Ziyuan Kexue (Nov 2023)
The impact of fallow land policy on farmers’ behavior to protect farmland quality
Abstract
[Objective] Farmland fallow policy is one of the important initiatives to improve the quality of farmland and address the ecological environment problems in agriculture in China, and it is crucial to investigate its impact on the level of farmland quality protection of farmers for sustainable agricultural development. [Methods] Based on the micro-survey data of 514 households from the fallow policy pilot area in Gansu Province, this study first used the propensity score matching-difference-in-differences method (PSM-DID) to evaluate the impact of fallow policy on farmers’ behavior of farmland quality protection, and then used the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the mediation effect of farmland protection perception and the moderating effect of fallow policy perception. [Results] (1) The fallow policy promoted the application of farmyard fertilizers and commercial organic fertilizers and the recycling of mulch film, and had the greatest impact on the recycling of mulch film and the least impact on the application of commercial organic fertilizers. (2) The influence of the policy on farmers’ farmland quality protection behavior was both direct and indirect, and the influence effects of the direct and indirect paths were 86.84% and 13.16%, respectively, which indicates that the direct influence dominated through improving farmland quality and alleviating economic constraints. (3) The moderating role of fallow policy cognition showed heterogeneity. When fallow policy cognition was at a low level (mean minus one standard deviation), its role in promoting fallow policy affecting the cognition of arable land quality protection was not significant; on the contrary, as the cognition of fallow policy continued to increase, it played a significant positive moderating role. [Conclusion] On the premise of guaranteeing food security, appropriately expanding the scope of implementation of the fallow policy and encouraging the exploration of farmers’ self-administered fallow practice can alleviate the trend of farmland degradation in northwestern China. In addition, accelerating the construction of a trading market for commercial organic fertilizers will help to lower the threshold for farmers to apply organic fertilizers, and thus give full play to the role of the policy in promoting farmland protection.
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