Does food safety perception matter to farmers’ happiness？ evidence from China

Although the determinants of individuals' happiness have been widely examined in the literature, little is known regarding whether and how food safety perception affects farmers' happiness. To fill this research gap, this paper examines the impact of food safety perception on happiness among Chinese farmers, utilizing open-access data collected through the Chinese Social Survey project in 2013, 2017 and 2021. This study focuses on Chinese farmers as the research subject, attempting to analyze the “happiness code” from the perspective of food safety, which supplements the literature on happiness and provides reference for protecting the rights of low-income groups and promoting food safety strategies in developing countries. To address sample selection bias, this paper employs the recursive bivariate ordered probit (RBOP) model and conditional mixed process (CMP) method. The results reveal that the perception of food safety exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on farmers' happiness in China. In addition, food safety perception is more important among middle-aged and elderly farmers and among those with higher education. Thus, the policy makers should continue to make up for the shortcomings of rural food safety work and extend regulatory measures to rural areas. They also need to take efforts to strengthen food safety promotion, enhance farmers' safety awareness, and safeguard farmers’ “safety on the tongue”.