Farmers' Perception of Sustainability for Crop Production on the North China Plain

A set of sustainability indicators for intensive cropping production is proposed, based on international experience. The set includes 12 indicators, categorized into production, security, protection, viability and acceptability-considered to be the five pillars of sustainability. A survey of farmers...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sustainable agriculture 2007-01, Vol.30 (3), p.129-147
Main Authors: Wei, Y.P, White, R.E, Chen, D, Davidson, B.A, Zhang, J.B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agricultural education
agricultural policy
agricultural subsidies
Agriculture
China (People's Republic)
crop management
crop yield
educational status
extension education
farm families
farm income
farm inputs
farm management
farm size
farmer perceptions
farmers' attitudes
Farms
households
intensive cropping
Irrigation
irrigation and fertilizer practices
North China plain
off-farm employment
surveys
Sustainability indicator
sustainable agriculture
Sustainable development
water management
water pricing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A set of sustainability indicators for intensive cropping production is proposed, based on international experience. The set includes 12 indicators, categorized into production, security, protection, viability and acceptability-considered to be the five pillars of sustainability. A survey of farmers showed that their perceptions of protection were the weakest. Analysis of survey data with regression models showed that education level of household head, farm size and off-farm income are the significant factors influencing the farmers' perceptions. Promoting of education and extension services, also improving farmers' non-farm income and economic measures such as removal of subsidies, realistic water pricing and selective input taxes are recommended as the tools of policy intervention.
ISSN:1044-0046
1540-7578
DOI:10.1300/J064v30n03_09