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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2023, Vol. 22 Issue (6): 1928-1944    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.04.004
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Uncertainty aversion and farmers’ innovative seed adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in rural China

WU Hai-xia1*, SONG Yan2, 3*, YU Le-shan4, GE Yan5#

1 Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China

2 Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, P.R.China

3 School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100040, P.R.China

4 International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710100, P.R.China

5 School of Public Finance and Taxation, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, P.R.China

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摘要  

基于黄土高原705位小麦种植农户的微观调查数据,本文采用田野实验的方法,实证分析了不确定厌恶对农户创新种子采纳的影响。研究结果表明,农户普遍是模糊厌恶与风险厌恶的,模糊厌恶和风险厌恶水平越高的农户,采纳小麦创新种子的可能性越低,且风险厌恶处于主导地位;农户信息获取水平的提高将缓解模糊厌恶对小麦创新种子采纳的负向影响,而银保互动有助于缓解风险厌恶对小麦创新种子采纳的阻碍作用;异质性分析表明受教育程度和收入较低的农户,其模糊厌恶和风险厌恶对农户采纳小麦创新种子的抑制效应更为显著。政府可从事前和事后两方面构建相关保障机制,以帮助农户更好应对生产过程中的各种不确定性,进而改善其模糊厌恶和风险厌恶态度,以提高农户对新技术的采纳率。



Abstract  

Based on the microdata of 705 wheat farmers in the Loess Plateau, this study empirically analyzes the impact of uncertainty on farmers’ adoption of innovative seeds using a field experiment.  The results indicate that farmers are generally ambiguity-averse and risk-averse.  In addition, farmers with higher ambiguity aversion and risk aversion are less likely to adopt innovative wheat seeds, where their risk aversion plays a dominant role.  Enhancing information access will alleviate the negative influence of ambiguity aversion on farmers’ adoption of innovative seeds, and interlinked insurance and credit contracts will be beneficial to ease the adverse effect of risk aversion on the adoption of innovative wheat seeds.  Meanwhile, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the inhibitory effects of ambiguity aversion and risk aversion on innovative seed adoption are more significant among farmers with lower education and household income.  The government can establish both ex-ante and ex-post relevant guarantee mechanisms to help farmers preferably cope with various uncertainties in the production process, remitting farmers’ ambiguity aversion and risk aversion to enhance new agricultural technology adoption rates.

Keywords:  ambiguity aversion        risk aversion        technology adoption        field experiment  
Received: 13 October 2022   Online: 15 April 2023   Accepted: 24 March 2023
Fund: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71973087 and 72003215), the 72nd General Program of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M720170), the Soft Science Project of the Department of Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province, China (2022KRM131), and the Special Fund Project of Basic Scientific Research Operation Funds of Central Universities, China (20SZYB21).
About author:  WU Hai-xia, E-mail: hxia007@126.com; SONG Yan, E-mail: songyan22@mails.ucas.ac.cn; YU Le-shan, E-mail: leshan@snnu.edu.cn; #Correspondence GE Yan, E-mail: machopku@163.com * These authors contributed equally to this study.

Cite this article: 

WU Hai-xia, SONG Yan, YU Le-shan, GE Yan. 2023. Uncertainty aversion and farmers’ innovative seed adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in rural China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 22(6): 1928-1944.

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