农户清洁生产技术采纳意愿及影响因素的实证分析

农业清洁生产是从源头确保食用农产品质量、增强农业可持续发展能力的重要途径。推行农业清洁生产技术对于提高食用农产品质量、改善农业生态环境、实现质量兴农目标都具有积极意义。基于计划行为理论,利用中部地区615个农户调查数据,借助有序多分类Logistic模型,探讨农户清洁生产技术采纳意愿及其影响因素。结果表明,在调研区域内,近80.17%的农户对采纳清洁生产技术有较强烈的意愿。农户清洁生产技术采纳意愿主要受其安全认知水平和所在村庄村规民约的影响。其中,农户对农村环境污染关心情况、对食用农产品质量关心情况、对安全食用农产品知识了解情况、对农残危害认知情况和村规民约制定情况正向显著影响农户清洁生产技术采纳意愿,其他变量影响不显著。基于此,为增强农户清洁生产技术采纳意愿,不仅要提高农户安全认知水平,还要发挥村规民约的作用,更要创新采纳清洁生产技术的机制。     

Adoption of improved fallows in West Africa: lessons from mucuna and stylo case studies

Traditional shifting cultivation systems can no longer be sustained in West Africa because of rapid increases in human and livestock populations. Short-duration, improved fallows are among the alternative land-management strategies that have evolved. This paper reviews how velvetbean or mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) and stylo (Stylosanthes hamata and Stylosanthes guianensis) management systems were developed and disseminated in West Africa. Mucuna was first adopted by farmers in southwestern Benin between 1988 and 1992, and the number of testers of the innovation rose to 10,000 farmers throughout Benin by 1996. Suppression of spear grass (Imperata cylindrica) was perceived as the main benefit of mucuna fallows. The stylo technology was introduced in the late 1970s, and it was primarily targeted to livestock production in the subhumid monomodal rainfall zone. The uptake of stylo has been relatively slow and modest in West Africa in contrast to the faster rate of adoption of mucuna in southwestern Benin. Some of the contributory factors to the slower adoption of stylo than mucuna include rainfall regime, lack of motivation of livestock keepers, insecure land tenure, limited capability and facilities of extension staff, poor communication among scientists, and unsatisfactory establishment of the crop. Recommendations to increase the adoption of improved fallows include the use of a participatory approach in problem identification, expansion of the genetic base of cover crops for use in fallows, optimization of the multiple benefits of cover crops, management of the improved system, promotional strategies, and appropriate policies.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

政策性农业保险、农户分化对粮食单产的影响——以江西为例

政策性农业保险对农户粮食生产行为和国家粮食安全的影响受到广泛关注。本文基于江西省乡村振兴“双百双千”农户调研数据,采用两步聚类法优化了农户分化类型,运用最小二乘法和调节效应模型分析政策性农业保险对水稻单产的影响及内在机理,探讨政策性农业保险促进水稻单产的边界条件。结果表明,农户响应购买政策性农业保险比例仅为47.4%,传统农户和专业农户购买政策性农业保险比例偏低。购买政策性农业保险农户的家庭水稻单产为7.087 t/hm2,高于未购买政策性农业保险农户。农户购买政策性农业保险显著提升了水稻单产,这一结果通过了内生性和稳健性检验。机制分析表明,农户购买政策性农业保险可以通过提高水稻种植面积和种植比例实现集约化生产、采纳农业绿色生产技术改善土壤质量和采纳新品种提升水稻抗病害性能的渠道来提高水稻单产。进一步分析发现,新型经营主体农户、粮食主产县、双季稻种植均显著强化了政策性农业保险的水稻增产作用。因此,在粮食安全和农民增收的双重目标下,建议要加快政策性农业保险发展,降低农地流转、农业绿色生产技术和水稻新品种的获取成本,加大对从事粮食生产新型经营主体、粮食主产县和双季稻种植区域的政策性农业保险补贴力度。     

The Use of Municipal and Pulp and Paper Sludges to Increase Production in Forestry

