Conflicts of interests have been hypothesized when agricultural advisory services are connected to agri-input businesses. However, these have not been examined using large sets of advisory service and grower data. We provide quantitative insights into dependencies between service, crop production, sustainability and the level of agri-input business-linkage of extension workers. We analyzed 34,000+ prescription forms (recommendations) issued to growers in China, as well as grower interview data. Results revealed some conflicts of interest, but to a small extent and not always as expected. Both forms of advisory service (with and without business-linkages) heavily emphasize chemical pest management. However, grower interviews revealed that business-linked advisors recommend pesticides even 18% more often than non-business-linked advisors do (96% vs. 78% of advice). This advice was also often implemented (94% and 90% uptake). There is a slightly higher chance that dangerous pesticides are being recommended by business-linked advisors (0.4% vs. 0.14%), but these advisors recommended antibiotics less frequently (1.6% vs. 2.5%). No effects of the source of advice on yields or grower profits were found. Thus, there is no apparent economic disadvantage of growers taking advice from business-linked advisors. However, if pesticide use is a concern for human health and the environment, then the increased use of such products may further exacerbate existing problems. Depending on national priorities, countries may re-consider moving away from governmental extension services, and more closely analyze the advantages of promoting agri-business-linked advisory services (no public funds, better outreach) versus the disadvantages (slightly higher pesticide risks).
This 5-year study addresses how improved quality of agricultural extension may lead to more sustainable pest management. We studied 112 agricultural extension workers trained as plant doctors under the Plantwise program in China. They run 70 plant clinics in Beijing, Guangxi, and Sichuan provinces. We analysed 47,156 recommendations issued by these plant doctors to 13,051 different growers between 2012 and 2017, and this for 250 different plant health problems on 91 crops. We also interviewed growers who had taken queries to plant clinics. On average, 86% of plant doctors provided comprehensive integrated pest management recommendations to the growers, with a 16% improvement in comprehensiveness over years. This most often included advice of synthetic pesticides (66%) with its frequency not much changing with time. In contrast, as a likely result of Plantwise interventions and China’s pesticide reduction policies, recommendations for biological control increased from 2% to 42%, pest monitoring by 8%, and cultural control by 11%. Recommendations of problematic plant protection agents as listed in the Montreal Protocol, Stockholm or Rotterdam convention, or as highly toxic under WHO’s toxicity classification were already rare in 2013 (1.9%) and nearly phased out by 2017 (0.2%). About 92% of growers implemented the advice, suggesting that agricultural extension services may contribute to changes in agricultural practices at scale. Further investment in such agricultural extension services may be warranted instead of phasing them out.
Since launching its reforms and opening up, China has actively integrated itself into global value chains (GVCs) and experienced continuous growth. However, there exists a significant imbalance between GVC upgrading and economic growth across regions in China. Can GVC upgrading promote economic growth at the regional level? Despite the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence provided at the national level, research on GVC upgrading at the subnational level remains limited. This study constructs a temporal indicator to measure GVC upgrading at the finest subnational level, including cities at the prefecture level and above, and employs panel fixed effects (FE) and mediation models to examine the impact and mechanism of GVC upgrading on regional economic growth, aiming for a meaningful exploration in this area. The results show that GVC upgrading has a significant positive effect on regional economic growth with robust performance. Specifically, a 1-standard-deviation improvement in GVC upgrading leads to a 0.054-standard-deviation increase in the logarithm of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect is more pronounced in coastal areas and administrative centers. Mechanism analysis indicates that GVC upgrading promotes regional economic growth by facilitating capital accumulation, promoting technological progress, and enhancing human resources, among which, facilitating capital accumulation plays the most significant role, accounting for over 70% of the economic growth effects associated with GVC upgrading. Thus, China should create an enabling environment for promoting GVC upgrading, enhance capital accumulation, foster regional innovation systems, improve the quality of human capital, and promote domestic market integration.
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