Farmers’ Livelihood Differentiation and Pesticide Application: Empirical Evidence from a Causal Mediation Analysis

Liangmei Cai, Linping Wang and Manxiu Ning
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Liangmei Cai: College of Economics and Management, Ningde Normal University, Ningde 352100, China
Linping Wang: College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agricultural and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Manxiu Ning: College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agricultural and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: As agriculture is becoming a less reliable source of income, many farmers are turning to other industries to supplement their lackluster profits from farming in a process known as farmers’ livelihood differentiation. Despite the existence of a voluminous literature on farmers’ livelihood differentiation, little is known about its effect on agricultural production behavior. To fill this knowledge gap, this study uses rice planting data from 537 Chinese farm households to analyze how farmers’ livelihood differentiation affects pesticide application among rural farmers in China. This study not only examines the effects of farmers’ livelihood differentiation on farmers’ pesticide application, but also underscores the potential pathways behind the effects of farmers’ livelihood differentiation according to land resource endowment via a causal mediation analysis. The results showed that (1) farmers’ livelihood differentiation had a direct effect on the amount of pesticide use. Compared to the full-time agricultural households, regular part-time farmers and ir-regular part-time farmers generally tend to use lower levels of pesticides. (2) The mediating effect of farmers’ livelihood differentiation on pesticide use was through land resource endowment. Compared to the full-time agricultural households, ir-regular part-time farmers reduce their pesticide use through maintaining better land resource endowment, while regular part-time farmers increase their pesticide application by maintaining poor land resource endowment. These results may provide important implications for policymakers to improve cultivated land protection policies and encourage the use of soil testing technology to determine the formulation of the fertilizer used in the agricultural ecological environment.

Keywords: pesticide overuse; farmers’ livelihood differentiation; land resource endowment; Chinese farm households (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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