Because of their high nutritional content and soil conditioning properties,. municipal and pulp and paper (P&P) sludges-biosolids-can serve as soil amendments for nutritionally deurived or organically soils on forest sites. Studies conducted over the past 20 years at an experimental forest site in Western Washington, USA, have largely confined the potential of biosolids to increase the productivity of many forest lands. These studies clearly demonstrated that application of biosolids at environmentally acceptable rates will result in growth responses for both young seedlings as well as established stands. Municipal biosolids have been applied to a number of different Douglas-fir stands. Young stands applied at 47 Mg ha-1 showed an average of 72%, 14% and 2% height responses for Site Class IV, III and 11, respectively, over a 10 year period. Thinned versus unthinned 55-yeardd Douglas-fir applied with 142 dry Mg ha-l averaged 43% and 48%, respectively, for the 12 year period greater than controls. Average growth responses of 65% and 40% occurred in the 65-year-old stand for the Site Class IV and 11, respectively, from a 47 dry Mg ha1 application. Growth response resulting from application of P&P biosolids to a number of tree species has also been excellent. When properly applied, biosolids can provide an excellent alternaLive to chemical fertilizers as a means of enhancing forest production. Growth response is typically greater and lasts longer when compared to chemical fertilization. Careful consideration has to be made of the site conditions to be certain that environmental risks are minimal and losses through leaching and overland flow will not occur.     

Adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration in East Africa. What influence farmers’ decision?

The last two decades have seen a rise of interest in the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technologies aimed at improving the sustainability of agricultural lands among smallholder farmers in developing countries. This papers set out to understand factors that influence the adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration among smallholder farmers, using secondary data recorded in the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) database from 45 to 50 smallholders’ farmers in selected places in Kenya and Ethiopia respectively. A Probit model was used to analyse whether socio-economic, institutional, off-farm income, technical know-how, farmers’ perceptions, and land use characteristics influences the adoption of technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration. The results show that smallholder farmers that positively perceived net benefits of the soil carbon enhancing technologies were more likely to adopt such technologies that enhance soil carbon sequestration in both countries. Access to off-farm income and land ownership with title deeds were also found to be positively associated with adoption. Off-farm income positively influences adoption among farmer with a moderate income (100-500US$ per year) but not the rich (>500US$) farmers. Moderate to high level of skills and technical know-how required for implementing and maintaining a technology on the farm had a negative influence on adoption. This shows that interventions, aimed at addressing specific factors such as inadequate skills and knowledge, change in perception among farmers, and off-farm income are likely to have the greatest impact in decisions relating to the adoption of the soil carbon enhancing practices among farmers in East Africa.     

Large-scale sugarcane farmers' knowledge and perceptions of Eldana saccharina Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), push–pull and integrated pest management

A push–pull strategy for controlling Eldana saccharina Walker is being promoted as part of an area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme in the South African sugar industry. Understanding farmers' perceptions of pests and pest management can improve rates of adoption of pest management strategies, in particular for knowledge-intensive practices such as AW-IPM. Fifty-three large-scale sugarcane farmers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Respondents recognised the threat which E. saccharina posed, and 83% had heard of push–pull and IPM. Ecozone delineations played a more important role in adoption decisions than demographic and general enterprise factors such as farmer age, experience and land tenure, supporting the suggestion that experiential learning activities with small, local groups of farmers are suitable for introducing new pest management strategies. Notwithstanding good basic knowledge of E. saccharina, push–pull and IPM which farmers demonstrated, there is still a need for more detailed and practical knowledge on the implementation of push–pull at farm level. This knowledge should be made available to farmers in a hands-on manner with an emphasis on locally-oriented field days and model farms. Eldana saccharina may not be a priority for all farmers in the region where surveys were conducted. However, farmers should not be allowed to become complacent about this pest, as its range is increasing. These results will be used to formulate future push–pull and AW-IPM dissemination activities amongst large-scale sugarcane farmers in South Africa.     

