An investigation of willingness and factors determining orchardists behavior of growing forage within the apple orchard in Qingyang, Gansu

Planting forage grass in orchards has been widely applied in many areas of China as it is an environmentally friendly orchard management technique. Based on survey data from 172 orchardists in Qingyang of Gansu Province, this study analysed growing forage grass in orchards and the willingness of orchardists to grow grass. We used the logistic regression model to quantify the contribution of different factors related to the willingness of the orchardists. The results showed that 23.8% of the orchardists have planted forage grass and 36% plan on planting forage grass; the majority are unaware of the practice. The choice of orchard types(PPPP<0.05) showed significant impacts on the their willingness.