Study on Farmers’ Satisfaction with the Supply of Public Goods for Disaster Reduction in Agriculture——Based on the Survey Data of Farmers in Two Counties and One District of Hubei Province

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College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

1 Introduction

In recent years, the frequent occurrence of agricultural natural disasters in China has brought great loss to rural economic construction and farmers’ daily life, so local government increases the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture to improve farmers’ ability to resist natural disasters and provide disaster relief. The supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture, an important responsibility of the Chinese government in public services, can support and ensure the development of rural economy in China. The government has increased the input in the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture and has obtained great development, but all levels of government pay more attention to cities but less attention to rural areas, which has resulted in practical problems, such as unreasonable supply structure and low supply efficiency, big regional differences in the supply level of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture,etc. Farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture is one of important indicators that are used to judge whether the government’s public services are effective, so studying public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture from the aspect of farmer’s satisfaction has important theoretical and realistic significance.

At present, public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture have been given an exact definition. For instance, Yan Fengxianetal. suggest that public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture are rural public goods or services provided for farmers to resist agricultural natural disasters and evade agricultural risk in rural community[1]. According to the research content of this paper, public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture are defined as all services and products among rural public goods that can be used to resist and relieve disasters to ensure farmers’ daily life and support farmers’ normal production. The supply of rural public goods in China is a "top-down" pattern led by the government presently. He Wenhua has pointed out that the current supply of rural public goods in China is inadequate in quantity and unbalanced in structure, the "top-down" pattern has led to low supply efficiency of rural public goods[2]. Li Yanlingetal. think that the supply efficiency of rural public goods can be divided into material and spirit efficiency, and paying more attention to farmers’ satisfaction is the most efficient supply behavior[3]. Han Pengyunetal. have proposed that farmers should have the right to demand expression and decision making, and farmers’ dominant position should be paid more attention to[4]. Public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture are mainly supplied to farmers, so studying the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture from the aspect of farmers’ satisfaction and setting up a scientific and reasonable evaluation indicator system to assess farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture have important realistic significance to optimization of supply system of public goods for disaster reduction and improvement of their supply efficiency.

Farmers’ satisfaction is derived from customers’ satisfaction and can be used to measure the government’s job performance. In recent years, Chinese scholars have studied farmers’ satisfaction more and more deeply. For example, Yin Suangetal. established a fuzzy synthetic evaluation model of satisfaction with the government’s public services by using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method and assessed the satisfaction with the government’s public services[5]. Based on a model of customers’ satisfaction, Kong Rongetal. set up an evaluation model of farmers’ satisfaction with rural microfinance and calculated farmers’ satisfaction with various indicators by using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and Likert scale[6]. By using the factor analysis method, Fang Kaietal. designed an evaluation scale of farmers’ satisfaction from the aspects of material and spirit and assessed farmers’ satisfaction with rural public goods[7]. Based on a linear regression model, Xiao Liang have analyzed factors influencing farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of rural public goods and have proposed that social security is the most important factor influencing farmers’ satisfaction[8]. Zhu Yuchunetal. have pointed out that farmers’ satisfaction with various species of public goods is different, and per capita income has obvious effects on farmers’ satisfaction[9]. Leng Junleietal. have proposed that farmers’ satisfaction with grain supplement is affected by farmers’ educational level, species of disaster, actual situation of their village, and so forth[10].

China’s agriculture has suffered natural disasters frequently in recent years, so the government increases the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture, and then studies on China’s agricultural disasters and supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture have been started. For instance, based on the analysis of economics theory of disaster reduction, Yan Wen has classified products of disaster reduction and has proposed the concept of supply and demand of disaster reduction; the supply-demand equilibrium model was established from the aspect of various interest subjects’ responsibility based on disaster prevention experience at home and abroad[11]. Gu Jintuetal. have pointed out that the great impacts of natural disasters on China’s rural areas are closely related to inadequate crisis awareness of farmers, opaque information of disasters, insufficient funds input by the government, and weak ability of restoration and reconstruction after the occurrence of a disaster[12]. Yan Fengxianetal. have studied effects of governance mechanism of rural communities on the supply effect of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture, and have proposed that the management ability of village cadres, policy support for disaster reduction, democratic decision-making, and collective action have positive effects on the supply effect of public goods for disaster reduction, while economic development level has adverse effects on the supply effect of public goods for disaster reduction[1]. In this paper, a fuzzy synthetic evaluation model of farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture will be established to asses farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture in three counties of Hubei Province, and reasons for low efficiency of the supply and factors influencing farmers’ satisfaction will be revealed.

