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This study aims to focus on the analysis of the internal mechanism of farmers’ ecological cognition and the behaviour of Grain for Green Project (GGP), and the further relationship between ecological cognition and ecological aspiration, proposing climate change strategies and management from the perspective of farmers.

Theory of planned behaviour and social exchange theory were used to construct a theoretical framework and an ecological cognition under the influence of external factors, the aspiration and the behaviour of GGP, using ecological fragile areas in Bazhou and Changji, Xinjiang of 618 peasant households’ survey data. The structural equation model and Heckman two-step model were applied to analyse the relationship between ecological cognition and ecological aspiration of farmers, the impact of peasant households’ ecological cognition and aspiration to the behaviour of GGP and the influence factors of GGP behaviour.

This research’s results show that the three characterizations of ecological cognitive variables, attitude towards the behaviour (AB), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behaviour control (PBC), have significant positive impact on farmers’ GGP ecological aspiration. The comprehensive impact path coefficients of ecological cognition are PBC (0.498) > SN (0.223) > AB (0.177). Also, income change is a moderating variable, which has a significant moderating effect on the influence of AB and SN on ecological aspiration. Further, farmers’ ecological cognition has an influence on the behaviour of GGP, and the change of farmers’ income has a significant positive effect on farmers’ choice of returning farmland to forests.

The ecological protection policy suggestions and countermeasures can be drawn from the research conclusions, adapted to China’s ecologically fragile regions and even similar regions in the world to response the climate change.

Combining the theory of planning behaviour and social exchange, this paper empirically analyses the path of farmers’ ecological cognition and ecological aspiration, as well as the influencing factors.

Pakistan has long been regarded as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations promotes conservational agricultural practices (CAP); however, they received little attention. Therefore, this study aims to explore the antecedents of farmers’ intention to adopt CAP with empirical evidence to enhance CAP in developing countries.

Using a random sampling strategy, the data has been gathered from 483 Pakistani’s farmers of the most agriculture-producing province, Punjab and Sindh via a questionnaire survey. Regression-analysis (Haye’s process approach) is implied for testing the hypothesis.

The findings indicated that a farmer’s environmental orientation positively affects the farmer’s intention to adopt CAP. Furthermore, the farmer’s attitude towards agricultural production and the farmer’s belief in climate change also positively moderate the relationship.

Based on findings, this research suggests a need for efforts by the government to encourage farmers to engage themselves in technical support for the adoption of CAP. The educational campaigns and training sessions need to be arranged by the government for this purpose. This may help the farmers to adopt strategies relating to climate change concerning their education, credit access and extension services.

This paper explores the antecedents of farmers' intention for CAP in Pakistan. The empirical evidence previously missing in the body of knowledge will support the governments, researchers and FAO to establish a mechanism for enhancing CAP in developing countries like Pakistan. Further research is recommended to explore the outcomes of farmers' intentions to adopt more CAP to gauge the effectiveness of adaptation strategies

This paper examines whether farmers' knowledge of the minimum support prices (MSPs) affects farm-gate prices. MSP is the minimum guaranteed price for agricultural commodities announced by the Government of India for 24 commodities. Most farmers in India prefer to sell their produce at the farm-gate due to a small marketable surplus and hence do not directly benefit from MSP. The authors test the common argument in the political discourse that if farmers have knowledge of MSP, then they can bargain with traders during the farm-gate transaction and demand a better price close to MSP.

The authors use matching methods to examine the impact of knowledge of MSP on farm-gate prices.

Using nationally representative data, the authors show that there is no empirical evidence that the knowledge of MSP of the crops leads to higher bargaining power and better farm-gate prices.

Price information (MSP in this case) alone cannot improve the bargaining power of farmers and result in a better price realization. As a safety net, MSP fails in the absence of procurement of products by the government. This also raises the question of the equitability of the price support system in India and calls for a rethink of the MSP policy.

This study is the first of its kind to examine the anchoring effect of knowledge of MSP on farm-gate prices using a nationally representative dataset.

