Farmers Willingness to Participate in Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservation Construction in China

Transcription

1 Internatonal Journal of Economc Behavor and Organzaton 7; 5(): do:.648/j.jebo.75. ISSN: (Prnt); ISSN: (Onlne) Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna Fang Luo *, Fangmn Sun, Dan Xu, Cahong Sun, Qng Wang School of Commerce, Huanggang Normal Unversty, Huanggang, Chna Emal address: @qq.com (Fang Luo), @qq.com (Fangmn Sun), 96558@qq.com (Dan Xu), suncahong@63.com (Cahong Sun), ham57@63.com (Qng Wang) * Correspondng author To cte ths artcle: Fang Luo, Fangmn Sun, Dan Xu, Cahong Sun, Qng Wang. Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna. Internatonal Journal of Economc Behavor and Organzaton. Vol. 5, No., 7, pp do:.648/j.jebo.75. Receved: February, 7; Accepted: March 3, 7; Publshed: March 5, 7 Abstract: Small-scale farmland water conservaton facltes are the last mle of rrgaton wors, and determne whether the large- and medum-scale water conservaton projects fnanced by the government wll provde the most value and maxmum effcency. Farmers play a prmary role n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton, whle the government s role s only to encourage and subsdze such projects. Farmers wllngness to partcpate determnes ther behavor. Ths paper, frstly, uses a utlty functon for goods and water conservaton facltes to solve the farmers optmzaton problem. It puts forward sx theoretcal propostons about farmers wllngness to nvest n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Secondly, based on survey data n Hube Provnce, Chna, the Hecman Two-step Model s used to analyze the factors affectng farmers wllngness to partcpate n constructon of small-scale rrgaton systems and the factors affectng the amount of nvestment that partcpants are wllng to undertae. Keywords: Hecman Two-Step Model, Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton, Farmers. Introducton Irrgaton s mportant to natonal food securty n Chna. Chna s gross output of gran was 6,435, tons n 5, an ncrease of.4% over the prevous year. Ths was the th consecutve ncrease n gran output from 4 to 5 []. Gran producton has been above 35 g/person snce 98 [], close to the world average level. Chna uses only 9% of the world s cultvated land to feed % of the world s populaton. In Chna, the rrgated areas, whch are less than half of the total cultvated areas, produce 75% of the naton s grans and 9% of ts commercal crops, such as cotton and vegetables [3]. The No. document of the Central Commttee of Chna explctly put the constructon of farmland water conservaton at the strategc heght of natonal food securty. As a result, the government has ncreased drect nvestment n large- and medum-scale water conservaton facltes. Subsdes for small-scale farmland water conservaton have ncreased progressvely over the years, and constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton n ey countes has sped up. In the meantme, through nsttutonal and maret-orented reforms, the government has been promotng new nvestors partcpaton n water conservaton constructon [4]. The small-scale rrgaton systems, drectly appled to the felds, are called the last mle of water conservaton facltes. Generally, the scale of ths type of faclty s small, wth an rrgaton area of less than hm, surface dranage area less than hm and channel flow less than m 3 /s [5]. Farmers partcpaton n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton s called partcpatory rrgaton management (PIM) or rrgaton management transfer (IMT) by many scholars. The related research ncludes fve man aspects. The frst s water prcng polcy. There are three ponts of vew about whether water prcng polcy can realze the goal of water conservaton. The postve vew suggests that a

2 55 Fang Luo et al.: Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna prcng mechansm can be used for the effectve management of water resources [6]. For example, Berbel and Gómez-Lmón thn that an approprate ncrease n water prce leads peasants to realze the scarcty of water resources and to adopt water-savng technologes on the premse of not affectng ther choces of whch crops to plant and when to plant [7]. A negatve vew s proposed by Aregay et al. [8]. Through water consumpton and fertlzer nput, they estmate the effect of a prcng polcy on envronmental sustanablty. Ther results show that the polcy of managng water demand has lttle effect on the regonal envronment and leads to a decrease n farm ncome and crop varetes and an ncrease n drect and ndrect unemployment. A thrd vew,.e., a compromse vew, e.g., Bartoln et al. [9], proposes that water prce has nconsstent effects on dfferent objectves and nterest groups. The second research topc s the nvestment mechansm for the constructon of farmland water conservaton. In developed countres and regons, the government bears most