Factors Influencing Farmers'W illingness to Participate in the New Vocational Training

Shiyong YU，Jia WANG

1.College of Economics and Management，Southwest University，Chongqing4007152，China；2.School of Public Finance and Taxation，Southwestern University of Finance and Economics，Chengdu 611130，China

At present，China is in the critical period of speeding up the transformation of traditional agriculture and development of modern agriculture.It requiresa number of high overall quality skilled agricultural practitioners to promote the development of modern agriculture.But with the transfer of massive Chinese young rural labor to the city and non-agricultural industries，the structural shortage of agricultural labor is serious，and the overall quality of rural labor is declining.

It is necessary to nurture educated and skilled new farmers to achieve the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas.In recent years，the technology training for farmers in China has been continually increased，in order to improve the farmers'production skills and train new vocational farmers.

In 2012，the Ministry of Agriculture launched the pilot work of new vocational farmer training in Anhui，Henan and other provinces.In 2013，Chongqing Municipality also carried out the pilot work of new vocational farmer training.All kinds of training for new vocational farmers need the farmers'active participation.From the perspective of farmers，researching the factors influencing the new vocational training for farmers，and understanding farmers'real thoughts on vocational training，not only help to enrich the rural human resources，but also help to put in place the vocational training for farmers.

Therefore，taking Chongqing Municipality for example，we carry out the questionnaire survey on the factors influencing farmers'willingness to participate and select Probitmodel to make the empirical analysis of survey data.

1 Basic information of survey

1.1 Object of surveyThis article selects Chongqing as the sample city，because Chongqing's characteristics of＂big city+large countryside＂exactly mesh with the reality of China's urban-rural coordination.Chongqing is the only municipality in the Midwest，administering 19 districts and 19 counties，with a total area of 82400 square kilometers.At the end of 2012，the total household population of Chongqing was 33.4344 million，and the agricultural population was 20.2619 million，accounting for 60%［1］.

Since2006，Chongqing has successively launched a variety of forms of new vocational training for farmers.The questionnaire survey mainly adopts stratified random sampling method based on＂one circle，twowings＂.It should be noted that＂one circle＂refers to＂one-hour economic circle＂，the main city of Chongqing and its urban expansion areas；＂two wings＂refer to northeast Chongqing（Three Gorges reservoir area）and southeast Chongqing（underdeveloped gathering area for minorities）.

For this reason，six districts（counties）are randomly selected from＂one circle＂，and one district（county）is selected from＂two wings＂，respectively，so that the samples are more representative.

1.2 Basic information of surveyFrom August2012 to October 2012，we carried out a questionnaire survey of eight districts（counties）in Chongqing Municipality and implemented random sampling，and the object of survey was limited to the local adult workforce with agricultural household registration.

A total of 713 survey questionnaires were sent out，and 702 of them were recovered.There were683 valid questionnaires，with validity rate of 97.29%.683 samples were distributed in eight districts（counties）of Chongqing Municipality.

In＂one circle＂，the samples were distributed as follows：Beibei District 137，Jiangbei District 27，Yubei District 88，Nan'an District 79，F(xiàn)uling District 56，Jiangjin District 83.In＂two wings＂，the samples were distributed as follows：Qianjiang District102，Wanzhou District 111.The basic characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1.

Table1 Statisticalcharacteristicsofrespondents

As can be seen from Table 1，the gender ratio of respondents is130.74：100；the average age isabout40 yearsold；the average years of education are 7.76 years，basically at the level of junior high school.From the farmers'operation，the average size of land operation is 3.5 mu；89.8%of families have less than 5 members；56.2%of the households have total income of less than 10000 yuan，and 84.5%of households have total income of less than 20000 yuan.

Overall，the samples are typical，ideally suited for statistical analysis and regression analysis.In terms of the farmers'intuitive feeling of vocational training，there is a phenomenon which deserves attention.In the 683 samples，only 11.9%of farmers said that they once participated in relevant training，and 73.8%of farmers know little about the relevant information on the vocational training of farmers；correspondingly，76.6%of respondents held optimism towards the vocational training of farmers and 90.1%of them were willing to participate in various types of training.

It indicates that on the one hand，farmers have strong demand for various types of training；on the other hand，the supply side（usually the relevant government departments）provides less training.Despite the＂insufficient supply＂of various types of training，this supply is unlikely to be fundamentally improved in the short term，and during this transition period，there is a need to carry out detailed analysis of the factors influencing farmers'willingness to participate in such training，and understand the true thoughts of farmers.

