Zhang Ruyu, Feng Yanan, Li Yufeng, Zheng Ke
College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 8;19(8):e0308398. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308398. eCollection 2024.
Information accessibility is a pivotal factor influencing farmers' adoption of Agricultural Green Production Technologies (AGPT). However, the widespread issue of information poverty presents a significant obstacle to this adoption process, thereby hindering the progression towards sustainable agricultural development. To address this information deficit, farmers have begun to utilize the Internet and participate in government-led onsite assembly training programs to acquire the necessary knowledge. Yet there is still a lack of research evidence on the effectiveness and comparative advantages of internet and offline training. This study explores the impact of various information access channels on farmers' adoption of green production technologies in agriculture, focusing on a sample of 731 family farms located in Sichuan Province. The issue of endogeneity was addressed using the Conditional Mixed Process Estimation Method. The sample underwent a t-test and heterogeneity analysis. The findings revealed that both internet-based information access and participation in training significantly bolstered farmers' adoption of AGPT, with the former proving to be more effective. Notably, heterogeneity was observed among farmers, differentiated by age and the number of village cadres within their family units.
信息可及性是影响农民采用农业绿色生产技术（AGPT）的关键因素。然而，普遍存在的信息贫困问题给这一采用过程带来了重大障碍，从而阻碍了向可持续农业发展的推进。为了解决这一信息不足问题，农民开始利用互联网并参加政府主导的现场集中培训项目来获取必要的知识。然而，关于互联网和线下培训的有效性及比较优势仍缺乏研究证据。本研究以四川省的731个家庭农场为样本，探讨了各种信息获取渠道对农民采用农业绿色生产技术的影响。使用条件混合过程估计方法解决了内生性问题。对样本进行了t检验和异质性分析。研究结果表明，基于互联网的信息获取和参加培训均显著促进了农民对农业绿色生产技术的采用，前者被证明更有效。值得注意的是，在农民中观察到了异质性，按年龄和其家庭单位内村干部数量进行了区分。
