of GHG voluntary reduction program,which expanded the path options of agricultural emission reduction in practice.Previous studies on promoting the development of low-carbon agriculture mostly focuses on the effectiveness,feasibility,and economic benefit of the mitigation technology or measures.But they does not pay enough attention to achieving emission reduction by carbon trading mechanism,which would fail to take advantage of the market force to attract multiple resources needed for agricultural emission reduction.From the perspective of farmers’ adoption of GHG voluntary reduction program,and based on the results of status analyses and empirical analyses,this study provides suggestions at both macro and micro levels to promote farmers’ adoption.(2)This study analyzes the internal mechanism of farmers’adoption of GHG voluntary reduction through empirical methods,which deepens the research on GHG voluntary emission reduction.Based on the first-hand survey data,this study attempts to empirically analyze the driving mechanism of farmers’ adoption of GHG voluntary reduction program from perceived value,behavioral intention,and capability to engage in emission reduction.(3)This study applies multi-disciplinary theories and methods,which is conducive to addressing agricultural emission reduction in practice.For example,the analysis of farmers’ carbon capability in this study is based on the actual agricultural situation of Hubei province,the theories of agricultural carbon reduction and the theories of environmental psychology.In particular,this study derives the key variables used in the five-dimensional framework of farmers’ carbon capability from prominent environmental psychological theories such as the theories of planned behavior,value-belief-norm,and carbon capability,which allows the study to draw on powerful dimensions from psychological aspects.A structural equation modeling approach is deployed to empirically test the structural relationships between farmers’carbon capability constructs.The conclusions can answer the questions about farmers’ ability to engage in GHG reduction.