Part-Time Farming, Agricultural Socialized Services, and Organic Fertilizer Use: Implications for Climate Change Mitigation

The adoption of organic fertilizers is essential for advancing China’s green agricultural transformation, ensuring food security, and supporting agricultural adaptations. However, several challenges hinder its widespread use in rural areas. This study examines how part-time farming and agricultural service provision influences organic fertilizer use, employing fixed and random effects models on data from 523 households in Shaanxi Province, one of China’s main apple-producing regions. The results reveal: (1) Part-time farming reduces organic fertilizer use by 7.6%, primarily due to labor shortages; (2) Higher non-farm income exacerbates this decline, particularly for Type II part-time farmers; and (3) Mechanized fertilization services help mitigate this reduction. These findings offer valuable policy insights for promoting organic fertilizer adoption in the context of shifting rural labor dynamics and highlight the complex interactions between farming practices and labor migration in the broader trajectory of organic fertilizer use. Moreover, this study highlights the role of organic fertilizer use in enhancing food security while also helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the crop sector in China.