of the costs for the constructon of farmland water conservaton, but, n developng countres and less-developed regons, prvate organzatons and farmers undertae more costs []. The responsblty for nvestment n water resources may be allocated accordng to the share of water used, the order n whch water s taen, or the rrgated area []. Farmers wllngness to nvest s hgher when water dstrbuton rules are made through a system that ncludes most people n a vllage, compared to rule-mang by government agences or rural eltes []. For nstance, Sarer and Itoh fnd that decson mang s very successful n Japan s Land Improvement Dstrcts (LID) due to the rch socal captal n Japan [3]. In that case, large-scale water conservaton projects are constructed by the government, whle small-scale projects are undertaen by LID and the government. For small-scale farmland water conservaton projects n Japan, the government s manly responsble for the physcal supply, and, once completed, over 8% of the wor of operaton and management s transferred to LID. The thrd research topc concerns the benefts of farmland rrgaton n terms of output. Brown and Halwel compare the effects of rrgaton and natural precptaton on Chnese and Amercan gran producton capacty [4]. In Amerca, only % of gran yeld comes from rrgaton, whle, n Chna, more than 7% of gran producton s dependent on rrgaton. Huang et al. show that crop ncome n Chna s hghly related to rrgaton [5]. Increasng rrgated land by one hectare per capta wll lead to an ncrease of 3,8 RMB n annual croppng ncome per capta. The spread of rrgaton contrbuted between 5 and 6 percent of the massve ncrease n agrcultural output of the developng countres from 96 to 98 [6]. The fourth topc concerns the structure of governance and the performance of farmland water conservaton projects. The governng structure of farmer partcpaton n rrgaton management can brng permanent benefts and have potent effects, and transferrng partal or complete management responsblty from the government to peasant assocatons or other prvate enttes s effectve [7]. The co-management model of cooperaton between water users and the government ncreases the benefts of farmland water conservaton projects [8]. Menzen-Dc fnds that the management of prvate pumpng wells s more effcent than that of non-prvate pumpng wells n Pastan, whch shows that prvatzaton of project property rghts can mprove operatng effcency [9]. Fnally, the ffth research topc s the farmers wllngness to partcpate n rrgaton management. Kong and Sh put forward the dea that the probablty of a farmer tang part n a Water User Assocaton (WUA) s sgnfcantly postvely related to the cultvated area of cash crops, rrgaton area and rato of agrcultural expendture to overall famly expendture, and s sgnfcantly negatvely related to total cultvated area and the farmer s degree of satsfacton wth current water conservaton facltes []. Xu and Huang fnd that enlargng the scale of operaton and the proporton of paddy feld, stablzng the contracted management rghts for the land, or decreasng the degree of arable land fragmentaton may sgnfcantly ncrease a farmer s wllngness to partcpate n rrgaton management []. To study farmers wllngness to tae part n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton, most researchers have used bnary choce models,.e., Probt Model, Logt Model, etc. [] []. They analyze the factors that affect farmers wllngness to partcpate n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton projects. However, ths paper uses the Hecman Two-step Model (Hecman Model for short). Compared wth the bnary choce models, the Hecman Model has the advantage that t not only analyzes the factors that affect farmers wllngness to partcpate n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton projects, but also reveals the effect of these factors on the proporton of the constructon costs that partcpants are wllng to nvest. Ths paper s content ncludes: theoretcal analyss and propostons; data sources and descrptve statstcs; model specfcatons and explanaton of varables; model estmaton and analyss of results; and conclusons and dscusson.. Theoretcal Analyss and Propostons Assume that there are n rural households,.e., farmers n the vllage. The nvestment n small-scale farmland water conservaton of farmer (=,,, n) s h. The total facltes of the vllage small-scale farmland water conservaton s H = lh + H + G n =, n whch l s the mpact factor, defned as the mpact of the contrbuton of farmer to the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton; H s the vllage s orgnal stoc of small-scale farmland water conservaton; and G s the government s current small-scale farmland water conservaton nvestment. The budget constrant of farmer s pxx + phh = M, n whch p x and x are the prce and quantty, respectvely, of

