The impact of social interaction and information acquisition on the adoption of soil and water conservation technology by farmers: Evidence from the Loess Plateau, China

Impact of participation in collective action on farmers’ decisions and waiting time to adopt soil and water conservation measures

“…Liu and Li (2017) found that affluent rural families are usually part-time agricultural or non-agricultural households with diverse sources of income and less dependence on agricultural production, which could explain their low enthusiasm for SWC measures like using plastic film and ridge-furrow tillage. However, results from the adoption decision model of terrace, water-saving irrigation and afforestation show that higher government subsidies can significantly promote farmers’ adoption of these SWC measures (Jia and Lu, 2018; Huang, 2019; Cheng, 2020). Similarly, technology promotion by government and scientific research institutions can motivate the adoption of SWC measures, apart from afforestation.…”

“…Communication and cooperation among households in collective activities can effectively broaden the information channels available to households, significantly reducing uncertainties in the adoption of various technologies (Mi et al , 2021). Furthermore, the rules and order established by households during long-term cooperation processes help clarify the rights and obligations of collective members in the adoption of terracing, water-saving irrigation technology and afforestation measures, reducing conflicts and disputes (Cheng, 2020), enabling households to adopt these measures more promptly. These findings are consistent with the conclusions drawn by Ainembabazi et al (2017), Manda et al (2020) and Mi et al (2021), who also found that cooperative members tend to adopt technology more swiftly.…”

Impacts of Capital Endowment on Farmers’ Choices in Fertilizer-Reduction and Efficiency-Increasing Technologies (Preferences, Influences, and Mechanisms): A Case Study of Apple Farmers in the Provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, China

“…Simultaneously, a relatively rich body of research has emerged, probing relationships such as "information-acquisition capability and technology selection" and "agricultural-technology extension and technology selection" [9,39,40]. For example, previous studies used survey data from households in the Loess Plateau in 2017 to evaluate the impact of the ability to acquire information on the decision-making process for the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) technology by farmers [41]. The results indicated that information acquisition exerts a positive and significant impact on farmers' recycling choices, whereby a greater information-acquisition intensity increases the likelihood of recycling plastic film residues [42].…”

“…In this study, information-acquisition capability was chosen as the mediating variable, drawing primarily on existing research [41]. Farmers' information-acquisition capability was assessed using four questions: "Can you easily access relevant information about new technologies?…”

What Affects the Willingness of Farmers to Participate in Forest Ticket Trading? Empirical Analysis Based on Incomplete Information Theory

“…It is particularly noteworthy that small-scale forest farmers, due to their limited education level and information channels, often have an opaque decisionmaking environment, which directly affects their understanding and acceptance of forest tickets [19,20]. The quality and quantity of information, as well as the means of obtaining it, are the foundation of farmers' behavioral choices [21,22].…”