Performance differences of green production behavior among different types of traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivators: an empirical analysis based on survey data in Chifeng City

Green production behavior among farmers is essential for green agricultural development. This study used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to analyze 860 micro-survey data points from traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivators in Chifeng City to explore performance differences in green production behavior based on farmers’ differentiation. The results indicate that implementing green production behavior improves production performance, although some variations were observed among different types of farmers. The average production performance for the entire sample was 0.75, with subsistence farmers scoring the lowest at 0.65 and productive farmers scoring 0.82. Life-style farmers and functional farmers had similar scores of 0.80 and 0.79, respectively. Second, according to the Average Treatment Effect (ATT) results, farmers that implement green production behavior can increase their production performance, total output, and total output value. Third, group variations were observed in the impact of green production behavior on the production performance of different types of traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivators. Production performance of subsistence and life-style farmers did not show a significant impact, while that of functional and productive farmers showed, with the production performance of productive farmers showing a negative impact. The conclusion is as follows: Traditional Chinese medicine farmers are divided and different types of farmers implement green production behavior to influence production performance; productive and functional farmers are the key to improving the green production performance of Chinese medicinal materials. Therefore, the implementation of farmers’ green production behavior must be strengthened, green production awareness must be raised, traditional subsistence and life-style farmers must be protected, productive farmers must be encouraged to reduce pesticide and fertilizer use, and the growth of functional farmers groups must be fostered to facilitate the high-quality development of the traditional Chinese medicinal herb industry and further improve social welfare.