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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2023, Vol. 22 Issue (8): 2577-2590    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.07.002
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Risk preferences and the low-carbon agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from rice production in China

MAO Hui1, QUAN Yu-Rong1, FU Yong2#

1Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, P.R.China

2College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, P.R.China

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摘要  

碳排放引发的气候变化是影响人类经济社会发展的全球性问题。低碳农业对减缓全球气候变暖和实现“碳达峰碳中和”目标具有现实意义。因此,本文以秸秆还田技术为例,探究风险偏好对农户低碳农业技术采纳行为的影响。基于江苏、江西、湖南三省两期1038户水稻种植农户微观调查数据,本文采用实验经济学方法测度农户的风险厌恶程度和损失规避程度,以获得农户真实的风险偏好信息。同时,基于此数据,我们探究的也是农户实际的秸秆还田行为。结果表明,风险厌恶和损失规避均对农户低碳农业技术采纳行为产生了显著的抑制作用,即越厌恶风险和越怕损失的农户采纳低碳农业技术的可能性越小。进一步探讨发现,农业保险、经营规模和政府规制能缓解风险厌恶和损失规避对农户低碳农业技术采纳行为的抑制作用。因此,本文提出地方政府需要通过宣传秸秆还田技术效益、持续推广农业保险、促进适度规模经营以及加强政府规制促进农户采纳低碳农业技术,推动农业绿色发展。



Abstract  Climate change which is mainly caused by carbon emissions is a global problem affecting the economic development and well-being of human society. Low-carbon agriculture is of particular significance in slowing down global warming and reaching the goal of “carbon peak and carbon neutrality”. Therefore, taking straw incorporation as an example, this paper aims to investigate the impact of risk preferences on farmers’ low-carbon agricultural technology (LCAT) adoption. Based on a two-phase micro-survey data of 1 038 rice farmers in Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces, this paper uses experimental economics methods to measure farmers’ risk aversion and loss aversion to obtain the real risk preferences information of the farmers. We also explore the data to examine the actual LCAT adoption behavior of farmers. The results revealed that both risk aversion and loss aversion significantly inhibit farmers’ LCAT adoption: more risk-averse or more loss-averse farmers are less likely to adopt LCAT. It is further found that crop insurance, farm scale and governmental regulations can alleviate the negative impact of risk aversion and loss aversion on farmers’ LCAT adoption. Therefore, we propose that local governments need to promote low-carbon agricultural development by propagating the benefits of LCAT, extending crop insurance, promoting appropriate scale operations, and strengthening governmental regulations to promote farmers’ LCAT adoption.
Keywords:  Risk preferences        Crop insurance        Farm scale        Governmental regulations        Low-carbon agricultural technology  
Received: 30 November 2022   Accepted: 24 March 2023
Fund: The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72103115), the Humanities and Social Science Research General Project of the Ministry of Education of China (21XJC790008), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020T130393), and the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China (2021D028).
About author:  MAO Hui, E-mail: maohui@snnu.edu.cn; #Correspondence FU Yong, E-mail: fuyong2020@snnu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

MAO Hui, QUAN Yu-Rong, FU Yong. 2023. Risk preferences and the low-carbon agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from rice production in China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 22(8): 2577-2590.

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