How do rations and profits orientations affect rice farmers’ biological pesticide application behavior: Concurrently discussing the regulating effect of environmental awareness

This study aims to explore the mechanism of the purpose of grain production on the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers and the moderating role of environmental awareness in the context of the green development of agriculture and rural areas. Based on 1103 micro-survey data of rice farmers in Hubei Province in 2021, the influencing and moderating mechanism of the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers were analyzed from the perspectives of food ration and profit, and the environmental utility was incorporated into the theoretical analysis framework of rice farmers’ behavior. The Logit model was used to further analyze the influence and heterogeneity of the purpose of grain production and environmental awareness on the application behavior of biological pesticides of rice farmers. The study found that: 1) There were significant differences in the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers with different purposes of grain production, namely those oriented towards food ration and those oriented towards profit. Profit-oriented rice farmers were more inclined to apply biological pesticides. 2) Environmental awareness had a significant positive impact on the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers. Pesticide cognition promoted the application behavior of biological pesticides by profit-oriented rice farmers, while the environmental protection attitude has a more significant impact on the application behavior of biological pesticides by food ration-oriented rice farmers. 3) There were significant differences in the application behavior of biological pesticides among rice farmers with different capital endowments. The environmental protection attitude had a more significant impact on the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers with a high education level, while the positive moderating effect of pesticide cognition existed among rice farmers with a low education level. The environmental protection attitude had a more significant impact on the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers with a low income level, while the moderating effects of pesticide cognition and environmental protection attitude existed among rice farmers with a low income level. The environmental protection attitude had a more significant impact on the application behavior of biological pesticides by rice farmers with a low degree of land fragmentation, while the positive moderating effect of pesticide cognition existed among rice farmers with a high degree of land fragmentation. Based on this, this paper proposed to formulate corresponding promotion measures for biological pesticides according to the planting purposes of rice farmers, formulate phased training contents of biological pesticides, improve rice farmers’ cognition of biological pesticides, strengthen rice farmers' environmental awareness, and build an agricultural technology exchange platform to promote the application of biological pesticides by rice farmers.