Optimization of chemical fertilizer use was modified by smallholders’ livelihood differentiation through mediating effects of agricultural socialized services

Abstract

As the mainstay of global food security feeding more with less is one of the major challenges faced by smallholder-dominated food production. This challenge has become increasingly more daunting due to the development of smallholders’ livelihood differentiation induced by urbanization. Usually, smallholders take insure approach to food production on chemical fertilizer use, considering the time of part-time jobs. With the continuous improvement of agricultural socialized services, it remains to be verified, whether the impact of smallholders’ livelihood differentiation on optimal chemical fertilizer application will be mitigated. Therefore, we conducted a study in seven provinces of China with 1112 smallholders. Through the mediation model, we found that: (1) the amount of chemical fertilizer use by smallholders was generally higher than the economically optimal level. (2) Smallholders with differentiated livelihoods can significantly reduce chemical fertilizer application and contribute to maintaining the optimal economic chemical fertilizer application level through the mediating effect of agricultural socialized services demand, which is approximately 13.03%. (3) With farmer livelihood differentiation, the increase in smallholders’ demand for socialized services includes not only an increase in the probability of service selection but also an increase in the demand for service intensity and organization degree of the service providers.