Song Qu, Nico Heerink, Ying Xia and Junping Guo
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the compensation amount as well as the mode through which compensations are paid on farmers’ satisfaction with the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the compensation amount as well as the mode through which compensations are paid on farmers’ satisfaction with the compensation received for farmland expropriation in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Using rural household survey data collected among 450 households in three provinces, located in eastern, central and western China, this paper estimates the impacts of compensation payments, compensation modes, household characteristics and other control variables on farmers’ satisfaction applying an ordinal probit model.
Findings
The major findings are: farmers’ satisfaction with the compensation depends not only on the size of the compensation but also on the gap between the compensation and the market value of the expropriated land; and the compensation amount positively affects farmers’ satisfaction when the social security compensation mode is used, but does not significantly affect farmers’ satisfaction when other modes are used.
Originality/value
First, it contributes to the literature on farmland expropriation by providing empirical evidence of the direct impact of the compensation amount and other factors on the degree of farmers’ satisfaction with farmland compensations. Second, potential interactions between compensation amount and compensation mode are taken into account in estimating factors affecting farmers’ satisfaction.
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Zihan Nie, Nico Heerink, Qin Tu and Shuqin Jin
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of adopting certified food production on chemical fertilizer and pesticide use in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of adopting certified food production on chemical fertilizer and pesticide use in China.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors estimate fixed effect models to track the changes in agrochemical consumption at household level over time and evaluate the effect of certified food production, using an unbalanced panel data set covering 4,830 households in six provinces over the period 2005–2013.
Findings
On average, the authors do not find significant effects of certified food production on either chemical fertilizer or pesticide consumption among Chinese farmers. The effects are heterogeneous across villages, but the heterogeneous effects show no clear pattern that is consistent with different types of certification. The findings are robust to the use of alternative panel structure and certification indicators. The lack of knowledge about certification among farmers, the price premium and differences in regulation enforcement across regions may explain why the authors do not find negative effects on agrochemical use.
Practical implications
This study suggests that careful inspections and strong enforcement of certified food production is needed to ensure that the environmental goals of certified food production can be achieved and the reputation of certification in China can be improved. The inspection of certification producers and the enforcement of current regulations should be stricter for the further healthy development of certified food production in China.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to systematically evaluate the impact of food certification on the use of agrochemicals in Chinese agriculture.
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Fan Li, Dangui Li, Maarten Voors, Shuyi Feng, Weifeng Zhang and Nico Heerink
Soil nutrient management and fertilizer use by farmers are important for sustainable grain production. The authors examined the effect of an experimental agricultural extension…
Abstract
Purpose
Soil nutrient management and fertilizer use by farmers are important for sustainable grain production. The authors examined the effect of an experimental agricultural extension program, the science and technology backyard, in promoting sustainable soil nutrient management in the North China Plain (NCP). The science and technology backyard integrates farmer field schools, field demonstrations, and case-to-case counselling to promote sustainable farming practices among rural smallholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a large-scale household survey of more than 2,000 rural smallholders. The authors used a multivariate regression analysis as the benchmark to assess the effect of the science-and-technology backyard on smallholder soil nutrient management. Furthermore, the authors used coarse exact matching (CEM) methods to control for potential bias due to self-selection and the (endogenous) switching regression approach as the main empirical analysis.
Findings
The results show that the science-and-technology backyard program increased smallholders' wheat yield by approximately 0.23 standard deviation; however, no significant increase in maize yield was observed. Regarding soil nutrient use efficiency, the authors found a significant improvement in smallholders' phosphorus and potassium use efficiencies for both wheat and maize production, and a significant improvement in nitrogen use efficiency for wheat production, but no significant improvement of nitrogen use efficiency for maize production.
Originality/value
This study evaluated a novel participatory agricultural extension model to improve soil nutrient management practices among smallholders. The integration of agronomists' scientific knowledge and smallholders' local contextual experiences could be an effective way to improve farmers' soil nutrient management. This study provides the first quantitative estimates based on rigorous impact assessment methods of this novel extension approach in rural China.
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Veronica Wachong Castro, Nico Heerink, Xiaoping Shi and Wei Qu
The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a survey held among 317 households in Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, covering the year 2007, are used for a probit analysis explaining investments in land leveling and for an ordinary least squares regression explaining irrigation water use per mu.
Findings
Off‐farm employment is not significantly related to investments in land leveling, but is negatively associated with water use per mu. In addition, the paper finds that the share of migrant students in a household is positively related to investments in land leveling. The results indicate the presence of major factor market imperfections in the research area, and confirm that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) approach is more relevant for analyzing off‐farm employment and agricultural production in China than neoclassical economic theory.
Originality/value
The paper expands the NELM approach towards the analysis of water‐saving investments and water use. In addition, it distinguishes migrant students as an important category that should be taken into account in analyzing farm household decisions making.
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Xianlei Ma, Nico Heerink, Ekko van Ierland, Marrit van den Berg and Xiaoping Shi
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of perceived land tenure security in China on farmers' decisions to invest in relatively long‐term land quality improvement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of perceived land tenure security in China on farmers' decisions to invest in relatively long‐term land quality improvement measures, taking into account the potential endogeneity of tenure security.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a survey held in 2008 and 2010 among 259 households in Minle County, Gansu province, covering the years 2007 and 2009, are used to estimate the factors affecting land levelling investments, irrigation canal investments and perceived land tenure security. The authors use the 2SCML technique and the IVLS method to estimate a selection model and a non‐limited regression model, respectively, and use IVP methods to examine the robustness of the results.
Findings
The authors' results indicate that perceived land tenure security significantly affects self‐governed investments but does not affect individual investments in land quality improvements. In particular, the authors find that households that consider land certificates as important for protecting land rights invest significantly more in irrigation canals construction and maintenance. The authors' results further provide evidence that individual investments in land quality improvement contribute to higher perceived land tenure security.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the available literature on the relationship between land tenure security and land investments by examining the role of perceived (instead of formal) land tenure security and by making a distinction between individual household investments and self‐governed land investments. The authors' results provide an explanation for the phenomenon that land readjustments still take place in some parts of China, but not in others.
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Vincent Wing Sun Tung and Rob Law
The purpose of this study is to review recent work in the robotics literature and identify future opportunities for consumer/tourist experience research in human-robot…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to review recent work in the robotics literature and identify future opportunities for consumer/tourist experience research in human-robot interactions (HRIs).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins by covering the framework of robotic agent presence and embodiment that are relevant for HRI. Next, the paper identifies future opportunities for hospitality and tourism scholars to undertake consumer/tourist experience research in HRIs.
Findings
The result of this study provided potential directions for advancing theoretical, methodological and managerial implications for tourism experience research in HRI.
Research limitations/implications
Concepts from robotics research are diffusing into a range of disciplines, from engineering to social sciences. These advancements open many unique, yet urgent, opportunities for hospitality and tourism research.
Practical implications
This paper illustrates the speed at which robotics research is progressing. Moreover, the concepts reviewed in this research on robotic presence and embodiment are relevant for real-world applications in hospitality and tourism.
Social implications
Developments in robotics research will transform hospitality and tourism experiences in the future.
Originality/value
This research is one of the early papers in the field to review robotics research and provide innovative directions to broaden the interdisciplinary perspective for future hospitality and tourism research.