Factors Affecting Farmers' Environment-Friendly Fertilization Behavior in China: Synthesizing the Evidence Using Meta-Analysis

Excess fertilization is a major cause of agricultural environmental pollution. However, different studies attribute farmers' fertilization behavior to different factors, hindering theoretical and empirical development. Using a meta-analysis of 64 empirical studies on Chinese farmers' fertilization behavior, this study first systematically collects, combines, and analyzes the existing studies to identify the key influencing factors that may affect farmers' environment-friendly fertilization behavior (FEFB) in China. A meta-regression analysis is further applied to explore how the effects of the factors identified have changed over time. The results showed that the key factors include gender, health status, risk attitude, family size, farm size, environmental concern, social norms, cadre status, and policy propaganda. Over time, the influence of family size, environmental concern, cadre status, and policy propaganda is stable; the influence of social norms gradually strengthens; and the influence of risk attitude weakens. Although household income and the proportion of agricultural income have no significant effect, their influence gradually increases and changes positively and significantly over time; hence, they may become important factors in the future. Our results provide important policy implications for policymakers and agricultural managers to develop appropriate strategies to reduce the usage of chemical fertilizers in China.