Empirical Research on Factors Influencing Chinese Farmers’ Adoption of Green Production Technologies
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsMethodolgy
1-The researchers did not provide information on how the sample selection was done randomly,. It would be appropriate to specify how this selection was made.
2-It is stated that there are 87,000 family farmers in the region where the research was conducted. However, some general information about farmers and regional agricultural structure such as what are the main products produced, the common used agricultural technologies, methods, whether different agricultural activities such as crop production and animal husbandry are carried out together, and labor resources are available. Because of lack of providing this general information the text does not allow visualizing the research and associating it with real production activities and farmers. Of course, this does not make the results of the compiled data meaningless, but this data becomes information about any agriculture, anywhere.
Research Design, contend
3-Apart from demographic data, the researched topics to answer the basic question of the research are as follows:
· Government subsidy amount
· Land management area
· Sales performance of green products
· Presence of sales quality inspection
· Traceability of agricultural products
· Assessment of enforcement intensity against the use of banned pesticides
· Membership in a cooperative
Although these observation points/factors are meaningful, but the effects of the economic factors such as cost of technological transformation, rehabilitation of the land, financing methods and sources, financial capacity of the farmers and effects of the agri-food system such as input cost, input availability, trade-logistic channels of the green products, the farmers' orientation towards agro-ecological methods, transfromation model (business model) are not adequatley included.
The interesting result in this context is that although the researchers did not have enough space economic and agro-food system in their observations, they pointed out these factors in their findings and conclusions. Like:
“Addressing the quality and safety issues of agricultural products not only requires farmers to control their own production behaviors but also necessitates dual constraints from both external government and market forces. Only through a complementary approach of production and management can farmers be motivated to adopt green agricultural production technologies and ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products.” p.10.
“Government subsidies support farmers adopting ……… encourages agricultural professionals to collaborate ………………. aiming to elevate the industry's overall standards…………... A traceable subsidy system is established to ensure that all allocations and utilizations of subsidies ………….. aligning with the WTO's requirements, . Enhancing the transparency of subsidy policies includes the public disclosure of information such as subsidy amounts, beneficiaries, and procedural details, ensuring that all subsidy actions comply with the provisions of the SCM Agreement.” P.11
4- Although the research has weaknesses, especially in the subjects mentioned in article 3, the findings are meaningful. My guess is that it would be very difficult and costly to renew the research to improve the deficiencies noted. Therefore, the limitations and deficiencies of the research should be stated and the parts that can be improved at the desk should be developed and published.
Author Response
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions in the re-submitted files
Comment 1:The researchers did not provide information on how the sample selection was done randomly,. It would be appropriate to specify how this selection was made.
Response 1:Thank you for pointing this out. I agree with this comment. Therefore, I have changed in page5, 3.1 the beginning paragraph.
Comment 2:It is stated that there are 87,000 family farmers in the region where the research was conducted. However, some general information about farmers and regional agricultural structure such as what are the main products produced, the common used agricultural technologies, methods, whether different agricultural activities such as crop production and animal husbandry are carried out together, and labor resources are available. Because of lack of providing this general information the text does not allow visualizing the research and associating it with real production activities and farmers. Of course, this does not make the results of the compiled data meaningless, but this data becomes information about any agriculture, anywhere.
Response 2: I agree with this comment. Therefore, I have changed in page5, 3.1 the beginning paragraph.
Comment 3:
Apart from demographic data, the researched topics to answer the basic question of the research are as follows:
- Government subsidy amount
- Land management area
- Sales performance of green products
- Presence of sales quality inspection
- Traceability of agricultural products
- Assessment of enforcement intensity against the use of banned pesticides
- Membership in a cooperative
Although these observation points/factors are meaningful, but the effects of the economic factors such as cost of technological transformation, rehabilitation of the land, financing methods and sources, financial capacity of the farmers and effects of the agri-`food system such as input cost, input availability, trade-logistic channels of the green products, the farmers' orientation towards agro-ecological methods, transfromation model (business model) are not adequatley included.
The interesting result in this context is that although the researchers did not have enough space economic and agro-food system in their observations, they pointed out these factors in their findings and conclusions. Like:
“Addressing the quality and safety issues of agricultural products not only requires farmers to control their own production behaviors but also necessitates dual constraints from both external government and market forces. Only through a complementary approach of production and management can farmers be motivated to adopt green agricultural production technologies and ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products.” p.10.
“Government subsidies support farmers adopting ……… encourages agricultural professionals to collaborate ………………. aiming to elevate the industry's overall standards…………... A traceable subsidy system is established to ensure that all allocations and utilizations of subsidies ………….. aligning with the WTO's requirements, . Enhancing the transparency of subsidy policies includes the public disclosure of information such as subsidy amounts, beneficiaries, and procedural details, ensuring that all subsidy actions comply with the provisions of the SCM Agreement.” P.11
Response 3: Elements such as subsidies, sales of green products can be found analysis in table 1and 2, if not so obvious ,I can delete :
“Addressing the quality and safety issues of agricultural products not only requires farmers to control their own production behaviors but also necessitates dual constraints from both external government and market forces. Only through a complementary approach of production and management can farmers be motivated to adopt green agricultural production technologies and ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products.” p.10.
“Government subsidies support farmers adopting ……… encourages agricultural professionals to collaborate ………………. aiming to elevate the industry's overall standards…………... A traceable subsidy system is established to ensure that all allocations and utilizations of subsidies ………….. aligning with the WTO's requirements, . Enhancing the transparency of subsidy policies includes the public disclosure of information such as subsidy amounts, beneficiaries, and procedural details, ensuring that all subsidy actions comply with the provisions of the SCM Agreement.” P.11
Comment 4: I agree, I will improve in part 3.
Although the research has weaknesses, especially in the subjects mentioned in article 3, the findings are meaningful. My guess is that it would be very difficult and costly to renew the research to improve the deficiencies noted. Therefore, the limitations and deficiencies of the research should be stated and the parts that can be improved at the desk should be developed and published.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. Introduction section required improvements (Objective should be clearer). I suggest writing objectives in bullet form. It will be easier to understand for the reader.
In introduction section authors did not cite any study supporting their hypothesis? Is it more novel? Please cite some recent studies; you may follow these studies (https://doi.org/10.47278/journal.ijab/2023.077; https://doi.org/10.47278/journal.ijab/2023.050)
1. Contribution of the study in existing literature should be included in the conclusion section.
2. The implication of the study should be clearer.
3. The limitations of the study should be more clearly defined.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor revisions
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsplease see attachment
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsN/A
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsthank you so much for your efforts
