Impact of risk awareness and agriculture cooperatives' service on farmers' safe production behaviour: Evidences from Shaanxi Province

摘要

A primary concern in agricultural production is the safety of agricultural products. This study used the structural equation model to analyse the factors influencing farmers' characteristics, farmers' risk awareness, and the services provided by cooperatives to farmers regarding safe production behaviour. Data were obtained from 370 cooperative members in Shaanxi Province. The main following findings obtained are as follows: (1) The younger farmers with higher levels of agricultural production were more likely to adopt safe production behaviour. (2) Cooperatives provided comprehensive service support for farmers throughout the whole production procedure. However, cooperatives did not significantly influence farmers' production safety behaviour due to the relatively insufficient production scale. (3) Farmers with higher risk awareness were more likely to engage in relatively unsafe production behaviours. Finally, the policy implications based on research findings are recommends as follows: (1) Decision-makers should promote large-scale agriculture; (2) Cooperatives should strengthen their control over the production process, and enhance farmers' awareness of production safety; (3) Cooperatives should establish a classified service system, implement appropriate management measures according to different development levels, and improve the relationship between members and organizations; (4) Cooperatives should establish and complete the profit distribution mechanism and risk prevention and control mechanism, then effectively promote safe agricultural production through economic incentives and materials support; (5) Cooperatives should strengthen farmers' risk awareness of quality-safety, and make members participate in unified production through interest guidance.