The impact of social network and resource endowment of smallholders on sustainable apple production
Abstract
Purpose
Smallholders are essential in ensuring food security; however, smallholder-dominated food production often involves high resource-environmental costs. This study analyzed the factors that differentiate horticultural practices, willingness to adopt technology and social networks between optimized practices (OPT) and farmer practices (FP) to provide localized and systematic solutions for the sustainable apple production.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the approach of smallholder-dominated sustainable apple production, 257 apple producers in the Bohai Bay region, a major apple planting area in China, were investigated. Life cycle assessment (LCA), emergy analysis and social network analysis methods were used for evaluation.
Findings
The results showed that the net economic profit and emergy sustainability index (ESI) in OPT was 15.8 × 104 RMB·ha-1 and 1.2, respectively, which were 126.9 and 128.0% higher than FP. In contrast, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under OPT was 29.3% lower than those under FP. OPT has a higher percentage of adoption of scientific fertilizer application and water-saving irrigation technologies compared to FP. OPT has strong learning abilities, more social resources (such as technical training and sharing technical experience with others) and connections with stakeholders in the apple supply chain. Optimizing smallholders' social capital, willingness to adopt technology, behavioral willingness and technological awareness can promote sustainable apple production.
Originality/value
Considering the horticultural practices employed by smallholders in conjunction with their social networks, these factors contributed to the transition of smallholder-led apple production toward sustainability. The findings provided viable options and a theoretical basis for smallholder-dominated crop production to move toward sustainability, with significant implications for policymakers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFD1901005), the National Science Foundation of China (No. 32172675). The authors deeply appreciated the support and were grateful to all of the students and teachers who participated in the survey as well as the local farmers for their cooperation in the research. All individuals included in this section have consented to the publication of the article.
Citation
Cui, S., Pathera, D., Li, Y. and Jiao, X. (2024), "The impact of social network and resource endowment of smallholders on sustainable apple production", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-12-2023-0358
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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