3 Internatonal Journal of Economc Behavor and Organzaton 7; 5(): a baset of goods consumed by a farmer; p h and h are the total cost of small-scale farmland water conservaton and the proporton of the nvestment contrbuted by a farmer, respectvely; and M s the famly ncome. The farmer s utlty functon, U, taes the form of a Cobb-Douglas a b functon, U ( x, H) = xh [], n whch a s the commodty demand elastcty of utlty,.e., a % change n x causes a percentage change n U, and b s the small-scale farmland water conservaton demand elastcty of utlty, or rrgaton demand elastcty of utlty for short,.e., a % change of H causes a percentage change n U. Tang the natural logarthm on both sdes of the utlty functon yelds ln U ( x, H) = alnx + bln H. Lu and Chen assumed a+b []. However, consderng that the constructon of farmland water conservaton may mprove farmers utlty, we relax ths assumpton and wll test t. The optmzaton problem of a farmer s Max ln U ( x, H ), () s. t. pxx + phh = M. The Lagrange functon, L = a lnx + bln H + c( M p x x phh ), s bult, where c s the Lagrangan multpler. By the L L L frst-order condton,.e., =, = and =, t s x h c obtaned that * M h = ( + + ) + a / b p h + l a / b n ljhj H G, () j= j * where j represents a farmer, and h s the optmal soluton of the farmer nvestng n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Accordng to Equaton (), the propostons are put forward as follows: Prop. The hgher the farmer s ncome, M, the more he nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Prop. The greater the value of a/b, the less the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Prop. 3 The hgher the prce of small-scale farmland water conservaton, p h, the less the farmer nvests n t. Prop. 4 The larger the farmer s mpact factor, l, the more the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Prop. 5 The greater the sum of the farmer s other nvestments, n l h, the orgnal stoc of water conservaton j j j= j n the vllage, H, and the current government nvestment, G, the less the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Prop. 6 The assumpton of a+b fals. The above sx propostons are tested as follows. 3. Data Sources and Descrptve Statstcs Tang the form of a questonnare survey, the data were collected from September to October, 4. The respondents are farmers n Hube Provnce, Chna, and the ntervewee who answers the questons may be the head of a household or the prmary labor suppler n the famly. Hube Provnce was selected as the research regon because t s located n central Chna, s representatve of thrteen major gran-producng provnces, and plays an mportant role n ensurng natonal food securty. Its rrgaton cultvated area s,855,3 hm, the rural populaton s 5,78, persons, and per capta GDP s 47,4 RMB. It s a moderately developed regon. Usng encounter samplng, the survey dstrbuted 3 questonnares n total and yelded 77 effectve questonnares,.e., the effectve rate was 9.3%. The descrptve statstcs of sampled farmers are shown n Table, and the mean, standard devaton, mnmum and maxmum of contnuous varables are shown n Table. The mean age of heads of households s 48.8 years. Ther average years of schoolng s 6.8,.e., less than graduaton from junor hgh school, whch shows that the educaton level does not meet the requrements of modern agrcultural producton. The average number of men below age 5 who are home year-round s.66, so prme rural labor s sgnfcantly defcent. The mean annual ncome of a famly s 36,97 RMB, only 6,5 RMB of whch s from agrculture, accountng for 7.6% of total ncome. Because the rate of agrcultural return s low, more than 8% of a famly s revenue comes from non-agrcultural ndustres. The mean actual cultvated area of households s.38 hm, of whch.6 hm s dry land, accountng for 4.%, and. hm s paddy felds, accountng for 58.%. Ths s too lttle to match the strategc responsblty of natonal food securty that ths major-gran producng provnce bears. There are four types of landform plan, hll, mountan and mound accountng for 5.35%, 3.69%,.% and 7.%, respectvely. Beng long neglected and n dsrepar, or napproprately managed and protected, about 36.46% of farmland water conservaton facltes have been destroyed and.3% of farmland suffers from a serous lac of rrgaton. Because Hube s a provnce havng thousands of laes, at least 5% of farmers are ran-dependent. Prvate rrgaton organzatons, such as WUAs, are not popular. Only 5.4% of farmers say these organzatons exst n the localty, and only 4.65% of farmers partcpate n them. About 6.73% of farmers trust the organzatonal capablty and the clean admnstratve ethcs of vllage cadres. About 83.3% of farmers are wllng to partcpate n small-scale farmland water conservaton projects, of whch 63.9% want ther partcpaton to tae the form of nvestng ther labor, whle 38.7% want to contrbute fundng. Includng both funds and labor, farmers are wllng to undertae 34.5% of total nvestment, and they thn the rest should be undertaen by the government.

