An Empirical Research On Peasants' Demand And Decision Of Agriculture Technology

This paper studies different motivations of peasant's decision behavior on agriculture technology on a micro basis and the investment decision of peasants at large.Many scholars abroad have proposed difference theories and distinct standpoints on farmers'(or peasants') behavior. Based on the existing theories of the past, the author argues that the complexity of the current economical and social circumstances in China has endowed Chinese peasants a peculiar position of decision, especially decisions on agricultural investment. The decision of investment on agriculture technology is one of the most important. But none of the former theories could explain the present situation thoroughly. Instead, more fundamental research on peasants'investment decision from the viewpoint of peasants'own demand and production and life purpose is needed.Based on a field questionnaire investigation, the paper discussed the influence of different production and life purposes on peasants'investment decisions on agriculture production, especially on agriculture technology. Using cluster analysis, peasant cases with different attitude variables on life and production are clustered into three typical groups-- named as commercial peasant, traditional peasant and labor-supplier peasant. Then a chi-square test of real life decisions on agriculture technology adoption proves that the three clusters of peasants differ significantly on the decision as predicted: the commercial peasants possess the strongest will to adopt agriculture technology in production while the labor-supplier peasants lack an apparent motivation. Also, the reasons why peasants reject agriculture technologies significantly differ between groups. Thus it is proved that the peasants in China vary in production and life goals, and this difference significantly correlates to the difference on their agriculture technology investment decisions.Besides, the paper also suggests that the different levels of land quantity also accounts for a major factor which influences the attitudes towards agriculture investment. The comparatively low amount of land per capita has become a bottle neck for agriculture development while a proportion of peasants are being'squeezed'out of the agriculture production and life mode because of low marginal revenue on land or even less output than input on land. Therefore it is also recommended to solve the problems of land property ownership as well as employment and social welfare of redundant peasant labors in China, as a means to enhance the modernization of agriculture.