Off-farm work, adoption of resource-conservation technology, and farm performance: evidence from banana farmers in China

Resource-conservation technology (RCT) can optimize the use of natural resources, reduce waste, and promote sustainability in agricultural development. However, the dissemination of RCT among small-scale farmers still remains at a low level in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of off-farm work on farmers' adoption of RCT using the endogenous switching probit (ESP) model, detects mediating factors between them, and further explores the farm performance of RCT using the endogenous switching regression model (ESR) based on the primary data of 524 banana farmers in rural China. The results show that off-farm work has a positive impact on farmers' adoption of RCT. Farmers with off-farm work are more likely to adopt RCT compared with those without off-farm work due to off-farm work could increase farmers' positive cognition on the new agriculture technology. Specifically, off-farm work expands farmers' information acquisition channels and improves farmers' agriculture technology acknowledge and thereby promote farmers' adoption of RCT. Moreover, the adopters of RCT have a higher agricultural yield than the non-adopters. Our findings emphasize a positive farm performance of RCT in small-scale farms in developing regions.