2 Data sources and explanations for variables

2.1DatasourcesData used in this paper were obtained from investigations of 27 villages in 10 towns of two counties and one district in Hubei Province from September to December in 2013. In regions of Hubei Province where disasters are typical, three sample regions (Yiling District, Xishi County, and Sui County) were sampled randomly, from which 27 sample villages were chosen randomly then. The fuzzy assessment method was adopted in this paper, so 20 questionnaires were released to experts to determine the weight of each indicator, and all questionnaires released to experts were effective. Meanwhile, 500 questionnaires were released to farmers, of which 476 questionnaires were effective.

2.2Establishmentofanevaluationindicatorsystemoffarmers’satisfactionandexplanationsforvariablesAs shown in Fig.1, an evaluation indicator system of farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture is composed of three layers, including five first-grade indicators containing 18 second-grade indicators. Farmers’ expectation is their public goods or services for disaster reduction provided by the government. Farmers’ expectation is a latent variable and should be transformed into a measurable variable through the establishment of second-grade indicators according to the principle of measurability. According to the actual situation of supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture, its second-grade indicators include accuracy of published information about the situation of disasters, degree of openness about funds for disaster reduction, and reserve of materials for disaster reduction. In this paper, the disasters mainly refer to flood, drought, plant diseases and insect pests; the degree of openness about funds for disaster reduction means the degree of openness about funds for disaster reduction and resistance by the government; the reserve of materials for disaster relief refers to the degree of readiness of the government before the occurrence of a disaster. Perceived quality refers to the subjective feeling of customers during the process of consumption and service, and farmers’ expectation is the psychological basis of perceived quality evaluation. The second-grade indicators of perceived quality contain timeliness of disaster resistance and relief, equity of releasing materials, quantity of supplied public goods, supply structure of public goods, and quality of supplied public goods. The timeliness of disaster resistance and relief refers to response speed of the government when natural disasters are injurious to farmers’ production and living conditions; the equity of releasing materials means whether releasing materials for disaster relief follow the principles of equality, openness, and fairness; the quality of supplied public goods means whether each affected farmer receives enough quantities of public goods for disaster reduction; the supply structure of public goods means whether public goods supplied by the government can meet farmers’ real demands to resist natural disasters; the quality of supplied public goods includes the practicality of agricultural extension training techniques and the quality of public goods for disaster reduction in use. Government image means farmers assess the behaviors and reflexes of the government. Systematicness of policies for disaster reduction means the government supports farmers to resist natural disasters by laws and regulations; clear division of departments for disaster reduction means whether government departments have clear responsibilities and orderly administration during the process of disaster prevention and relief; work attitude stands for government workers’ attitude towards farmers at work; work efficiency refers to government workers’ efficiency and quality at work. Farmers’ complaint refers to the difference between farmers’ psychological expectation and actual feeling after receiving public goods for disaster reduction. The second-grade indicators of farmers’ complaint include handling of farmers’ petitioning and adoption of farmers’ suggestions. Handling of farmers’ petitioning includes the handling period and ways; adoption of farmers’ suggestions means whether the government gets suggestions from farmers actively and then adopts them. Farmers’ trust means farmers’ actual feeling exceeds their psychological expectation after receiving public goods for disaster reduction, so they have trust in the government. The second-grade indicators of farmers’ trust include participation in village-level activities, initiative for disaster prevention and relief, rising of living standard, and restoration of production capacity. Participation in village-level activities means the frequency of farmers taking part in village-level activities from aspects of politics, economics, education and culture; initiative for disaster prevention and relief reflects whether farmers’ physical and mental altitude are optimistic when facing disasters; rising of living standard means whether farmers’ living standard improves after receiving public goods for disaster reduction; restoration of production capacity means whether farmers’ agricultural loss is restored.

3 Establishment of a fuzzy evaluation model of farmers’ satisfaction

3.1DeterminationofweightofeachindicatorAfter the evaluation indicator system was established, it is needed to determine the weight of various indicator in the same layer. By using expert assignment method and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), 20 experts engaging in disaster reduction in rural areas, leaders having rich experience of disaster relief, and doctors engaging in research on rural public goods were chosen to fill in a questionnaire, and then the results of all questionnaires were analyzed; finally, the weight of each indicator was determined by AHP (Table 1)[13].