2 Model setting and variable selection

2.1 Analysis of influencing factorsAccording to the hypothesis of rational people and effect theory，farmers'willingness to participate in training is based on the maximization of their own interests.Meanwhile，the empirical studies show that the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers is affected bymany factors，and most scholars believe that there is a need to consider the individual characteristics of the head of household（including gender，age，education level，etc.），and household characteristics（including the labor force，land operation scale）.

In addition，based on the survey data of Hangzhou City，Wei Longbao and Ruan Jianqing［2］believe that farmers'willingness to participate in the training is also affected by the training experience and expectations of future incomes.The research on training needs of landless farmers by Huang Zuhui and Yu Ning［3］indicates that skills training experience，the employment relationship，the views of the effectiveness of training，the training time and other variables，are also the important factors influencing the training will.

Taking Jiangsu Province for example，Xu Dongfeng and Sui Hongming［4］find that the effects of expectations of training time and training costs on farmers'willingness to participate in the training can not be ignored.According to existing research，combined with our own understanding，we summarize the factors influencing farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training as follows.

2.1.1 Individual factors.（i）Gender.Men are usually the main labor force in rural householdsand financial resources，so it is expected that men are more willing to participate in various types of new vocational training for farmers.

（ii）Age.For the workforce over the age of16，the older the age，the less the room for improvement in human capital.It is expected that farmers'age is negatively correlated with the training willingness.

（iii）Education level.The higher the education level，the stronger the ability to accept new things，and the greater the willingness to participate in various types of training，so the education level should be positively correlated with willingness to participate in training.

2.1.2 Family factors.

（i）Family size.Usually，the farmers with larger family size will be faced with greater pressure，so the labor force in the family has greater pressure to participate in training.

（ii）Household income level.The farmers with higher household income have little driving force to change the status quo，and it is expected that they are not very keen to participate in various types of training.For the farmers with lower household income，it is the other way around.

（iii）Agricultural labor force.If there are more labor forces engaged in agricultural production activities，it is more likely to participate in the new vocational training of farmers.

2.1.3 Organizers.During the survey，we find that the farmers have more trust in the government，so the training being organized by the government is positively correlated with the farmers'willingness to participate.

2.1.4 Rural economic development level.In general，for the people in economically developed rural areas，they have open mind，realize the importance of learning skills，and are more willing to participate in new vocational training for farmers.

2.1.5 Training experience.The positive training experiencewill increase the probability of continuing vocational training of farmers，and it is expected in this article that farmers'training experience is positive，so the training experience is positively correlated with training willingness.

2.2 The empirical model buildingAccording to the above hypothesis，this article builds the theoretical model for farmers'willingness to participate in training.

where Y is the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers，and its value is 0，1（0 unwilling；1 willing）；X1is the sample farmers'gender（value of 1 for male and 2 for female）；X2is the sample farmers'age；X3is years of education for the sample farmers；X4is the sample farmers'family size；X5is the number of labor force engaged in agriculture in the family；X6is the total household income（per year）；X7is organizer of the new vocational training for farmers，taking the value of 1，2，3，4，indicating that the organizers are＂government＂，＂agency＂，＂school＂，＂leading enterprises or industry associations＂；X8is the level of local rural economic development，and it is sequenced according to the per capita gross output value of farming，forestry，animal husbandry，sideline production and fishery of 8 districts（counties），taking the value of 1-8 for rankings；represents＂whether having participated in the new vocational training for farmers＂，taking the value of 0（no），1（yes）.

Linear Probability Model（LPM）of formula（1）is as follows：

In order to avoid non-normality of random error term in Linear Probability Model（LPM）and heteroscedasticity problems，this article selects Probitmodel：

where piis the probability of the sample farmers'participation in the new vocational training for farmers.

3 Empirical results analysis

The survey sample size is683，basically meeting the requirements of large sample and random sampling.Therefore，the data quality is relatively high，very suitable for regression analysis.

After considering the multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity of cross-sectional data，we use Eviews7.0 software to analyze formula（3）.The estimation method is the maximum likelihood method，and four iterations are conducted before convergence.The estimation results are shown in the table below.

As shown in Table 2，the low value of Akaike info criterion，Schwarz criterion and Hannan-Quinn criter.proves the fitting effect of mode.The results of Avg.log likelihood and LR statistic show that the coefficients inmodel（3）are all 0，and it is small probability event.This also shows that the overall fitting effects of model are good，and it is statistically acceptable.

According to the estimated results of the model，the factors influencing the farmers'participation in the new vocational training for farmers are summarized as follows：

（i）Age has the greatest effects on the farmers'participation in the new vocational training for farmers.From Table 2，＂age＂coefficient is significantly different from 0 at 1%level，and the sign is negative，suggesting that the younger the family members（between 17 years and 69 years），the stronger the willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers.This result is consistent with the aforesaid assumption.

