Learning from neighboring farmers: Does spatial dependence affect adoption of drought‐tolerant wheat varieties in China?

Abstract

The adoption of improved crop varieties, such as drought-tolerant varieties, plays a crucial role in addressing climate change. In this study, we explore how and to what extent spatial interactions between farmers and neighboring farmers affect the adoption of drought-tolerant wheat varieties (DTWVs), using data collected from rural households in China. A spatial Durbin probit model is utilized to identify the spatial patterns in DTWVs adoption. Results show that spatial dependence exists in DTWVs adoption. Spatial dependence is positively associated with wheat farmers' DTWVs adoption decisions, and the spatial effects mainly arise from the neighboring farmers' adoption decisions and information spillover via smartphone use and extension service contacts. Further analysis reveals that DTWVs adoption improves farm performance by increasing both wheat yields and farm profits significantly. Our findings underscore the necessity of considering spatial interactions between farmers when designing and promoting innovative agricultural technologies in rural areas.

Impact of farmer group participation on the adoption of sustainable farming practices—spatial analysis of New Zealand dairy farmers

“…Then, farmers’ decisions on the adoption of GMPs may be further influenced by those sitting in the farmer group meetings. Spatial dependence between farmers has been extensively studied in the literature on farmers’ adoption of technology and sustainable agricultural practices (e.g., Engler et al., 2011; Läpple & Rensburg, 2011; Yang & Sharp, 2017; Zheng et al., 2021) . However, in the field of farmer group participation, most of the existing studies do not consider the spatial effects on farmer group participation; a few studies that consider the spatial effects simply use exogenous variables (i.e., dummy variables) to compare the impact of participation in farmer groups on the intended outcomes between neighboring farmers and those located far away (Jørs et al., 2016).…”

Productivity versus environmental sustainability: A broadscale assessment of freshwater aquaculture's technical efficiency and ecological efficiency in China's inland provinces

“…9 Therefore, the lagging provinces have been catching up with the advanced ones, and the initial technical efficiency gap between provinces will eventually be closed. Such a convergence pattern may be as a result of the spatial spillover of aquaculture technologies (Zheng et al, 2021).…”

Cooperative membership and adoption of green pest control practices: Insights from rice farmers

“…cooperative membership) on binary outcome variables (adoption of physical or biological pest control practices), several econometric methods could be used to correct for selection bias. These include the propensity score matching (PSM; Banga, 2022; Shimada & Sonobe, 2021), inverse‐probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) estimator (Manda et al, 2018; Zheng & Ma, 2021), recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model (Li, Cheng, & Shi, 2021; Owusu et al, 2021; Zheng et al, 2021) and the endogenous switching probit (ESP) model (Haile et al, 2020; Li et al, 2020). This study employs the ESP model for two reasons.…”