Analysis on Farmers’ Adoption Behavior of Water Saving Irrigation Technology and its Income Increasing Effect

Abstract

Based on the sample survey data of grain farmers in Shandong, Hebei and Henan provinces, This paper use Probit model and Mediating Effect Model to analyze the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption behavior of water saving irrigation technology(WSIT) and their income increasing effects. The results show that education years of household head, planting scale, cooperatives membership and perception of water scarcity all significantly promoted farmers’ adoption of water saving irrigation technology. Water saving irrigation technology adoption behavior can significantly increase farmers’ income. After using instrumental variable method to deal with endogenous problems, the regression results are still stable. The adoption of water saving irrigation technology not only has a direct effect on improving household income, but also indirectly increases household income through factor inputs. Therefore, strengthening agricultural technology popularization, guiding and encouraging farmers to join cooperatives, and expanding farmers’ planting scale through land circulation are the keys to improve farmers’ income level.