External Intervention, Farmer Perception and Advanced Agricultural Technology Adoption: Micro Evidence from Grain Farmers in China

The diffusion and application of advanced and applicable agricultural technologies serve as critical support for realizing the green transition and promoting high-quality agricultural development. This study constructs a two-dimensional analytical framework encompassing external intervention, internal motivation, and behavioral response. Based on micro survey data collected from 675 rice-growing households across Jiangsu Province, China, this study empirically examines the impact of agricultural technology extension services, a representative form of external intervention, on farmers’ adoption of the One-time Fertilization Technology for Mechanized Transplanting Rice (OFT), and its underlying mechanisms. The results demonstrate that external intervention acts as the core exogenous driver of farmers’ adoption of advanced agricultural technologies, with its transmission effect dependent on the mediating and moderating functions of farmers’ internal perceptions. Agricultural technology extension services facilitate technology adoption primarily by improving farmers’ technical cognition and enhancing their value perception. Notably, the effectiveness of extension services is more pronounced among farmers with higher levels of risk perception. The effect of external intervention is jointly shaped by the endowment of regional extension resources and the inherent demand of farmers, with significantly stronger extension effects observed in less developed major agricultural production areas compared to economically developed regions. This study concludes that promoting the adoption of advanced agricultural technologies requires sustained efforts to strengthen the supply of extension services, optimize the design of extension service content, implement differentiated extension strategies, and fully align with the characteristics of farmers’ risk preferences and regional heterogeneity.