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Ratoon Rice (RR) has been proposed to be an effective alternative rice system to increase productivity growth and reduce the environmental impact, but data on the economic performance of RR for farmers are limited. A survey of paddy farms was conducted to assess the impact of the adoption of RR in Hubei, China. Endogenous switching regression framework was used to account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. We analyzed the effect of yield, income, and technical efficiency of RR adoption. Results show that adoption of RR has great impact on yield, income, and technical efficiency. Increase in rice yield (by 5.12%) and rice income (3.74%) was found for RR farmers; increases of yield, income and technical efficiency was also significant if farmers cultivating single rice shifted to RR. Technical efficiency showed a large difference when RR was adopted by farmers cultivating single rice. Small farms and large farms benefit from the adoption of RR. Large farms benefit more yield and income than small farmer, while small farms are more efficient than large farms. Our findings provide meaningful and timely implications for future national programs and policies to promote the implementation of RR in China that aim to promote more sustainable practices and lower environmental impact in agriculture.

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In this study, we aimed to use the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explain farmers’ pro-environmental behavior, and we subsequently applied our conceptualization of the PTM to explain the effects of pro-environmental behavior as well as some alternatives to achieve a sustainable livelihood in the Borkhar Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. The population of this study comprised rural smallholder farmers who produced agricultural and horticultural crops under drought in 2017-2019. The study sample consisted of 293 smallholder farmers selected through stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was utilized for data collection, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that self-efficacy, perceived vulnerability, and response efficacy have a positive relationship with farmers’ pro-environmental behavior. In addition, the perceived severity and response costs are negatively related to farmers’ pro-environmental behavior. The findings further show that alternative crops and alternative income sources are the main predictors of achieving a sustainable alternative livelihood. Moreover, saffron cultivation and rural handicrafts were found to be highly important indicators that enhance sustainable alternative livelihood under drought. Therefore, concentrating efforts and shifting the focus to these alternatives leads to increased farmers’ livelihood resilience in the long run.