4 57 Fang Luo et al.: Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna Table. Descrptve statstcs of samplng farmers. Type of Landform Items Quantty/ Person or Household Rate # /% Illteracy 7.53 Householder Schoolng Prmary School 44.4 Junor Hgh School 4.43 Junor Hgh School Above Annual Famly Income <4, RMB , RMB Annual Agrcultural Income <6, RMB , RMB Actual Cultvated Land <.3 hm hm Paddy Feld <. hm hm 39.7 Dry Farm <. hm hm Hll Mound 7. Mountan 6. Plan Damage Condton of Irrgaton Facltes Serous Not Serous Farm Irrgaton Condton Serous Shortage 59.3 Not Serous Shortage Prvate Irrgaton Organzaton Exstng Not Exstng Farmer Partcpaton n Irrgaton Organzaton Yes No Farmer Wllng to Partcpate n Constructon of Small-scale Farmland Yes Water Conservaton No State of Trust n Vllage Cadres Trusted Not Trusted Form of Partcpaton n Constructon Investng wth Labor Fundng Notes: # Besdes Form of Partcpaton n Constructon, the dvsor of the rate s 77. One regon may have multple types of landforms. The degree of damage to rrgaton facltes s defned as serous f the facltes fal to meet the basc demands of farmland rrgaton. Otherwse, the damage s defned as not serous. One household may have multple forms of partcpaton, so the dvsor of the rate s 3. Table. Statstcal ndexes of contnuous varables. Varables Obs. Mean Std. Dev. Mn. Max. Percentage Wllng to Invest n Irrgaton Age of the Head of Household (Years) Household Head Schoolng (Years) Annual Famly Income (, RMB) Percentage of Income from Agrculture Male Labor at Home Year-Round (Persons) Household Actual Cultvated Land /. hm Percentage of Paddy Feld Model Specfcaton and Explanaton of Varables The wllngness of farmers to partcpate n small-scale water conservaton has two parts: whether a farmer wants to partcpate at all and, once a farmer has decded to partcpate, how much the farmer s wllng to nvest. Ths paper uses the Hecman Model [3] [4] to answer these questons. The model contans two steps: the frst step bulds a bnary selecton model, and the second step uses Ordnary Least Squares (OLS), runnng a regresson for partcpants, whch contans an Inverse Mlls Rato (λ) as a varable to judge the valdty of the Hecman Model. The model does a good job of elmnatng the effect of sample selecton bas [5]. 4.. Model Specfcaton The Hecman Model ncludes two steps [3]. The frst step s to buld a Probt model of bnary responses. It analyzes the farmer s decson to partcpate n water conservaton. The equaton may be denoted as [4] Pr( Y = ) = Φ( ζw ), (3) where Pr( ) Y = s the probablty that a farmer s wllng to partcpate n the constructon of water conservaton projects,

5 Internatonal Journal of Economc Behavor and Organzaton 7; 5(): ζ s a vector of all parameters to be estmated, w s a vector of all explanatory varables, and Φ( ) s a dstrbuton functon of a standard normal dstrbuton. The regresson equaton s Y = αx + βd + µ (4), whose symbols are descrbed as follows: a) The subscrpt represents an observaton,.e., a rural household; b) Y s the dependent varable, tang the value of f a farmer s wllng to partcpate n the constructon of water conservaton, otherwse tang the value of ; c) α s a vector of parameters to be estmated, α = ( α, α,, α8) ; d) X s a vector of quanttatve explanatory varables, X = (, X, X, X,, X 7 ), where X s the age of the head of a household (n years), X s the years of schoolng of the head of a household, X 3 s annual famly ncome (n, RMB), X 4 s the rato of agrcultural revenue to total famly ncome (%), X 5 s the number of males under 5 years old who are at home year-round, X 6 s the actual cultvated land of a farmer (n. hm ), and X 7 s the rato of paddy feld to total cultvated land (n %); e) β s a vector of parameters to be estmated, β = ( β, β, β3) ; f) D s a vector of dummy explanatory varables, D = ( D, D, D 3), where D s the condton of farmland rrgaton facltes, tang the value of for serous shortage,.e., the farmland water conservaton facltes can t meet the basc demand for rrgaton, otherwse tang the value of, D s the state of trust n vllage cadres, tang the value of for trust, otherwse tang the value of, D 3 s the state of farmer partcpaton n an rrgaton organzaton, such as a WUA, tang the value of for havng partcpated, otherwse tang the value of ; and g) µ s a stochastc error term. The second step s to analyze the effect of those factors on farmer partcpants wllngness to undertae a share of engneerng constructon, as the sum of funds and labor servces, through the Ordnary Least Squares (OLS) method. The regresson equaton s Y = γz + δdz + λϕ( ζw) / Φ ( ζw ) + ε, (5) whose symbols are descrbed as follows: a) The subscrpt represents an observaton; b) Y s the dependent varable,.e., the proporton of the