An increasing demand of agricultural intensification and value addition necessitates the use of improved inputs such as improved seed. Smallholder farmers contribute about 70% of agricultural production in Tanzania. Agriculture sector in Tanzania contributes about 24.1% of the GDP, 30% of exports and 65% of industrial raw materials. Thus, agriculture development, economic growth and industrialization are inseparable. Due to the nature of the product, smallholder farmers cannot judge the overall excellence of seed at the time of buying. This paper assessed quality uncertainty in maize and vegetable seed and its implication for market exchange between farmers and seed sellers in Kilolo district, Iringa Tanzania. The study used a random sample of 130 smallholder farmers and representatives from ten seed companies. Asymmetric information prevails between the two trading sides, i.e. sellers and buyers, leading into quality uncertainty. Moreover, product augmentation is profoundly overlooked whereby most of seed companies have not augmented their products. Because an improved seed is a quintessential example of an experience good, quality uncertainty of some crop varieties under field conditions favored some seed brands to be used more by farmers compared to others. This paper offers a thorough deduction on quality uncertainty under farmers' field condition and its implication on market exchange. It adds information in the body of knowledge on how an improved seed can contribute to sustainable production of food and industrial raw materials, which is a step towards desired industrialization agenda in Tanzania.

Based on the survey data of 650 kiwi growers from Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, this paper used multiple endogenous transformation regression models to explore the effect of the joint adoption of green production technology on farmer’s welfare. The purpose of the study is to analyze the influence of green production technology on the yield, household income and socioeconomic characteristics of Kiwi fruit growers.

In the context of the study, multiple endogenous transformation model (MESR) are adopted, but self-actualization tactics were adopted to deal with the instrumental variables. The empirical data has been collected via a combined hierarchical sampling and random sampling, whereas a well-structured Likert scale questionnaire was adopted as well. The empirical data has been processed with the help of STATA 15.1 version.

The study found a positive impact of adopting green production technology. Moreover, the joint adoption of green production technology by kiwi growers has significantly increased the yield, economic values of Kiwi and household income of kiwi farmers. The households with higher asset value, better land quality, weaker credit constraints, more technical training and stronger government promotion and support from local governments are the most likely to adopt pest control technology and soil management technology jointly.

The prime innovation of the paper is to measure the impact of technology combination adoption on farmer’s welfare is evaluated, rather than the impact of single sub technology on farmer’s’ welfare.

This impact assessment provides empirical evidence from household producer surveys to test the assumptions surrounding the contribution of participatory varietal selection (PVS) activities on seed sector development. The purpose of this paper is to focus on household access and adoption of common bean varieties from seed provision services and local markets to determine if, and under what social conditions, PVS activities stimulated seed uptake and market participation.

The propensity score matching technique and simple regression analysis were used to estimate the impact and compare household performance across three farmer groups located in Hoima, Uganda.

PVS increased access to and adoption of improved varieties and supported additional intermediate development outcomes when farmer group characteristics were aligned with PVS efforts. Specifically, PVS was more likely to stimulate market purchases of newly introduced varieties in the farmer group located closest to markets. The project did not however, improve all the development objectives that were evaluated. PVS most critically, did not increase the probability that households received the specific varieties they desired.

This study found that PVS can support the key pillars of seed sector development. In addition to increasing household access to new varieties, free seed dissemination promoted market participation and stimulated local seed market development.

This study addressed the need to consider intermediate development outcomes in impact assessments of development interventions. The findings clarified the contribution of PVS in the context of broader development goals and identified farmer group dynamics associated with enhanced impacts among rural producers in Uganda.

The main objectives of collective forest tenure reform in China are to stimulate rural households to invest in forestry management, protect the ecosystem and improve their livelihood. By constructing the unbalanced panel data of household investment, this study discusses the dynamic changes and influencing factors of household investment, which will lay a foundation for further research and provide a reference for decision-making.

Based on 3,500 samples from rural households in the provinces of Fujian, Hunan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Gansu, and Liaoning collected during field investigations from 2010 to 2015, this study conducts an empirical analysis of the household investment in forestry management and its factors with nonbalanced panels.

