Our results indicate that promotion of M2 (or
M3, which could immediately reduce fertilizer use intensity), would require
measures to ensure that fertilizers have reasonable prices, constant
quality, clear labelling and appropriately balanced nutrient
contents. In addition, efficient management of field water is needed,
and timely subsidies if farmers' income decreases. Several measures
would also be required to improve the (moderate) acceptability of
M4, the second-ranked EAP in terms of mitigating diffuse pollution, including
actions to meet farmers' desires to cut associated labor and
transportation costs, and solve the problems of disposing of organic
wastes, as well as high requirements for both composting sites and storage
spaces.