Learning from parents and friends: The influence of intergenerational effect and peer effect on farmers' straw return

Abstract

Straw returning to the field is considered a sustainable agricultural production mode that can be applied on a large scale. However, Straw returning to the field of Chinese farmers has the characteristics of “high willingness, low behavior”. Based on the survey data of 540 farmers in the main rice-producing areas of Sichuan Province, from the perspective of the social network, this study theoretically analyzed the impact of the two most important roles in the farmers' social network - parents and friends, that is, intergenerational effect and peer effect on farmers' straw returning. The probit model was used for empirical testing, and further discussed the difference between the two effects under different natural resource endowment constraints. The results showed that: (1) Among the sample farmers, 61.5% of them used straw returning. (2) The intergenerational effect has an inhibitory effect on the straw returning to the field, and the peer effect has a promoting effect on the straw returning to the field, and the effect of the peer effect is greater than that of the intergenerational effect. (3) Under the constraints of natural resource endowments such as land topography, land area, and home location, the influence of generational effect and peer effect on straw return was different for different farmers. The findings of the study can help improve the policy of integrated straw utilization and promote cleaner rice production.