Analysis of farmers’ perceptions and behavioral response to rural living environment renovation in a major rice-producing area: a case of Dongting Lake Wetland, China

ABSTRACT: This article combines influencing factors of farmers’ participation in the Rural Living Environment Renovation Project (RLERP) and conceptualizes a model that depicts the relationships between the demographic characteristics of farmers and their perceptions and behavioral response to RLERP. Using a questionnaire survey to collect empirical data, we found (1) A total of 92% of farmers have fully realized the importance of rural living environment, but most people have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and a lack of motivation to participate. (2) A total of 65% of farmers participate in the collection and classification of domestic waste, 22% of the farmers participate in captivity livestock behavior, and 19% of farmers participate in the response behavior of domestic sewage treatment. (3) A significant positive correlation occurs between income level and farmers’ cognition and behavior response. (4) The education standards of the public are not correlated with the farmers’ cognition but is significantly correlated with farmers’ behavioral response. (5) The cognitive and behavioral response of females to RLERP is significantly higher than that of men. 6) In the process from cognition to the action response, farmers’ cognition is positively correlated with action response. On this basis, some measures and suggestions to improve the response of farmers to rural living environment renovation are put forward.