Rice farmers’ demands for productive services: evidence from Chinese farmers

Abstract

Based on the data of 601 rice farmers in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces in China, we analyzed the type and intensity of farmers’ demands for productive services and the factors influencing agricultural green transformation in this developing country. The results show that rice farmers most urgently demand services including plant protection information, seedling supply, and unified prevention and treatment, with lower demand for services providing information about materials and soil. Given the consistency of productive services at the village level, we used a hierarchical linear model to analyze factors influencing farmer demand. The results show that for farmers with low levels of technology adoption, their demands for the services are significantly impacted by economic development level, production areas, rice planting labor, and technical knowledge, whereas for farmers with high levels of technology adoption, village service levels and production areas significantly affect their service demands.