Evaluation of how agricultural subsidies could affect organic fertilizer application increase from the perspective of crop-livestock farming pollution control
In this study,we aimed at assessing the incentive of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies,agricultural technology subsidies,and organic fertilizer price subsidies on how farmers apply organic fertilizers.Therefore,we applied a structural equation model to estimate the load coefficients of the related variables on the fertilization strategies farmers use and built a dataset based on a random survey of farmers in 12 counties in the Guanzhong Plain of China between January 1-30,2023.Our results revealed a standardized path coefficient of the agricultural subsidy latent variable(AFS)of 0.690,demonstrating a significantly positive effect on organic fertilizer application by the farmers.Among the three agricultural subsidies,the agricultural machinery purchase subsidy variable(MAS)displayed the highest standardized path coefficient of 0.690.Agricultural technology subsidies positively influenced the organic fertilizer-and agricultural-product-related market awareness of the farmers.Moreover,the agricultural technology training variable(TES)positively and significantly impacted how farmers applied organic fertilizers,with a standardized path coefficient of 0.634.The organic fertilizer price subsidy variable(FES)exhibited the lowest standardized path coefficient(i.e.,0.597)among all the assessed agricultural subsidies.The standardized path coefficients for the age(AGE)and education(EDU)characteristics of the farmers were also significant.The impact of agricultural subsidies on farmers with different economic conditions and crop types was significantly different.In conclusion,we emphasize that labor intensity is the main barrier for farmers to apply organic fertilizers,while the positive attitude of farmers towards organic fertilizers serves as the motivational basis to promote organic fertilizer application.The three agricultural subsidy types affect moderately the fertilizer strategies of grain farmers.The relevant standards and implementation methods of the aforementioned agricultural subsidies require adjustments.
国家科技期刊平台
NSTL
万方数据
