Nowadays, environmental friendly agriculture has become the world trend of modern agricultural development; fertilizer reduction application is an essential way to achieve sustainable development goals. With the deepening development of the agricultural specialized division of labor and socialized services, the division of labor economy can promote the economic input of fertilizer. Based on 540 survey data of farmers in the main rice-producing areas of Sichuan Province, this paper constructs a theoretical analytical framework for the impact of agricultural division of labor on fertilizer reduction application. A binary probit model was used to empirically analyze the effect of agricultural division of labor on fertilizer reduction application, and its mechanism was examined. The results show that: (1) both horizontal and vertical agricultural divisions of labor have positive and significant effects on the reduction in fertilizer application by rice farmers. All above results remain stable after treatment of endogeneity; (2) due to the migration of the rural labor, the horizontal division of labor is expressed as changes in the structure of labor and cultivation within the household which has changed. To achieve economies of scale, farmers increase specialization in production, resulting in reducing marginal cost and application of fertilizer; (3) the vertical division of labor is expressed in the adoption of external socialized services by farmers, which improves the land resource endowment of fragmentation and hydraulic conditions. Thus, it creates a good environment for fertilizer application to improve its application efficiency, which in turn promotes fertilizer reduction by farmers. Based on this, this paper proposes that the government should motivate farmers to deepen their participation in the horizontal and vertical division of labor. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to improve the agricultural specialization continuously and further promote the development of socialized services market.
Keywords: China; fertilizer reduction; horizontal division of labor; socialized services; specialization in production; vertical division of labor.