cost of constructon that a farmer deems that he and other vllagers should undertae; c) γ s a vector of parameters to be estmated, γ = ( γ, γ,, γ 5) ; d) Z s a vector of quanttatve explanatory varables, Z = (, X,, X ) ; e) δ s a vector of parameters to be 3 7 estmated, δ = ( δ, δ, δ3) ; f) DZ s a vector of dummy explanatory varables, DZ = ( D, D ) ; g) λ s the Inverse Mlls Rato; h) ϕ( ) and Φ( ) are the probablty densty functon and dstrbuton functon of a standard normal dstrbuton, respectvely; ϕ( ) / Φ( ) s the correcton term, ζ = ( γ,δ ), = Z w DZ ; and ) ε s a stochastc error term. The Hecman Model requres that the explanatory varable set of the second step s a rgorous subset of that used n the frst step [5]. From the foregong, the above model specfcaton meets ths requrement. 4.. Explanaton of Independent Varables The ndependent varables nclude three types: ndvdual characterstcs of the head of a household, characterstcs of agrcultural producton, and characterstcs of farmland water conservaton and socal envronment. () Indvdual characterstcs of head of household. The ndvdual characterstc varables only appear n the frst step,.e., the Probt model, whch manly consders three varables. The frst two are the age of the head of a household and the age squared, X and X. As the head of a household grows older, the probablty of gong away as a mgrant worer decreases, and tme spent at home n agrculture ncreases. When agrcultural producton tme ncreases, the farmer s more dependent on agrcultural ncome and farmland rrgaton facltes. Hence, the farmer s more lely to partcpate n the constructon of water conservaton projects [5]. However, when he arrves at a certan age, hs strength begns decreasng. The amount of tme he spends on agrcultural producton s therefore reduced, so hs probablty of partcpatng n the constructon of water conservaton projects decreases. The expected sgn of X s postve and that of X s negatve. The thrd varable s years of schoolng of the household head, X. On the one hand, the more years of schoolng the head of a household has, the hgher the probablty that he enters a non-agrcultural sector. In that case, the farmer s wllngness to partcpate n the constructon of water conservaton projects decreases. On the other hand, a hgh educaton level helps the head of a household understand the mportance of farmland water conservaton facltes, whch results n the wllngness ncreasng. Therefore, the effect of years of schoolng of the household head s uncertan []. () Characterstcs of agrcultural producton. Ths type of characterstc varable appears n both steps of the model. There are fve varables: a) Annual famly ncome, X 3. The hgher the annual famly ncome, the greater the ablty of the famly to undertae an nvestment. Therefore, annual famly ncome leads to ncreased wllngness to partcpate n constructon. However, because hgh famly ncome usually mples more nonfarm revenue than farm revenue, there s less motvaton to nvest n water conservaton and therefore the wllngness to partcpate decreases. Hence, the effect of annual famly ncome s uncertan []. b) Rato of agrcultural revenue to famly total ncome, X 4. On the one hand, the greater the percentage of agrcultural revenue, the more the farmer depends on farmland rrgaton, whch wll lead to wllngness to nvest n a greater proporton of the project cost. On the other hand, agrculture s more vulnerable

6 59 Fang Luo et al.: Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna than ndustry, whch results n low agrcultural revenue, and therefore a hgh percentage of famly ncome from agrculture s assocated wth low total ncome. Ths budget constrant maes the farmer ncapable of undertang more rrgaton nvestment. Hence, the effect of the rato of agrcultural revenue on wllngness to partcpate s uncertan. c) Male labor under 5 years old at home year-round, X 5. For wor requrng substantal labor ntensty, such as dggng sublateral canals and ponds, only male labor under 5 years old s generally capable. Therefore, male labor under 5 years old at home year-round s conducve to nputtng labor nto facltes constructon, and the farmer s wllngness to partcpate rses accordngly []. d) Actual cultvated land of farmer, X 6. Because average actual cultvated land s only.38 hm, and consderng the varablty of the ndependent varable and avodng a sngular matrx n the regresson,. hm s adopted as a unt of measurement of actual cultvated land. The more cultvated land a household has, the more beneft the farmer obtans from rrgaton facltes. So, the farmer s more lely to tae part n water conservaton constructon [5]. e) Rato of paddy feld to cultvated land, X 7. Because a unt area of paddy feld consumes more water than does dry land, the paddy