Rural women and chemical fertiliser use in rural China

Abstract

This study examines the influence of women's decision-making role on chemical fertiliser use in developing and transition economies. We distinguish two types of women family roles, namely formal household head and informal household head, and examine their impacts and differences on chemical fertiliser use by using nationwide data from 75,923 Chinese rural households. The results reveal the following: (1) households with formal female head would use less chemical fertiliser; (2) households with informal female head would use more chemical fertiliser; (3) the impact of formal female household head is insignificant on fertiliser use intensity when the family's major agricultural income came from grain production. The influence of informal female household head is insignificant on fertiliser use intensity for those living in coastal areas. Based on these results, we recommend that empowering women to give them more authority in decision making, stronger supports and reunion of family members. This study may have great significance for reducing chemical fertiliser use intensity in countries that have experienced rapid urbanisation and massive rural-urban migration.