REGULAR ARTICLE
The effects of off-farm work on fertilizer and pesticide expenditures in China
Wanglin Ma,
Awudu Abdulai, Chunbo Ma,
Corresponding Author
Wanglin Ma
Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Correspondence
Wanglin Ma, Department of Global Value Chains and Trade, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorChunbo Ma
Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, and University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorWanglin Ma,
Awudu Abdulai, Chunbo Ma,
Corresponding Author
Wanglin Ma
Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Correspondence
Wanglin Ma, Department of Global Value Chains and Trade, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorChunbo Ma
Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, and University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
This study examines the effects of participation in off-farm work on farm expenditures on fertilizer and pesticide, using farm household survey data from China. Simple mean value comparisons reveal no statistically significant differences in fertilizer and pesticide expenditures between off-farm work participants and nonparticipants. However, econometric estimation with a treatment effects model shows a negative selection bias. After controlling for this bias, the empirical results show that participation in off-farm work exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on fertilizer and pesticide expenditures. Our findings generally suggest that the income effect of off-farm work stimulates agricultural production by increasing investments in productivity-enhancing inputs.
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