How Does Part-Time Farming Affect Farmers’ Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Jianghan Plain, China?

Abstract

Part-time farming has been suggested by scholars to play an important part in farmers’ decision making, but seldom empirical evidence has been done on the field of conservation agriculture (CA) technology adoption worldwide. Based on the field survey data of 433 farmers in Jianghan Plain, China, this paper estimate the impact of part-time farming on farmers’ adoption of CA technology by applying the multivariate logistic model. The results show that 91.92% of the farmers adopted CA technology. Part-time farming had a highly significant positive influence on the likelihood of adoption. Moreover, the impact degree increased along with the deepening of part-time farming. In addition, farmers’ adoption behaviors were affected by gender, contracted land area, economic welfare cognition and social welfare cognition. Our results help to understand farmers’ complex decision-making on farmland and to promote the sustainable development of agriculture in Jianghan Plain. A somewhat targeted approach to design policies to support technological, policy and institutional interventions to encourage farmers to engage in part-time farming are recommended, especially in areas that share similar edaphic and climatic characteristics with Jianghan Plain.