契约农业促进了农户有机农业采纳吗?——来自湖南湘西农户的准自然实验证据

Does contract farming promote farmers’organic agriculture adoption?--Counterfactual analysis based on survey data of western Hunan farmers

研究契约农业对农户有机农业采纳的影响,可为有机农业的推广提供决策依据。本文基于湖南省湘西地区保靖县、蓝山县、古丈县、永顺县和花垣县共450户农户的调查数据,采用倾向得分匹配法构建反事实分析框架,实证检验了契约农业对农户有机农业采纳的影响及其异质性。结果表明:(1)参与契约农业对于农户有机农业采纳行为具有显著的正向影响,基于5种不同匹配方法估计得出的平均处理效应表明,与未参与契约农业的农户相比,参与契约农业的农户平均处理效应为0.45~0.54;(2)参与契约农业对于风险厌恶、小规模、兼业程度低、有机农业认知度低和来自国家有机产品示范创建区的农户采纳有机农业的促进作用更为显著。政府应加强契约农业的宣传与推广,提高农户契约农业参与率;应结合不同农户的禀赋约束、风险态度、有机农业认知等差异,发展适合不同类别农户的有机生产经营的契约合作模式;并进一步加大国家有机产品认证示范区的创建力度。

Contract farming is an innovative method for developing organic agriculture in China.Clarifying whether contract farming promotes farmers’adoption of organic agriculture can provide a decision-making basis for promoting organic agriculture in China.This study applied the propensity score matching method to construct a counterfactual analysis framework to test the treatment effects and heterogeneity of contract farming on farmers’organic agriculture adoption based on farm-level survey data of 450 farmers from Baojing,Lanshan,Guzhang,Yongshun and Huayuan counties of Hunan Province.Our empirical results showed that contract farming plays a significant role in promoting farmers’adoption of organic agriculture.The average treatment effect estimated based on five score matching methods showed that compared with farmers who did not participate in contract farming,the average treatment effect of farmers who participated in contract agriculture was 0.45−0.54.Moreover,for farmers from national organic product demonstration areas,with low awareness of organic agriculture,risk-averse farmers,and small-scale and part-time farmers,the average treatment effect of contract farming on organic agriculture adoption was more notable.Therefore,the government should encourage farmers to participate in contract farming.Furthermore,considering the heterogeneity of the treatment effect of contract farming on farmers’adoption of organic agriculture,the government should develop contract farming modes that are suitable for farmers with different endowment constraints,risk attitudes,and organic agriculture cognition,and strengthen the establishment of national organic product certification demonstration.