Kiwifruit farmers' behavior and its' influencing factors of coping with meteorological disasters: A case study of Shaanxi freezing disaster in 2018

Meteorological disasters have become the main cause of agricultural harvest failures and fluctuations in agricultural production. To investigate farmers' disaster response behaviors and influencing factors, we used data from 226 microscopic surveys conducted in two counties (Zhouzhi County and Mei County) in the Guanzhong region, Shaanxi Province, China's main kiwifruit production area. We comprehensively analyzed the kiwifruit farmers' disaster response decision-making and behavior, and used Double-hurdle model to analyze the influencing factors. The results showed the following: 1) before and after the disaster, differences were noted in the farmers' behaviors. Before the disaster, farmers painted the main trunks white and used smoke generation in the orchard. After the disaster, farmers cut off frozen branches and sprayed nutrient solution on the trees. 2) The disaster response intensities of the farmers were generally low and country specific differences were noted. Among the 12 kinds of response measures, 190 farmers only used 1-3 kinds, accounting for 85.43% of the farmers undertaking response measures, with an average of 2.1 kinds of measures. Zhouzhi County had a higher proportion of farmers who used response measures, and the behavior intensity was higher than that of farmers in Mei County. 3) Farmers' coping behaviors were influenced by their inherent endowment characteristics and external environmental factors, and the direction of influence was both positive and negative. Variables such as the education level of household head, the number of years the household head had been planting kiwifruit, and the extent of technical training positively affected the farmers' decision-making and behavior intensity. Variables such as the township distance negatively affected the decision-making and intensity of the farmers' coping behaviors. The government should broaden the channels for farmers to obtain information and knowledge and guide them to actively respond to natural disasters. Responding to meteorological disasters is a necessary measure to ensure stable income and sustainable development of the planting industry.