Abstract:
Guiding farmers in adopting fertilizer reduction technologies is of great significance in promoting China’s fertilizer reduction and efficiency, and realizing the green and sustainable development of agriculture. Based on 986 micro-survey data in Hubei Province, this study proposed a new path to mitigate the negative impact of farmers’ risk perception from the perspective of the capability approach, and empirically analyzed the effects of the capability approach and risk perception on the adoption of fertilizer reduction technologies by farmers by using the ordered Logit model and mediation effect model. The proportion of farmers adopting fertilizer reduction technologies in the samples was 42.80%, and the adoption level of fertilizer reduction technologies was low. Among them, the percentages of the farmers adopted one, two, three, and four fertilizer reduction technologies were 29.72%, 9.13%, 2.74% and 1.22%, respectively. The capability approach has a significant positive effect on farmers’ adoption behavior of fertilizer reduction technologies: the stronger the market risk perception and technology risk perception, the lower the possibility of adopting fertilizer reduction technologies. Risk perception played a partial mediating role between the capability approach and the adoption of fertilizer reduction technologies. The capability approach helped weaken risk perception and promoted the adoption of fertilizer reduction technologies. The capability approach promoted the adoption of fertilizer reduction technologies of smallholder and young farmers more than among large-scale and old farmers. In this regard, it is important to enhance the capability approach of farmers inwardly by improving their income levels, information accessibility, and participation in agricultural technology training, and outwardly by improving the existing market system for green agricultural products and helping farmers overcome the technical thresholds required to alleviate their risk perception and increase the probability of adopting chemical fertilizer reduction technologies.