How climate-smart agricultural technologies impact farmers' income and yield in China

Food production and farmers' incomes are the most scrutinized topics in China's development, especially in the context of climate change, farmers' food production and farm incomes are under attack. there are new challenges to continue to safeguard farmers' incomes and yields from the perspective of agricultural production, and Climate-Smart Agriculture technology (CSAT) offers the possibility to address this dilemma, which is crucial for achieving sustainable agricultural development. Focusing on the Climate-Smart Agricultural Technology Practices (CSATP) program in China, this study explores the impact of CSATP on farmers' incomes and yields using a difference-in-difference (DID) methodology with a unique panel dataset collected from a research study conducted in Anhui Province, China. The results show that farm households in the study area that adopted CSATP experienced a significant increase in income and yield, a result that still holds after applying robustness tests such as propensity score matching(PSM). Further exploration of the mechanisms and heterogeneity reveals that CSATP can increase farmers' willingness to cultivation food crops and cash crops, and thus increase their farm income, which is more significant for large-scale and experienced farmers, and that the combination of both technologies in CSATP can increase farmers' food production, which is more effective among small-scale and inexperienced farmers. Based on the results of the empirical study, this study proposes several technology recommendations at three levels: technology application, technology design and technology diffusion. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the impact of CSATP on farmers' income and yield and its mechanism of action in China, complement the gaps in related research.