Factors Influencing the Adoption of Agricultural Machinery by Chinese Maize Farmers

Xiuhao Quan and Reiner Doluschitz
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Xiuhao Quan: Department of Computer Applications and Business Management in Agriculture, Institute of Farm Management, University of Hohenheim, Schwerzstr. 46, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Reiner Doluschitz: Institute of Farm Management, University of Hohenheim, Schwerzstr. 46, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: As the major labor force has shifted from rural areas to cities, labor shortages in agricultural production have resulted. In the context of technical progress impact, and depending on farm resource endowments, farmers will choose effective labor saving technology such as machinery to substitute for the missing manual labor. The reasons behind farmers’ adoption of machinery technology are worth exploring. Therefore, this study uses 4165 Chinese maize farmers as the target group. Multivariate probit models were performed to identify the factors that affect maize farmers’ adoption of four machinery technologies as well as the interrelation between these adoption decisions. The empirical results indicate that maize sowing area, arable land area, crop diversity, family labor, subsidy, technical assistance, and economies of scale have positive effects on machinery adoption, while the number of discrete fields in the farm has a negative impact. Maize farmers in the Northeast and North have higher machinery adoption odds than other regions. The adoption of these four machinery technologies are interrelated and complementary. Finally, moderate scale production, crop diversification, subsidizing agricultural machinery and its extension education, and land consolidation, are given as recommendations for promoting the adoption of agricultural machinery by Chinese maize farmers.

Keywords: agricultural machinery; China; maize production; technology adoption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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