Farmers’ willingness to transform untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer: Does information technology adoption make a difference?

Abstract

Using untreated livestock manure adversely affects the environment and human health. Although transforming untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer can alleviate these adverse effects, the adoption rate of this technology is relatively low in rural areas. This study investigates whether information technology adoption, focusing on Internet use, increases farmers’ willingness to transform untreated livestock manure into organic fertilizer using data collected from pig breeding farmers in the Hubei province of China. A recursive bivariate probit model addresses the sample selection bias issues. Findings show that Internet use increases the probability of pig breeding farmers’ willingness to transform untreated manure by around 35–56 percentage points. Gender, farm size, credit availability, extension contact, environmental protection attitude and governmental regulation are also important factors driving pig breeding farmers’ willingness to transform untreated manure. Moreover, the impact of Internet use on farmers’ willingness to transform untreated pig manure tends to be higher for pig breeding farmers with a larger breeding size and longer breeding years. Our findings have significant policy implications that help to improve livestock manure management, environmental quality, and the well-being and health of livestock breeding farmers.