Table2 Probitmodelparameterestimationresults

（ii）Family size is an important factor influencing farmers'willingness to participate.From Table 2，＂family size＂coefficient is significantly different from 0 at the 5%level，but the sign is negative.This shows that the larger the family size，the stronger the willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers，which does not meet earlier expectation in this article.

This article carries out cross-analysis of＂willingness to participate＂and＂family size＂，and the results show that the family of three or four members is most likely to participate in the new vocational training for farmers.Meanwhile，it is found that the main purpose of far mers'participation in the new vocational training for farmers is to increase income and improve skills.

The farmers unwilling to participate in training present the following characteristics：they aremainly distributed in developed main city of Chongqing，and the agricultural operation is not the main household income source；the total household income is not less than 20000 yuan；the head of a household has high education level；they aremostly at a young stage.

（iii）Years of education have effects on farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers.From table 2，＂years of education＂coefficient is significantly different from 0 at the 5%level，and it is positive effect.This shows that the farmers with more years of education are more willing to participate in the new vocational training for farmers，in line with the aforesaid expectation in this article.

（iv）Total household income has certain effects on the farmers'participation in the new vocational training for farmers.From Table 2，＂total household income＂coefficient is significantly different from 0 at the10%level，and it is negative effect.This shows that the farmers with higher total household income have low willingness to participate in the training.

（v）From Table 2，at the 10%significance level，the agricultural labor force in the family，gender，training organizers，the level of rural economic development and training experience have no significant effects on the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers.

From the statistical results of683 questionnaires，the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training is very strong，and 82.28%of farmers have expressed the willingness to participate，which is themain reason for the unobvious effects of the above five variables.

Judging from the impact direction，the positive sign of＂the agricultural labor force in the family＂indicates that the more the agricultural labor forces in the family，the higher the possibility of participation in the new vocational training for farmers.The positive sign of＂gender＂indicates that women have higher enthusiasm for participating in the new vocational training than men.

The positive sign of＂training organizations＂indicates that the farmers are more willing to participate in the training not organized by government.The positive sign of＂the level of rural economic development＂indicates that the more developed the local rural economy，the higher the possibility of far mers'participation in the new vocational training.The positive sign of＂training experience＂indicates that the farmers having participated in the new vocational training are more willing to participate again.

This is basically consistent with the research conclusions of Wei Longbao and Ruan Jianqing［2］， Huang Zuhui and Yu Ning［3］.

4 Conclusions and recommendations

4.1 ConclusionsTaking Chongqing Municipality for example，using the data of 683 farmer samples and Probitmodel，this arti-cles analyzes the main factors influencing the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training.

The results show that the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training ismainly affected by age，family size，years of education and other factors.Among them，years of education are positively correlated with the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training；age and family size are negatively correlated with the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training；the effects of training organizers，the level of rural economic development and training experience are not significant.

The experience of having participated in the new vocational training for farmers has no significant effects on the farmers'willingness to participate in the new vocational training，different from the research conclusions of Wei Longbao and Ruan Jianqing［2］，Huang Zuhui and Yu Ning［3］.

4.2 Recommendations

（i）Governments at all levels need to attach great importance to the work of cultivating new vocational farmers.In this survey，the farmers'willingness to participate is strong，and there are few farmers having participated in the new vocational training（only 81）.

This indirectly indicates that there are twomajor issues in the current new vocational training for farmers：insufficient supply，dislocation between demand and supply（Jiang Changyun［5］）.Government should notonly make great efforts to carry out the new vocational training for farmers，but also consider the farmers'needs for various types of new vocational training.

（ii）The trainees should be based on young farmers.The results show that age is the most important factor influencing the farmers'participation in the new vocational training，which is similar to the conclusion drawn by Jiang Shoujian from the perspective of the village party secretary［6］.

Young farmers are the main forces of agricultural activities，with a strong ability to comprehend，and they will dramatically improve the efficiency of various training activities for farmers；at the same time，they can share information with others through teaching and other means.

（iii）The supplier of new vocational training for farmers is not necessarily the governmentatall levels，and we can adopt government，enterprises，rural communities and non-profit organizations and other forms to complement each other（Xiao Li，Liu Chunyang［7］；Wu Jincheng［8］）.

It is also feasible in reality，and the research findings indicate that the individual and collective characteristics of farmers are the major factors affecting their participation in the new vocational training，and they do not care about the type of organizer.

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