China is the most populous country in the world, and agriculture has played a prominent role in the country' s remarkable economic achievements (Liu et al., 2018). Nevertheless, China’s agriculture industry is still in a stage of extensive development. The substantial development of agriculture has boosted energy demand and also led to severe environmental pollution (Yang et al., 2018). The high levels of pollution and emissions from agriculture pose a threat to the future of the nation’s food and ecological security (Jiao et al., 2020; Liu and Feng, 2019). With agriculture being fundamental to the Chinese economy, green agricultural practices come into focus as one driving force, while helping to reduce pollution and maintain a sustainable ecology at the same time (Liu et al., 2020).
In October 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy. But what would be the best road to realize this goal that is also mindful of the Chinese-specific nature of the industry? The answer is that we must adhere to the harmony between man and nature and choose the green development of rural areas. The No.1 Central Documents in 2018, 2019 and 2020 all required further steps to reach zero growth in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, pilot projects for organic fertilizing technologies. They also put a high priority on agricultural water-saving methods, an area of great strategic significance, as well as large-scale implementation of water-saving projects. General Secretary Xi Jinping also mentioned that, during the agricultural development, no more mistakes should be made concerning the ecological environment. He also insisted that those mistakes made in the past have to be gradually remedied, so that the fight against agricultural non-point source pollution can triumph. Currently, the main concern is how to encourage farmers to abandon their traditional ways and opt for environmentally sound practices. Only through this shift resources can be conserved and environment can be protected.
Internationally, there has been a great deal of interest in finding what factors encourage farmers to switch to green agricultural technology. In Iran, farmers that were more likely to support biological control of their farms were found to be better educated, more experience, and had frequent extension contacts. They also had a higher share of family labor force in farming activities as well as the understanding of the damages that pesticide use can do to the environment (Abdollahzadeh et al., 2015). In Southeast Asia, pesticide use among farmers who sought advice from friends and neighbors was 45% less, whereas use among those who sought advice from pesticide shopkeepers was 251% more. Pesticide use was 42% less when a woman was in charge and 31% less when farmers had adopted biopesticides (Chetna et al., 2012; Schreinemachers et al., 2017). Möhringet et al. (2020) analyze the link between crop insurance and pesticide use in Europe. They found a positive and significant relationship between the two. In Bangladesh, low levels of education, lack of knowledge, and pursuit of higher profits were found to be the main reasons for the inadequate attention to the use of pesticides (Akter et al., 2018). Other studies in this area have suggested that lean thinking had a spill-over effect on existing green practices (Barth and Melin, 2018; King and Lenox, 2001). Also, age, health effects, pesticide toxicity class and training are within the scope of consideration (Berni et al., 2021; Ray and Ghose, 2014; Salvatore et al., 2015; Sharafi et al., 2018).
In China, there has been an implementation of the household contract responsibility system. Since then, farmers have gained importance in rural activities and are now the principal decision-makers. Their application of micro green farming technology is related to major strides in China's agricultural green transformation. Studying the role different factors play in farmers’decision making process helps to accelerate the scientific approach and the revitalization of the environment. An urgent part of that strategy is to understand the incentives behind the use of pesticides and fertilizers in rural populations, and especially in developing countries (Khan and Damalas, 2015).For these reasons, there have been many studies in China that look into this issue and offer policies and strategies that will accelerate the move to green production. Existing works show that the adoption of green production technologies is mainly driven by internal factors but also by external environmental factors. The important internal factors are: gender, age, health condition, education, income, non-agricultural transfer of labor, and household land endowment (Liang et al., 2012; Lu et al., 2020; Lu and Xie, 2018; Migheli, 2017; Wu et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2017). Important external factors are༚social capital, Market incentive, government regulation, subsidies, Agricultural insurance, Industrialization organization participation, and education programs (Chen et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2017; Fan et al., 2015; He et al., 2016; Huang et al., 2008; Luo et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2019; Zeng and Mu, 2010).