feld s more dependent on water conservaton facltes. Hence, the greater the percentage of paddy feld, the greater the farmer s wllngness to partcpate. (3) Characterstcs of farmland water conservaton and socal envronment. There are three dummy varables, of whch the frst two appear n both steps and the last only appears n the frst step. a) Farm rrgaton condtons, D. Serous nsuffcency of farmland rrgaton would ncrease the farmer s wllngness to tae part n the constructon of water conservaton projects. However, when farmland Table 3. Results of Hecman Model estmated. rrgaton s serously nsuffcent, both the captal gap and labor gap for mantenance and dredgng are very large. Because of the constrants of resources and capabltes, the farmer s wllngness to undertae responsblty decreases []. b) State of vllage cadres trusted, D. Generally, rural constructon of rrgaton and water conservaton projects s organzed by vllage cadres. The hgher the degree of trust n the cadres n the vllage, the stronger the wllngness of farmers to tae part n constructon [6]. c) State of farmer partcpaton n rrgaton organzatons, D 3. Prvate organzatons such as WUAs voluntarly form to meet the rrgaton demand of farmers. When problems occur n farm rrgaton management and decsons, the organzaton may organze farmers at a low transacton cost []. Therefore, partcpaton n a prvate rrgaton organzaton helps rase the wllngness of farmers to tae part n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton. 5. Model Estmates and Analyss of Results Statstcal software, Stata., s used to estmate the Hecman Model. The regresson results are shown n Table 3. The precondton for the valdty of the Hecman Model s that the value of the Inverse Mlls Rato, λ, s nonzero and statstcally sgnfcant [7]. The λ value of the sample estmated s and s statstcally sgnfcant at the sgnfcance level of %, so the Hecman Model s effectve. The whole ftted statstc of the model,.e., Wald ch (7), equals 4.6, statstcally sgnfcant at the sgnfcance level of 5%, whch shows the regresson results are good as a whole. Varables Y Y Coef. Std. Err. z P> z Coef. Std. Err. z P> z C **** X X X.84 ** X ** X X X 6.7 *** X **** D.83 **** * D.648 **** *** D λ ** rho -. sgma Wald ch (7) 4.6 Prob>ch.48 *** Notes: ****, ***, ** and * show the varables are statstcally sgnfcant at the sgnfcance level of %, 5%, % and 5%, respectvely. 5.. Factors That Influence the Wllngness of Farmers to Partcpate n the Constructon of Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Projects The dependent varable of the frst step of the Hecman Model s a two-valued varable, whose estmated parameters only show the drectons of the effects of the explanatory varables on the dependent varable,.e., the wllngness of farmers to partcpate n the constructon of small-scale farmland water conservaton projects, but not the margnal effects. The sgns of the head of a household s age, X, and ts square, X, are postve and negatve, respectvely, whch s consstent wth expectatons, but nether varable s statstcally sgnfcant. The years of schoolng of the head of a household, X, has a sgnfcant postve effect on the

7 Internatonal Journal of Economc Behavor and Organzaton 7; 5(): farmer s wllngness to partcpate. When the number of years of school s greater, t has an nfluence on the cognton of the mportance of mprovng rrgaton, sgnfcantly more than t does on labor mgraton. The sgn of annual famly ncome, X, s negatve, but not sgnfcant. Wth famly ncome 3 ncreasng, on the one hand, the capablty of a farmer to undertae constructon projects ncreases; on the other hand, due to the domnance of non-agrcultural ncome n a hgh-ncome famly, the household s less dependent on agrcultural ncome. Ths fndng suggests that one of these effects (the reduced mportance of agrculture n a hgher-ncome famly) outweghs the other (the greater capacty of a hgher-ncome famly to nvest n conservaton), but the ntegrated effect s not sgnfcant. The sgn of the rato of agrcultural revenue to famly ncome, X 4 s postve, whch s consstent wth expectatons, but not sgnfcant. The hgher the rato of agrcultural revenue, the greater the demand of the farmer for rrgaton. But the low yeld of agrculture has the result that the farmer s ncapable of nvestng n rrgaton, whch maes the varable non-sgnfcant. The sgn of male labor below 5 years old at home year-round ( X 5 ) and the sgn of the rato of paddy feld to arable land ( X 7 ) are postve, consstent wth expectatons, but nether of the varables s sgnfcant. The sgn of the actual cultvated area, X 6, s postve and sgnfcant at the 5% sgnfcance level. The larger the cultvated area, the greater the rrgaton demand, so the farmer s wllngness to partcpate ncreases. The sgns of the condton of farm rrgaton ( D ) and the state of trustng vllage cadres ( D ) are postve, consstent wth expectatons, and sgnfcant at the % sgnfcance level. Both serous nsuffcency of rrgaton and the state of trustng the vllage cadres can sgnfcantly mprove the probablty of a farmer partcpatng n constructon. The sgn of the farmer tang part n a prvate rrgaton organzaton, D 3, s negatve, consstent wth expectatons, but not sgnfcant. Snce there are only a few prvate rrgaton organzatons n Hube Provnce,.e., about 6% of vllages have such an organzaton, ther functon s not perceved as mportant by the farmers. Hence, the effect of ths varable s not sgnfcant. 