According to the analysis, the average investment in forestry management per household from 2010 to 2015 fluctuates greatly; the age of the householder, increased forestry area, subsidies, joining professional cooperatives, and forest tenure mortgage show positive effects on achieving the objectives.

The discussions are drawn from the study that supporting policies such as the forest tenure transfer system, professional cooperatives, financial services and subsidies should be further improved to sustain a positive in the forestry industry.

This study aims to examine determinants of farmers’ use of climate-smart agricultural practices, specifically improved crop varieties, intercropping, improved livestock breeds and rainwater harvesting in Wadla district, northeast Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional household survey was used. A structured interview schedule for respondent households and checklists for key informants and focus group discussants were used. This study used both descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit econometric model to analyze the collected data. The model was used to compute factors influencing the use of climate-smart agricultural practices in the study area.

The results revealed that households adopted selected practices. The likelihood of farmers’ decisions to use improved crop varieties, intercropping, improved livestock breeds and rainwater harvesting was 85%, 52%, 69% and 59%, respectively. The joint probability of using these climate-smart agricultural practices was 23.7%. The model results confirmed that sex, level of education, livestock holding, access to credit, farm distance, market distance and training were significant factors that affected the use of climate-smart agricultural practices in the study area.

The present study used the most selected locally practiced interventions for climate-smart agriculture.

Smallholder farmers have always been profoundly the first to be impacted by climate change, and therefore, farmers understanding of climate change and accessibility to alternative adaptation strategies are crucial for reducing the effect of climate change. The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of farmers to climate change, adaptation strategies and determinants of adaptation choice in central Ethiopia.

The study used data from randomly selected 240 farm households. Descriptive statistics were used to describe farmers’ perceptions of climate change and adaptation strategies. Also, a multivariate probit model was used to identify the major factors affecting farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change in central Ethiopia.

Smallholder farmers perceive climate change in the past two decades in response; the majority (91.47%) of farmers used adaptation options. Improved crop varieties and input intensity, crop diversification, planting date adjustment, soil and water conservation activities and changing of the crop type were used as adaptation options in the study area. A few of these strategies were significantly confirmed a complementary and supplementary relationship. The study identified sex, family size, agroecology, climate information, crop-fail history and formal extension service as significant determinants for farmers’ adaptation choices as these variables significantly affected more than two farmers’ adaptation strategies simultaneously.

Farmers’ choice of adaptation was highly constrained by institutional factors and all these identified factors can be possibly addressed through a better institutional service provision system. It is, therefore, recommended that local administrators should explore the institutional service provision system for a better farm-level adaptation while considering demographic characteristics as well.

This study identified factors affecting farmers’ several adaptation strategies at a time and provides information for the policymaker to make cost-effective interventions for better farm-level adaptation practices.

Lack of access to credit is commonly held responsible for slow agricultural and rural development in low- and middle-income countries. This paper aims to investigate the contribution of demand- and supply-side factors, particularly the role of risk rationing, on credit application and uptake in the case example of Kyrgyzstan.

Toward this aim, the study explores the determinants of credit behavior of 1,738 Kyrgyz sample farm households from 2013 to 2016 waves of the nationally representative “Life in Kyrgyzstan” (LIK) dataset along a hierarchical regression model, differentiating between factors influencing individual demand for credit and factors influencing supply for credit.

The results of our analysis indicate the relative importance of demand-side factors for credit applications, reflecting farmers' perceived risk of credit default and loss of collateral. Meanwhile, supply-side factors, such as real credit constraints and collateral requests, have a stronger influence on credit uptake rates and overall loan sums. These findings highlight the role of risk rationing for agricultural investment, suggesting a stronger focus of development policy on improving risk-sharing mechanisms for farmers, e.g. by developing the agricultural insurance sector.

The paper contributes novel evidence on the role of risk rationing in shaping the demand for formal credits for increasing agricultural and rural investment in low-income transition economies. Previous research has mostly focused on the role of credit supply, thus underrating the potential contribution of individual risk attitude, risk experience and risk sharing.