School of Public Administration, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China.
Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
Prev Vet Med. 2022 Nov;208:105754. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2022.105754. Epub 2022 Sep 7.
Reducing farmers' overuse of livestock antibiotics is very essential to ensure food, environment, and public health safety. Currently, the "internet + " has emerged as a new initiative to stimulate the development of rural industries by alleviating farmers' information constraints, lack of skills, and knowledge deficiencies. However, very few studies have focused on this issue, and studies specifically focused on the role of the Internet in reducing the overuse of livestock antibiotics are still very limited. To fill this existing research gap, this study aims to investigate the role of the Internet in reducing the overuse of livestock antibiotics using data of 426 farmers based in three provinces, including the Hebei, Henan, and Hubei provinces of China. To analyze the collected data, we first employ a damage control model to estimate the marginal productivity of farmer use of livestock antibiotics and then use a two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach to assess the role of the Internet in reducing antibiotic overuse. The findings of our study show that the marginal productivity of farmers' use of livestock antibiotics by farmers is 0.0079 (approaching 0), indicating that the overuse of antibiotics has become the realistic response of farmers. Our results further reveal that the Internet has a significant inhibitory effect on the overuse of livestock antibiotics by farmers. The Internet can reduce the use of antibiotics by 1.3147 yuan/head by improving your knowledge and skills about antibiotics. The further findings of our study reveal that the educational level and organizational participation of farmers are also important driving factors to reduce the overuse of livestock antibiotics. Furthermore, the findings of this study validate the role of gender, age, and educational level in the non-linear effect of the Internet on farmers' overuse of antibiotics. In conclusion, the findings of this study provide insight for policy makers in motivating farmers to reduce antibiotic overuse by strengthening rural internet infrastructure, implementing skill training, improving supervision, and establishing an incentive mechanism for the standard use of antibiotics.
减少农民对牲畜抗生素的过度使用对于确保食品安全、环境安全和公共卫生安全至关重要。当前，“互联网+”作为一种新举措，通过缓解农民的信息约束、技能缺乏和知识不足，刺激农村产业发展。然而，很少有研究关注这一问题，专门研究互联网在减少牲畜抗生素过度使用方面的作用的研究仍然非常有限。为了填补这一现有研究空白，本研究旨在利用来自中国河北、河南和湖北三省的 426 名农民的数据，调查互联网在减少牲畜抗生素过度使用方面的作用。为了分析收集的数据，我们首先采用损害控制模型来估计农民使用牲畜抗生素的边际生产力，然后使用两阶段最小二乘法（2SLS）来评估互联网在减少抗生素过度使用方面的作用。我们的研究结果表明，农民使用牲畜抗生素的边际生产力为 0.0079（接近 0），这表明抗生素的过度使用已经成为农民的现实反应。我们的研究结果进一步表明，互联网对农民过度使用牲畜抗生素具有显著的抑制作用。互联网可以通过提高农民对抗生素的知识和技能，将抗生素的使用减少 1.3147 元/头。本研究的进一步结果表明，农民的教育水平和组织参与也是减少牲畜抗生素过度使用的重要驱动因素。此外，本研究的结果还验证了性别、年龄和教育水平在互联网对农民过度使用抗生素的非线性影响中的作用。总之，本研究的结果为政策制定者提供了启示，即通过加强农村互联网基础设施建设、实施技能培训、加强监管和建立抗生素规范使用的激励机制，激励农民减少抗生素过度使用。
