An analysis on determinants of farmers' willingness for resource utilization of livestock manure

The increased manure produced in animal husbandry, especially in beef cattle farming, pose a great threat to the environment. Resource utilization of the manure is an effective way to solve the problem and is conducive to the sustainable development of animal husbandry. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper attempts to construct a model of farmers' willingness to utilize livestock manure from behavioral attitude, subjective norm and cognitive behavioral control, and makes an empirical test through a questionnaire on beef cattle farmers. As the findings show, farmers' behavioral attitude, subjective norm and cognitive behavioral control have a significantly positive impact on the resource utilization of the manure. Among them, behavioral attitude exerts the greatest impact, followed by cognitive behavioral control and subjective norm. Farmers surveyed share almost the same attitude towards the effects of resource utilization, who may actively or passively take into consideration the corresponding economic, social and ecological benefits. The pressure from the government plays an important role in farmers' subjective norm, while less pressure comes from village cadres and neighbors. Finally, time or labor endowment and economic strength are the core constraints on the resource utilization of livestock manure by farmers, with relatively little constraint on skill acquisition.