5.. Factors That Influence Farmers Wllngness to Invest n Water Conservaton Testng the Theoretcal Propostons Because the second step of the Hecman Model adopts the OLS method, the estmated coeffcents measure the margnal effects of the explanatory varables on the dependent varable,.e., farmers wllngness to nvest n water conservaton. The survey queston s: What percentage of rrgaton and water conservaton nput should the vllage resdents as a whole undertae? A reasonable assumpton s that an ndvdual farmer s wllngness to nvest a certan proporton s postvely correlated wth hs perceptons of the oblgatons of the vllage resdents as a whole. The nfluence of ndependent varables and the results of testng the above sx theoretcal propostons are shown as follows. () Prop. : The hgher the farmer s ncome, M, the more he nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. Annual famly ncome, X 3, s sgnfcant at the % sgnfcance level. On average, when ncome ncreases by, RMB, the farmer s wllng to ncrease nvestment n water conservaton by.6%, whch shows Prop. s true. () Prop. : The greater the value of a/b (where a s the commodty demand elastcty of utlty and b s the rrgaton demand elastcty of utlty), the less the farmer nvests n water conservaton. Because only the ssue of small-scale farmland water conservaton s dscussed, a s supposed constant. Accordng to the law of dmnshng margnal utlty, f the stoc of water conservaton s nsuffcent, whch s characterzed by the status of farm rrgaton, D, a % ncrease n nvestment n water conservaton leads to farmer utlty ncreasng by a greater percentage; hence, the value of b ncreases. When b ncreases, a/b decreases. Varable D s sgnfcant at the 5% sgnfcance level. Compared wth no serous defcency n rrgaton, a serous defcency causes farmers wllngness to nvest to decrease by 7.3%. When the stoc of water conservaton facltes s low, that s, the necessary nvestment n constructon s large, the farmer s wllng and able to undertae a proporton that s naturally decreasng. When rrgaton s n a state of serous shortage, the value of b s large,.e., the value of a/b s small. However, the result of the emprcal analyss s that the proporton of farmer nvestment decreases. So, Prop. s not true. (3) Prop. 3: The hgher the prce of small-scale farmland water conservaton, p h, the less the farmer nvests n t. Snce p h s equal to the constructon cost of small-scale farmland water conservaton dvded by the ncrement of water conservaton facltes, p h s postvely related to serous rrgaton defcency, D. The sgn of D s negatve and statstcally sgnfcant, whch shows that, when rrgaton s serously nsuffcent, the value of p h s hgh and the farmer nvests less. Hence, Prop. 3 s true. (4) Prop. 4: The greater the mpact factor of the farmer, l, the more the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. The mpact factor of the farmer, l, s characterzed by the male labor under 5 years old at home year-round (X 5 ), actual cultvated area (X 6 ) and the rato of paddy feld, X 7. Specfcally, l s postvely related to varables X 5, X 6 and X 7. The sgns of X 5, X 6 and X 7 are all negatve, of whch X 5 and X 6 are not sgnfcant, and X 7 s sgnfcant at the % sgnfcance level. When the proporton of paddy feld ncreases by %,.e., the mpact factor of the farmer ncreases, the farmer s wllngness to undertae a proporton of nvestment decreases by.8%, whch shows Prop. 4 s not true. (5) Prop. 5: The greater the sum of other farmers nput,, the orgnal stoc of water conservaton n the vllage, H, and the current nvestment of government, G, the less the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton. The other farmers nput, the orgnal stoc of water conservaton n the vllage and the nvestment of government are characterzed by the rrgaton status, D. The varable D s sgnfcant at the 5% sgnfcance level. In the case of a serous shortage of water conservaton facltes, the sum of the other farmers

