The Impact of Technical Training on Farmers Adopting Water-Saving Irrigation Technology: An Empirical Evidence from China

Ding Xiuling, Lu Qian (), Li Lipeng () and Apurbo Sarkar
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Ding Xiuling: College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Lu Qian: College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Li Lipeng: School of Economics and Management, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
Apurbo Sarkar: School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Farmers’ adoption of water-saving irrigation technology (WSIT) is essential for achieving high-quality agricultural development. An in-depth analysis of the impact of risk aversion, technical training and their interaction on farmers’ adoption of WSIT will help the government to promote WSIT to facilitate agricultural resource conservation and sustainable development. The study takes 707 farmers who grow watermelons and muskmelon in Yuncheng and Xian City of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces as the research object to analyse the influence of risk aversion and technical training and their interaction terms on farmers’ WSIT adoption behaviour. The study uses the Probit and moderating effect models to outline the findings. The empirical analysis reveals the following outcomes: (i) 27.44% of the sample farmers adopt water-saving irrigation technology, indicating that the current adoption rate and the enthusiasm for adoption are relatively low; (ii) risk aversion has a significant negative impact on farmers’ adoption of WSIT; (iii) both online and offline technical training have a significant positive impact on farmers’ adoption of WSIT; (iv) significant group differences exist in the effects of risk aversion, online technical training, offline technical training and interaction items on farmers’ WSIT adoption behaviour. Therefore, the study proposes to strengthen the role of technical training in the diffusion of WSIT and implement differentiated technical training for different types of farmers to reduce the degree of risk aversion of farmers.

Keywords: risk aversion; offline technical training; online technical training; farmers’ water-saving irrigation technology adoption behaviour; moderating effect (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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