Research On The Impact Of Environmental Regulations And Family Income Structure On Farmers’ Behavior In Decreasing Chemical Fertilizer Application

The use of chemical fertilizers has made great contributions to China’s agricultural development and food security,but long-term excessive application of chemical fertilizers not only leads to ecological crises such as the decline of soil organic matter content,deterioration of soil physical and chemical properties,soil acidification,and eutrophication of water sources,but also leads to problems such as increased agricultural production costs,limited increase in added value of agricultural products,quality safety and food safety of agricultural products.In order to promote the sustainable development of agriculture,the government has successively introduced a series of fertilizer reduction policies.As the main body of agricultural production and operation,the promotion of chemical fertilizer reduction and application behavior is very important to agricultural ecology and the quality and safety of agricultural products.Therefore,it is of great significance to study how to promote farmers to adopt chemical fertilizer reduction and application behavior for high quality and sustainable development of agriculture.Based on the research data of 433 kiwifruit growers in Shaanxi Province and Sichuan Province,this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework for environmental regulation and household income structure on the fertilizer reduction and application behavior of farmers based on externality theory,farmer behavior theory,technology adoption process theory and new institutional economics theory,and uses the Probit model to empirically analyze the impact of environmental regulation on farmers’ fertilizer reduction and application behavior,and further explores the regulating role of household income structure in the process of environmental regulation affecting farmers’ fertilizer reduction and application behavior.The results of the research and analysis show that:(1)In terms of the current situation of fertilizer reduction of farmers,26.32% of farmers have fertilizer reduction application behavior,and the average fertilizer application per mu in 2017 is less than that in 2014.(2)Environmental regulations will promote the reduction of fertilizer application by farmers.Further,from the different dimensions of environmental regulation,guided environmental regulation,incentive environmental regulation and constrained environmental regulation will positively promote farmers to adopt fertilizer reduction and application behavior,among which the effect of constrained environmental regulation is better than that of the other two types of environmental regulation,and the impact of incentive environmental regulation is the most limited.(3)The high proportion of agricultural income in the household income structure will promote the reduction and application of chemical fertilizers by farmers.(4)The regulating effect of household income structure shows that with the increase of the proportion of agricultural income,the promotion effect of incentive-type environmental regulation and constrained environmental regulation on the reduction and application of fertilizer by farmers will be improved,but the influence process of guided environmental regulation on the reduction and application of fertilizer by farmers is not regulated by the household income structure.Based on the above research conclusions,this paper puts forward the following suggestions: the government should increase the promotion of soil testing formula fertilizer application technology;Adhere to the implementation of environmental regulations,and implement targeted environmental regulatory policies to address differences in household income structure;Strengthen the training of agricultural management entities and strengthen the publicity of green agricultural development.