Does Internet use promote farmers to adopt biopesticides?——Evidence from rural Sichuan Province, China

Biopesticides are one of the ideal alternatives to chemical pesticides, but the popularity of biopesticides in China is low. Based on the survey data of 712 farmers in Sichuan Province in 2019, this study used the control function (CF) method and the propensity score match (PSM) method to analyze the impact of farmers’ use of the Internet on their adoption of biopesticides, and divided the total sample into three groups: smallholder farmers, professional large-scale farmers and family farms for heterogeneity analysis. The results showed that: (1) Farmers’ use of the Internet had a significant contribution to their adoption of biopesticides, with an average treatment effect (ATT) of about 12.66%. (2) The effect of Internet use by different groups of farmers on their adoption of biopesticides was heterogeneous, with the ATT of smallholder farmers, professional large-scale farmers and family farms ranging from 9.34 to 10.89%, 6.45 to 9.11% and 21.20 to 21.45%, respectively. (3) Gender and age of farmers had a significant negative effect on their adoption of biopesticides, while the education of farmers, household income and social interaction had a significant positive effect. Therefore, we propose to promote the construction of Internet infrastructure in rural areas, strengthen the publicity and training of Internet technology, and enhance the ability of farmers to use the Internet.