Table1Theevaluationindicatorsystemoffarmers’satisfactionwiththesupplyofpublicgoodsfordisasterreductioninagricultureandweightofeachindicator

OverallindicatorFirst-gradeindicator(Weight)Second-gradeindicatorWeightFarmerssatisfactionFarmersexpectation(0.30)Accuracyofpublishedinformation0.10Degreeofopennessaboutfundsfordisasterreduction0.65Reserveofmaterialsfordisasterreduction0.25Perceivedquality(0.41)Timelinessofdisasterresistanceandrelief0.25Equityofreleasingmaterials0.48Quantityofsuppliedpublicgoods0.07Supplystructureofpublicgoods0.15Qualityofsuppliedpublicgoods0.04Governmentimage(0.18)Systematicnessofpoliciesfordisasterreduction0.07Cleardivisionofdepartmentsfordisasterreduction0.10Workattitude0.19Workefficiency0.63Farmerscomplaint(0.07)Handlingoffarmerspetitioning0.25Adoptionoffarmerssuggestions0.75Farmerstrust(0.04)Participationinvillage-levelactivities0.07Initiativefordisasterpreventionandrelief0.11Restorationofproductioncapacity0.27Risingoflivingstandard0.56

3.2Establishmentofafuzzycomprehensiveevaluationmodel

3.2.1Basic ideas of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation was proposed by the cybernetician Zadeh in 1965, meaning that based on set theory, synthesis of fuzzy relations in fuzzy mathematics is used to quantify fuzzy and uncertain objective things that are difficult to determine their values. Farmers’ satisfaction is fuzzy and uncertain, so it is scientific and feasible to use fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to assess farmers’ satisfaction.

3.2.2Determination of factor sets. A factor set is a set composed of factors in the evaluation indicator system, and a factor set of a layer is composed of factors in the layer. The factor set of the criteria layer isU={u1,u2,…,un}, which should meet the follow-up three conditions: firstly,Ui≠, ∀i∈{1, 2, …,N}; secondly,Ui∩Uj=,i≠j; thirdly,U=Ui. The factor set of the objective layer isUij={Ui1,Ui2, …,Uim}, whereUijis thejth factor in the indicator layer affecting theith factor in the criteria layer.

3.2.3Determination of fuzzy remark sets. A fuzzy remark set is a fuzzy concept set used by evaluators during the process of evaluation. In this study, the remark set of farmers’ satisfaction is a set composed of all possible evaluation results of farmers’ satisfaction, and it can be expressed asV={v1,v2,…,vp}, wherepis the number of remark grades, and 3≤p≤9. Ifp<3, indicator grade can not be described in detail; ifpis too large, it is difficult to judge indicator grade. Therefore, five assessment grades were chosen, including very not satisfied, not satisfied, general, satisfied, and very satisfied. Afterwards, a score scale setH={h1,h2,…,hp} was established, and the scores corresponding to the five grades are [0,20),[20,40),[40,60),[60,80) and [80,100) respectively.

3.2.4Establishment of a fuzzy evaluation matrix. A fuzzy evaluation matrix is a complete matrix obtained after the fuzzy evaluation of indicators in each layer is conducted. Firstly, factoruiis assessed, and then its membership is calculated, thereby obtain its evaluation vectorγi={γi1,γi2,…,γim}. For instance, if farmers assess the supply equity of public goods, 5% of them are very not satisfied; 15% of them are not satisfied; 25% of them are general; 35% of them are satisfied; 20% of them are very satisfied. Then the fuzzy evaluation set of supply equity of public goods can be obtained as follows:γ1={0.05, 0.15, 0.25, 0.35, 0.20}. After the fuzzy evaluation vector of each factorγi={γi1,γi2,…，γim} is calculated by using the above methods, a fuzzy evaluation matrixRis obtained finally as follows:

(3)

In the above formula,nis the number of assessment grades;mis the quantity of evaluation indicators.

3.2.5Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Based on the weight setAand fuzzy evaluation matrixR, the result vector of fuzzy comprehensive evaluationBcan be obtained as follows:

(4)

3.2.6Calculation of final assessment results. Calculation of final assessment results means analyzing the result vector of fuzzy comprehensive evaluationBto obtain the score of satisfaction by using weighted average method, and the formula of the score is shown as follows:

(5)

4 Data preparation and analysis

4.1DatapreparationAfter the questionnaires were collected and the results were averaged, experts’ suggestions and farmers’ satisfaction were obtained (Table 2). By using the above methods, the result vector of comprehensive evaluationBwas calculated, and the comprehensive scoreHiand the comprehensive score of the overall indicatorHwere calculated (Table 3).

