Does Rural E-Commerce Development in China Facilitate Rural Households’ Green Production Practices, Taking Chemical Fertilizer Reduction as an Example?

Abstract

Rural e-commerce has spurred profound changes in rural production and living patterns. Taking the policy of E-commerce Entering Rural Areas as a quasi-natural experiment, based on the data from fixed observation points in rural China, this paper examines how rural e-commerce development affects rural households’ green production practices. The results show that (1) while rural e-commerce has generally led to a 5% increase in farmers’ chemical fertilizer use, its promoting effect on farmers’ chemical fertilizer input has been gradually weakening over time. (2) Crop planting types moderate the relationship between rural e-commerce and farmers’ fertilizer input behaviors. For farmers mainly planting food crops, rural e-commerce increases their chemical fertilizer use by 6.87%, while for those mainly planting cash crops, rural e-commerce reduces their chemical fertilizer use by 4.25%. (3) Mechanism analysis reveals that service outlet construction and e-commerce training for farmers are the main channels through which rural e-commerce drives farmers to increase fertilizer input, while brand cultivation is a channel through which rural e-commerce inhibits farmers’ fertilizer input, and this influence channel only exists among farmers mainly planting cash crops.