Large rice farmer households' decisions on mechanic service outsourcing in rice production

PENG Yanghe;PAN Weiguang;LI Lin;Collge of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University;Academy for Rural Revitalization of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University;Agriculture and Rural Department of Zhejiang Province;

mechanic service outsourcing;;production process;;large farmer household;;rice

Based on the survey data of 148 farmer households in 3 counties of Zhejiang Province, this study constructed a multiple linear regression model to make an empirical analysis of the factors influencing farmer households' decisions on mechanic services outsourcing in Oryza sativa production. The research showed that with the increase in the farming area of rice, farmer households' probability of accepting socialized services would increase first and then decrease, showing an inverted U curve and indicating an obvious economies of scale. Age had a significant positive impact on the degree of accepting mechanic services; whether the family members had experience of operating agricultural machines, the number of agricultural machines owned by the households, and the fragmentation of land had significant negative impacts on the acceptance of mechanic services. Based on our research, we proposed policy recommendations including cultivating multiple service organizations, encouraging land consolidation, and providing a good development environment for mechanic services outsourcing. [Ch, 2 fig. 3 tab. 14 ref.]