Psychological Factors Influencing Farmers’ Intention to Adopt Agroforestry: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

ABSTRACT

The biophysical characteristics of the farm and farmers’ socioeconomic factors have been used to explain adoption of technologies in Africa. However, agricultural technology adoption requires that we also understand the psychological factors that can encourage or discourage farmer adoption of technologies. The aim of this article is to assess the psychological drivers of farmers’ intentions to adopt agroforestry technologies on their farms. We obtained data from 400 smallholder farmers in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as the main framework. Quantitative data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to assess the impact of a set of psychological factors on farmers’ intention to integrate trees in coffee. The intention of farmers to integrate trees in coffee plantations was mainly driven by their evaluation of the benefits of shaded coffee (attitude) followed by beliefs about their own capability (perceived behavioral control). However, social pressure (subjective norm) was insignificant, implying that smallholder farmers tend to deny the influence of other people’s behavior on their actions. Therefore, farmers’ positive evaluation of shading coffee and the perceived capability to overcome tree planting barriers reinforced their intention to integrate trees in coffee. This renders attitude and perceived behavioral control as reliable predictors of farmer tree planting behavior, especially in the context of developing countries.     

辉煌的足迹 丰硕的成果——食品科技学院十年的发展

河北农业大学食品科技学院是我国农业院校成立较早的食品科技学院系之一。近10年发展迅速,领导班子建设和党建工作得到进一步加强,办学条件逐年改善,师资力量稳步提高,教学科研业绩引人瞩目,积极拓展服务社会新途径,社会影响力不断提高。     

三峡库区居民对旅游产业影响的知觉与态度

旅游地居民对旅游产业影响的知觉与态度一直是学术界研究的热点问题，文章利用问卷调查了三峡库区对旅游产业影响的知觉与态度后发现：在三峡库区绝大多数居民对旅游产业的积极影响的知觉强烈，赞同度高，而对其消极影响的知觉较弱，多持反对态度，但同时也关注三峡库区的生态环境安全和环境保护；收入水平和文化程度高、中青年、从旅游业中获益、非学生和离退休人员的居民更为支持旅游产业的发展。     

社区居民对乡村旅游发展的感知和态度探究——以安徽省安庆市龙山村为例

关于旅游地居民对旅游影响的感知和态度研究已成为近年来国内外旅游学者研究的重点。以龙山村为例，在实地调研的基础上，就当地居民对旅游的社会文化影响感知、环境影响感知、经济影响感知以及对旅游业发展的态度进行了研究。并根据人口统计学特征利用 SPSS 软件进行差异分析发现，年龄、文化水平、职业、居民与旅游业的密切程度是影响居民个体旅游感知态度的主导因素。     

全国公众对蛇类资源保护态度的调查

中国野生动物保护协会于2002年5月至7月,提出了有关蛇类资源保护的10个问题,组织在全国35个大中城市开展了蛇类资源保护公众态度的问卷调查,调查结果表明：在华南等地吃蛇明显高于其它地区;营养、滋补是人们食用蛇类的主要动机;在目前的营养条件下没有必要吃蛇;多数公众对野外蛇的生存状况、人工养殖的情况不了解,对市场上蛇的来源不清楚;吃蛇或使用蛇产品会对生态环境造成破坏,适量用于医药、禁止食用是公众对蛇类保护的基本态度;应该保护蛇类是广大公众的主流民意;对《野生动物保护法》有较高的认知度。本文同时提出了蛇类资源保护的对策。     

影响蔬菜安全生产的因素及农户行为与态度研究——基于青州等4个县市农户的调查

在文献研究的基础上,建立研究假设,利用问卷调查,对蔬菜安全生产影响因素、农户行为与态度进行研究。得出恢复农药零售许可经营,规范农药使用行为,加强对农药残留的产地检测,大力发展蔬菜种植专业合作社等有利于蔬菜安全生产的对策建议。     

