Explaining farmers’ reluctance to adopt green manure cover crops planting for sustainable agriculture in Northwest China

Green manure cover crops (GMCCs) planting has a potential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in agroecosystems and provides important ecosystem services, thereby achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stipulated by the United Nations. However, the advantages of cultivating GMCCs on arable land are not widely recognized. For example, in the whole of China, the GMCCs planting area is less than 3.5% of total arable land. The aim of this study is to explore reasons for the low adoption rate of GMCCs planting. Using best–worst scaling (BWS) approach, farmers ranked their preferred conservation practices including three types of GMCC cropping systems. Taking Gansu Province in Northwest China as a case study, a survey with 276 farmers was conducted. The findings indicated that three factors are related to the low adoption rate of GMCCs: 1) farmers preferred improving farmland irrigation facilities and substituting chemical fertilizers with organic rather than planting GMCCs; 2) lack of awareness and understanding of government policy on GMCCs and limited access to training courses; 3) financial support and subsidies from the government are insufficient. This study provides insights and strategic implications for policymakers on how to further promote GMCCs in the future.