Analysis of Fertilizer Input and Risk-aversion Motives of Smallholder Farmer in China under Dual Risk of Nature and Market
Previous studies have mainly explained farmers'high fertilizer application behavior from the perspective of natural risk,while ignoring the effect of market risk.This paper aims to examine smallholder farmers'fertilizer application behavior and their risk-aversion motives under the dual risk of nature and market to clarify that smallholder farmers apply more fer-tilizer under risky conditions to avoid income risk rather than avoid yield risk alone.Based on tra-ditional marginal analysis framework,this paper constructs an analysis framework for smallholder farmers'fertilization decision-making under the dual constraint of natural risk and market risk.Using the National Rural Fixed Observation Point Data in China,we analyze smallholder farmers'fertilizer application behavior under the dual risk of natural and market,thereby testing the risk-a-version motives of smallholder farmers,and further examine the difference in fertilizer use between grain-buying and grain-selling households under risky conditions.The results show that Chinese smallholder farmers have been applying high amounts of fertilizer for a long time and the fertilizer application intensity has maintained a relatively high and stable level over the past 20 years.Fur-thermore,we find that smallholder farmers are more inclined to increase fertilizer use in areas with greater natural risk and market risk,indicating that smallholder farmers increase fertilizer use to a-void income risk and their fertilization behavior is not only affected by natural risk,but also by market risk.Finally,compared to grain-selling households,grain-buying households are more sensitive to price fluctuations and have higher fertilizer application intensity due to income risk a-version and the pursuit of food consumption security.The above results indicate that strengthening the infrastructure construction and stabilizing grain market can help alleviate the high fertilizer ap-plication intensity by smallholder farmers in China.
万方数据
维普