Table2Resultsofquestionnairesaboutfarmers’satisfaction

OverallindicatorFirst-gradeindicatorSecond-gradeindicatorVerybadWorseGeneralBetterVerygoodFarmerssatisfac-tionFarmersexpectationDegreeofopennessaboutfundsfordisasterreduction15223173650Accuracyofpublishedinformation01517521076Reserveofmaterialsfordisasterreduction3754320605PerceivedqualityTimelinessofdisasterresistanceandrelief1456530065Equityofreleasingmaterials11781202643Qualityofsuppliedpublicgoods11215028360Supplystructureofpublicgoods026210210012Quantityofsuppliedpublicgoods09013622723GovernmentimageSystematicnessofpoliciesfordisasterreduction26013924530Cleardivisionofdepartmentsfordisasterreduction31711879025Workattitude251891508626Workefficiency161572006142FarmerscomplaintHandlingoffarmerspetitioning55411026839Adoptionoffarmerssuggestions15211968470FarmerstrustInitiativefordisasterpreventionandrelief37813517090Restorationofproductioncapacity23017919075Risingoflivingstandard115013526020Participationinvillage-levelactivities49025810717

4.2AnalysisofresultsAccording to Table 3, the score of farmers’ satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture in the three regions is 65.65, showing that farmers are satisfied with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture on the whole. The scores of farmers’ expectation, government image, farmers’ complaint, perceived quality, and farmers’ trust are 56.76, 57.98, 62.43, 66.96 and 70.06 respectively, so the scores of farmers’ expectation and government image are at a general level and need to be improved further; the scores of farmers’ complaint, perceived quality, and farmers’ trust are at a satisfied level but are low. Among the second-grade indicators, the scores of timeliness of disaster resistance and relief (76.09), accuracy of published information (74.58) and restoration of production capacity (72.86) are very high; the scores of degree of openness about funds for disaster reduction (52.10), supply structure of public goods (54.20), work attitude (55.76) and work efficiency (58.15) are very low.

Table3Resultsoffuzzycomprehensiveevaluationoffarmers’satisfaction

First-gradeindicatorSecond-gradeindicatorVerybadWorseGeneralBetterVerygoodScoreFarmersexpecta-tionDegreeofopennessaboutfundsfordisasterreduction0.030.470.360.140.0052.10Accuracyofpublishedinformation0.000.030.370.440.3474.58Reserveofmaterialsfordisasterreduction0.080.110.460.130.0161.76B10.030.370.390.190.0356.76PerceivedqualityTimelinessofdisasterresistanceandrelief0.000.090.140.630.1476.09Equityofreleasingmaterials0.020.160.250.550.0167.14Qualityofsuppliedpublicgoods0.000.030.530.380.0669.62Supplystructureofpublicgoods0.000.550.210.210.0354.20Quantityofsuppliedpublicgoods0.000.190.290.480.0567.69B20.010.190.240.500.0566.96GovernmentimageSystematicnessofpoliciesfordisasterreduction0.000.130.290.510.0670.13Cleardivisionofdepartmentsfordisasterreduction0.010.360.390.190.0558.45Workattitude0.050.400.320.180.0555.76Workefficiency0.030.330.420.130.0958.15B30.030.330.380.170.0857.98FarmerscomplaintHandlingoffarmerspetitioning0.010.110.230.560.0871.85Adoptionoffarmerssuggestions0.030.440.200.180.1559.29B40.020.280.220.370.1162.43FarmerstrustInitiativefordisasterpreventionandrelief0.030.360.210.270.1371.18Restorationofproductioncapacity0.000.060.380.400.1672.86Risingoflivingstandard0.020.110.280.550.0469.58Participationinvillage-levelactivities0.010.190.540.220.0461.81B50.010.190.540.220.0470.06B0.030.010.040.020.0265.65

5 Conclusions and suggestions

5.1ConclusionsIn respect of supply of public goods for disaster reduction, the government should pay more attention to equity, benefit, efficiency and effect. Meanwhile, it is seen that farmers give more attention to their living standard, which can provide certain references for the establishment of supply policies according to farmers’ will. In addition, farmers are care about the work altitude of government workers, so the quality of government workers should be improved. According to the investigation results of farmers’ satisfaction, some suggestions about openness about funds for disaster reduction, supply structure of public goods, work attitude and work efficiency are shown as follows.

5.2SuggestionsFirstly, it is needed to improve supervisory mechanisms to increase funding transparency. Participation of farmers in supervision can enhance farmers’ consciousness as a protagonist and satisfaction, so it is needed to develop diversified subjects of supervision, such as governments, enterprises and farmers. At the same time, information of public goods for disaster reduction should be open in time to increase information transparency. Secondly, it is necessary to make information channels unblocked to improve the supply efficiency of public goods for disaster reduction. It is needed to set up opinion expression channels to listen to farmers’ suggestions actively, so as to correct problems faced by the government during the process of supplying public goods for disaster reduction to farmers, reasonably optimize the supply structure of public goods for disaster reduction, and improve the supply efficiency of public goods for disaster reduction. Thirdly, it is needed to improve the quality of government workers to increase their work efficiency. Construction of ideological and moral level of government workers should be strengthened, and they should pay more attention to farmers’ benefit. Meanwhile, construction of civil servants’ ability should be enhanced to improve their work efficiency through training, and they should communicate with farmers.

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