Factors Affect Chinese Producers' Adoption of a Production Technology: Survey Results from Chinese Fruits Producers.

This study develops an expected utility model to examine Chinese fruit farmers' adoption of a newly introduced production technology, the artisan fruit production technique. We analyzed a three-stage adoption process and examined factors influencing farmers' adoption decision in each stage. Survey data collected from 398 fruit farmers were used to quantify farmers' probability to understand, actually adopt, and determine the magnitude of adoption. We found that farmers' adoption varies with their education, plans to expand, and their risk concerns regarding the new technology. We also detected that adoption changes with farm accessibility to government supported agricultural assistances and the availability of privately funded fruit cooperatives. Overall the three-stage adoption framework performs well in adjusting potential sample selection bias problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]