ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1628258
From Technology Adoption to Scientific Application: Impact Mechanism Analysis of Private Agricultural Extension Services Promoting Scientific Fertilization of Farmers
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuhan City Polytechnic, Wuhan, China
- 2Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China
- 3Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
- 4Hubei University of Education, Wuhan, China
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Private agricultural extension services play an increasingly vital role in agricultural technology dissemination. Using survey data from 1,246 farmers in Hubei Province, this study examines the effects and underlying mechanisms of private agricultural extension services on farmers’ decisions to adopt scientific fertilization technologies. The findings reveal three key insights: First, these services positively influence farmers’ fertilization behavior, significantly increasing their adoption of scientific fertilization technologies and promoting their proper application. Second, Private agricultural technology extension services can promote farmers to adopt scientific fertilization technology through value perception and technology trusteeship. Third, heterogeneity analysis identifies technology-specific differences in the impact of private agricultural extension services on adoption decisions, showing stronger effects on the adoption of efficient fertilization techniques compared to novel fertilizer products. The research illuminates the micro-mechanisms through which private agricultural technology services operate and supports building a dual-driven “government-led, market-driven” agricultural technology diffusion system.
Keywords: Private agricultural extension services, scientific fertilization technology adoption decisions, value perception, Institutional trust, technology trusteeship
Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Huang, Qu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Di Liu, Hubei University of Education, Wuhan, China
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