风险感知、风险态度与农户宅基地退出意愿研究——以河北省唐山市郊区农户为例

探索农户自愿有偿退出宅基地是深化农村改革的重要内容,农户对宅基地退出的风险感知和风险态度是影响其退出意愿的重要因素。基于风险社会理论,以河北省唐山市郊区为例,利用实地农户调研数据,分析农户宅基地退出意愿、风险感知和风险态度,运用多元有序Logistics回归模型和层次回归模型探讨农户风险感知、风险态度对宅基地退出意愿的影响。结果表明,样本农户宅基地退出意愿普遍薄弱,仅有11.50%的农户愿意有偿退出宅基地。从风险感知来看,农户对宅基地退出风险总体感知度较高,66.37%的样本农户认为宅基地退出存在中高度风险,其中政策兑现风险感知度最高,其次为保障风险和经济风险,人际情感风险感知度最低。风险感知对农户宅基地退出意愿具有显著抑制作用,其中保障风险感知影响程度最为显著,其次是心理风险感知,经济风险感知影响程度最弱。从风险态度来看,13.72%的样本农户为风险偏好型,风险态度在一定程度上能够缓解风险感知对退出意愿的抑制作用。异质性分析表明,风险偏好对中等收入农户和中远郊农户退出意愿的促进作用最为显著。因此,本文提出以满足农户居住保障和社会保障为核心制定多样化补偿方案,以确保补偿资金落实到位为关键建立风险防范机制,以增加非农就业机会和非农收入为抓手提高农户抗风险能力等对策建议。     

四摆臂-六履带机器人单侧台阶障碍越障仿真与试验

为了实现机器人代替人类在农业环境下作业,减轻人类的劳作负担,该文设计了一种四摆臂-六履带机器人(4SA-6TR),机器人采用套筒轴传动形式,其摆臂旋转运动与履带轮旋转运动相互独立,可实现多姿态变化,适应野外复杂地形。为掌握机器人的越障稳定性,建立了4SA-6TR机器人运动学关系矩阵方程,并借助重心定理对机器人运动姿态进行分析,得到机器人在全局坐标系下的重心坐标方程,并利用重心投影法判断机器人越障的稳定性。为实现机器人稳定越障,研究SA-6TR机器人单侧障碍地形的越障机理,建立机器人摆臂旋转角度与机器人横滚角度关系的数学模型;对数学模型进行推导,得到机器人在攀越单侧台阶平稳越障时机器人摆臂旋转角度?与台阶高度H的关系式。通过Soliworks三维设计软件及Adams仿真软件建立4SA-6TR机器人虚拟样机模型及仿真环境,完成单侧双重障碍地形越障仿真试验。通过室内测试试验,完成150 mm高的障碍测试,测试发现机器人的俯仰角度偏差较大,最大偏差2.4?,但最终俯仰角度稳定在0.1?左右;横滚角度偏差较小,最终横滚角度稳定在0.3?左右,达到了机器人平稳越障的控制目的,并验证机了器人摆臂角度控制策略的正确性及可行性。本文推导的单侧障碍越障姿态调整控制方案可为4SA-6TR机器人自主越障提供理论依据。     

Farmers’ perceptions and attitudes toward forest watershed conservation of the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest

Over the past several decades, the management of forest ecosystem functions through policies such as “command and control” has not been successful, largely because existing policies and legislation for natural resource management are inadequate and often formulated without consulting local communities such as farmers. However, farmers’ decisions to participate in natural resource conservation or watershed conservation more particularly are generally influenced by their knowledge of the problems and perceived benefits of conservation. This study focuses on farmers’ perceptions and attitudes toward forest watershed conservation in the North West Selangor Peat Swamp forest of Malaysia. A survey questionnaire was administered to 380 paddy farmers at the North West Selangor irrigation scheme. Dates were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the theory of value and social psychology constructs. The study concludes that farmers have generally positive attitudes toward forest watershed conservation. Therefore, we recommend farmers’ involvement in the conservation and management of the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF).     

Relationship between the stockperson's attitudes and dairy productivity in Japan

The aim of this study is to identify the factors that comprise farmer attitudes toward dairy cows and jobs in Japan, and examine the relationship between these attitudes and dairy productivity. At first, we executed a questionnaire survey to determine factors that comprise attitudes of farmers toward their jobs and dairy cows, and three factors were extracted. These were named as ‘Positive beliefs to cows’, ‘Negative beliefs to cows’ and ‘Job satisfaction’, respectively. Second, we examined the relationships between attitude and dairy productivity in 35 dairy farms. The positive beliefs scores correlated positively both with milk yield and milk urea nitrogen concentration. We found there to be three farm groups by cluster analysis using three attitude score. The group B farms showed significantly higher positive beliefs scores and job satisfaction scores; on the other hand, the group C farms showed significantly lower positive beliefs scores and higher negative belief scores. The milk yield in group B was significantly higher than that in group C. This study showed that Japanese farmers' attitudes toward cows considerably resemble those seen in previous studies in Western cultures. Positive attitudes toward cows could enhance stockmanship, and could improving animal welfare and productivity.