Hierarchical Linkage between the Basic Characteristics of Smallholders and Technology Awareness Determines Small-Holders’ Willingness to Adopt Green Production Technology

As a collection of technologies that match the carrying capacity of resources and the environment, harmonize ecology and life, and balance the quantity and quality of agricultural products in agricultural production, green production technologies are regarded as an important means to help promote sustainable agricultural production. It includes scientific fertilization technology, water-saving irrigation technology, biological control technology, and conservation tillage technology. However, the smallholders’ low level of awareness and application of green production technology has become a key factor limiting the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. Several technological innovations have been implemented to address these problems while many studies have been conducted on the smallholders’ willingness to adopt the technology. However, the correlation and the hierarchical structure among different factors are not clear. Therefore, to clarify these issues, we used the logit model and interpretative structural modeling (ISM) to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of green production technologies by smallholders and the hierarchical linkage between them based on a sample of 709 from 16 provinces in China. Our results revealed that scientific fertilization and biological control technology were most preferred by smallholders. Compared with wheat (38.8%, 43.2%) and maize (29.3%, 39.4%), rice smallholders (66.7%, 82.5%) were more willing to adopt the two technologies. In addition, the technology awareness and technology benefits were expected to significantly affect the smallholders’ willingness to adopt the technology directly. Household characteristics and land characteristics are the root factors affecting the smallholders’ willingness to adopt green production technology. Family characteristics and land characteristics also changed the willingness of smallholders to adopt green production technologies by changing their awareness of production technology and the technological benefits expected. Therefore, accelerating the promotion of green production technologies through the implementation of policies such as increasing the promotion of high-value-added agricultural products and cultivation techniques, increasing out-of-school knowledge education, and enhancing the construction of agricultural production infrastructure can be potentially viable ways to promote green transformation in agriculture. This study provides case support for increasing the smallholders’ adoption of green production technology.