Adoption of Integrated Pest Management by apple growers: the role of context

The adoption of pest and disease management practices has been the subject of numerous studies. Unfortunately, there is little consistency in their findings with regard to the variables that influence growers' decisions to adopt these techniques. In this study we focus on context as a means of explaining the lack of consistency. We used the results of in-depth interviews and a mail survey to explore context as a predictor of Australian apple growers' behaviour with respect to the management of codling moth and pest mites. We found that climate, topography, spatial separation between orchards and the crop mix determined the type and intensity of pest and disease pressures experienced by growers. Given the types and intensities of pest and disease pressures present, the management practices growers used depended on the range and effectiveness of the control options that were available to them. We concluded that variables representing specific aspects of orchard context were the primary determinants of the particular combinations of pest and disease management practices used by apple growers, not variables representing demographic and general enterprise characteristics that have been proposed in past studies.     

旱作区全膜双垄沟播技术农户采纳行为及其影响因素分析——以通渭县碧玉乡为例

农户是农业技术的最后需求者和使用者,如何实现农业技术服务供给与农民技术需求的有效对接是农业技术扩散的关键。选择甘肃省全膜双垄沟播技术(PMF技术)推广示范区通渭县碧玉乡为研究区域,通过实地调研,在分析农户采纳PMF技术现状的基础上,对农户采纳该技术的行为及其影响因素进行了实证分析。结果表明,全膜双垄沟播技术为旱作农业的发展提供了有力的技术支撑,具有广泛的应用前景。农户采用PMF技术是对自身受教育程度、收入状况、土地规模、国家政策、技术成本及市场等内外因素综合考虑后的理性行为结果。有效的制度安排和措施实施对该技术的推广普及具有决定性的作用。     

A methodology for tracking the “fate” of technological interventions in agriculture

The primary focus of agricultural research and extension in eastern Africa is technology generation and dissemination. Despite prior critiques of the shortcomings of this approach, the consequences of such activities continue to be measured through the number of technologies developed and introduced into the supply chain. At best, impact is assessed by the total numbers of adopters and by the household and system factors influencing adoption. While the diffusion research tradition has made substantive advances in recent decades, attention to what happens to technologies after adaptive, on-farm research trials continues to be limited in practice. While a host of newer approaches designed to correct for past shortcomings in diffusion research is now available, integrative methodologies that capitalize on the strengths of these different traditions are sorely needed. This article presents a more encompassing methodology for tracking the fate of technological interventions, illustrating the potential applications of findings for enhancing the positive impact of agricultural research and extension in the region. Laura German holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Cornell University (2001) and a PhD in Ecological Anthropology from the University of Georgia (2001). Following many years of involvement in Latin America, she took a position in 2002 as Scientist for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) under the African Highlands Initiative, an ecoregional program of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and a network of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa. Her current research interests include theoretical and applied work in three main areas: (1) research-development linkages; (2) integrated natural resource management at the landscape/micro-catchment scale; and (3) collective action in natural resource management. Jeremias Mowo holds a BSc in Agriculture (1979) from Dar Es Salaam University and an MSc (1983) and PhD (2000) in Soil Science from Wageningen University. He worked as soil fertility specialist in cotton-based agro-ecosystems for 11 years and coordinated soil research in Tanzania for four years. From 1998 to 2005, he worked under the African Highlands Initiative as Coordinator for the Lushoto Benchmark Site in Tanzania. In May 2005, he took up a two-year contract with the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR) as Senior Scientist in Soil and Water Management Research where he is currently spearheading the Integrated Watershed Management approach. His research interests include integrated natural resource management, farmer participatory research, methods and approaches for technology transfer, soil and water management research, organic farming and use of indigenous knowledge in soil management. Margaret Kingamkono holds a BSc in Agriculture (1994) and an MSc in Agriculture (1996) from the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Since 1995, she has worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Tanzania with a focus on livestock production. She has carried out extensive collaborative work on areas of land resource management, participatory approaches, and crop-livestock-agroforestry interactions. Her research interests include gender and development and integrated natural resource management.