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Smallholder farmer preferences for diversifying farming with cover crops of sustainable farm management: A discrete choice experiment in Northwest China
- Source :
- Ecological Economics. 186:107060
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2021.
-
Abstract
- This study investigated smallholder farmers' adoption preferences for cropping patterns of cover crops, duration of adoption, and supplementing technical support to reduce agrochemicals regarding sustainable farm management (SFM). A discrete choice experiment was conducted in the Hexi Corridor (D1) and the west Loess Plateau (D2) in northwest China. The results show that farmers in D1 preferred intercropping and rotating cover crops to the current single cropping system, while farmers in D2 prioritized intercropping over rotation and least preferred planting cover crops in marginal land in the double-cropping system. Farmers in both sites preferred 1 or 3 years of adoption over 5 years. Additionally, farmers in D2 preferred technical assistance to reduce the high proportion of agrochemicals. The results indicate that younger farmers with higher annual household incomes were most likely to opt out in D1. In D2, more agricultural labor inputs and raising livestock had positive effects on the adoption of the package. Moreover, farmers who cultivated cash crops were more reluctant to move away from the current cropping system. This study highlights the uses of cover crop intercropping and rotation combining with technical assistance in different agriculturally intensive cropping systems that may be useful in guiding site-specific policy.
- Subjects :
- Economics and Econometrics
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
biology
business.industry
Cash crop
Intercropping
010501 environmental sciences
biology.organism_classification
01 natural sciences
Agricultural science
Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
Marginal land
Cropping system
business
Cover crop
Cropping
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
General Environmental Science
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 09218009
- Volume :
- 186
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Ecological Economics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........ff26332e307b6eebaa21a5b15498f493
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107060