With a rising interest on this subject internationally and also in China and the increasing role of cross-over fields on economics, scholars are paying increasing attention to psychological factors affecting farmers. In addition to individual factors, family endowments and external factors, it is important to study how the farmer’s subjective feelings and psychological perception of the surrounding environment, especially their perception of risks, guide their decision making process when it comes to environmental behavioral (Liu et al., 2018; Zhang and Jiang, 2016). Despite many works in this area, there is still no consensus on which of these factors is the most influential. In most studies, perceived risks from switching to green agriculture was strongly associated with the level of green technology adoption (Cheng et al., 2019; Liu and Zhou, 2018; Riwthong et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2017b; Zhou et al., 2020). This was especially true among both the older and younger generations of farmers but at different levels (Liu et al., 2020a). However, Xie et al. (2013) (Xie, 2013) believed that there was a negative correlation between perceived risks and farmers’ life decisions, as those showing stronger perception of risks tend to isolate themselves from the outside world. Similarly,Pan et al.(2020)(Pan et al., 2020) and Jallow et al. (2017) (Jallow et al., 2017)hypothesized that risk-averse farmers were more likely to use more pesticides. In the same vein, some scholars had found that there was little correlation between environmental risk perception and the adoption of suitable ecological behavior (Wu et al., 2014).
As for risk perception and whether it has an impact on the adoption of green technologies, no consensus has been reached in the existing literature. The reasons may be as follows: Firstly, the uncertainty of agricultural production and the diversity of technical choices make farmers switch technologies to green farming in stages (Bhattacherjee, 2001). Farmers often trial new modes of production before fully committing to it; thus, covering only one year would not be enough to observe the full decision-making process of adopting green agricultural technology by farmers, as is the case with most existing works. Most existing studies lack continuity by only focusing on a certain point in time. Secondly, most works have been looking at a specific technology and have focused on a single green production technology. Such limited scope does not reflect the overall implementation process. Thirdly, with reference to the farmer rationality, which is the basis of analyzing their behavioral decision-making, the decisions farmers make are not only driven by perceived risks. The key to their decision-making is the process of weighing the risks and interests against each other. There is a trade-off between risks and interests.
In addition, it is true that farmers tend to acquire useful technical knowledge through field guidance, technical training and consulting services provided by government before they engage in green production activities. However, the adoption of new technology often means that farmers need to bear additional costs. Without subsidies to lessen the burden, farmers could be discouraged. The government has an array of programs for environmental conservation and rehabilitation. The most relevant one is Payments for Environmental Services (PES) program. PES monetizes the value of reduced environmental pollution and other externality costs. A restructuring of PES could accelerate the pace of technology switch (Bianco, 2016;Adele Bianco, 2016). In conclusion, government provided agricultural extension service and subsidy have a direct effect on how farmers perceive the value of green technologies and could boost the rate of sustainable application.
In view of this argument, this paper introduces the perceived value theory from two dimensions—perceived benefits and perceived risks (He et al., 2016; Li et al., 2020), which may help clarify, in a comprehensive way, the mechanism behind the psychological factors on the sustainable application of green agricultural technology by farmers. We apply a Probit model for empirical study, illustrating the influence of perceived value, government support and their interaction on the sustainable application of green agricultural technology by farmers.
The contributions we make to the current academic research is as follows:(1)Numerous works have studies the drivers of green agricultural technology adoption. However, few have been mindful of whether the behavior is sustained for more than one year for different technology. According to the "one control and two reductions" rule in China, the sustained application of water-saving irrigation technology, green pest prevention and control technology, and organic fertilizer replacement technology are selected as the objects of this study for a comprehensive look at the sustainable application of green agricultural technology (2)We infuse perceived value theory into our analysis framework and consider both perceived benefit and risk in conjunction with government support for a fuller and more detailed understanding of the underlying mechanism.(3)Most existing studies focus on grain crops and vegetable crops. Few are centered around fruit production. The kiwi producing area in Shaanxi Province of China is one of the largest of its kind in the world, often ranked first in the country and the world for its area and yield. However, few have quantitatively studied the sustainable adoption of green technology by farmers in this region based on large-scale field survey data. Therefore, it is strongly representative and very significant to study the sustainable application of green agricultural technology by kiwi growers in Shaanxi Province. The findings of this paper can help shed a light on the decision-making mechanism and help to make green agricultural technology more popular. Moving in this direction will boost the income of farmers and improve the ecological environment in Northwest China and, by extension, throughout the whole country.