8 6 Fang Luo et al.: Farmers Wllngness to Partcpate n Small-Scale Farmland Water Conservaton Constructon n Chna nput, the orgnal stoc of water conservaton n the vllage and the nvestment of government s less than that sum n the case of no serous shortage, wth the result that the percentage of farmer s nvestment decrease by 7.3%. So, Prop. 5 s not true. (6) Prop. 6: The assumpton of a+b fals. The Wald test shows the assumpton of a+b fals at the % sgnfcance level. In addton, the rato of agrcultural ncome to total famly ncome, X 4, s not sgnfcant. Trust n vllage cadres, D, s sgnfcant, but ts sgn s negatve, whch s nconsstent wth expectatons. Compared wth untrusted vllage cadres, trust n the vllage cadres maes the farmer s nput decrease by 9.3%. Ths may be explaned f, gven that the government has made an nvestment n water conservaton, the farmer trusts that the vllage cadres wll mprove management effcency and decrease operaton costs, so there s decreasng room for farmers nvestment. 6. Dscusson Accordng to the above testng of the theoretcal propostons, t s necessary to dscuss them as follows: Frstly, Prop. (the hgher the farmer s ncome, the more he nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton) and Prop. 3 (the hgher the prce of small-scale farmland water conservaton, the less the farmer nvests n t), are proven true, whch s consstent wth the results of other wor [5]. However, Prop. (the greater the value of a/b, the less the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton), Prop. 4 (the greater the mpact factor of farmers, the more the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton), and Prop. 5 (the greater the sum of other farmers nput, the orgnal stoc of water conservaton n the vllage and the current nvestment of government, the less the farmer nvests n small-scale farmland water conservaton) are proven not true. The reasons may be related to the data selecton pattern,.e., encounter samplng, whch s not random samplng, and the attempt to prove these propostons ndrectly rather than drectly. Hence, a follow-up study should be conducted usng mproved randomness of data collecton and perfecton of the theoretcal framewor. Secondly, the theoretcal assumpton of other wor,.e., a+b [], s relaxed and s rejected by the emprcal research. Hence, Prop. 6 s true. It s shown that the constructon of farmland water conservaton may promote farmers overall benefts. Establshng prvate organzatons, such as WUAs, accordng to local practce should be a more effectve pattern of farmers PIM. It may effectvely organze ndvdual vllagers to partcpate n the constructon of rrgaton facltes, and may provde vllagers wth organzaton when they collectvely express ther appeals to government departments. 7. Conclusons Based on the Hecman Model, usng survey data of a major gran producng area, Hube Provnce, we analyze the factors that nfluence the wllngness of farmers to partcpate n small-scale farmland water conservaton. It s not dffcult to conclude and mae correspondng suggestons as follows: Frstly, years of schoolng of the head of a household, actual cultvated area and serous lac of rrgaton sgnfcantly promote farmers wllngness to partcpate n small-scale farmland water conservaton constructon. Ths s consstent wth other results [5] []. It s mportant to note that more years of schoolng of the head of a household maes t more lely that rural households are wllng to partcpate n farmland water conservaton constructon. Therefore, all levels of government should pay attenton to rural educaton. In partcular, the government should provde specalzed tranng for farmers, wth content promotng farmers understandng of the mportance of water conservaton and water conservaton projects, routne mantenance methods of rrgaton facltes, the technques and slls of water savng, etc. Secondly, farmers trust n the vllage cadres sgnfcantly decreases the percentage of the cost of water conservaton projects that farmers are wllng to contrbute. Ths result s dfferent from other studes [5]. The farmers mght perceve that, gven the level of farmland water conservaton, enterprsng vllage cadres may decrease total costs, and thus the farmers decreased nvestment won t affect farmland rrgaton. Because vllage cadres may nfluence the operatng cost of farmland water conservaton facltes and the effcency of the use of government fnancng for water conservaton, the selecton of vllage cadres should follow the prncple of people beng apponted on ther merts. Rural eltes who are capable and responsble should fll the mportant posts of vllage cadres. Acnowledgements Ths wor was supported by Humantes and Socal Scences Project of Hube Educaton Department (6Y9 and Q697), Huang Gang Cty College-enterprse Cooperaton Project (64) and Huang Gang Normal Unversty Projects (633, zxfz6b33 and 6CE5). References [] Natonal Bureau of Statstcs of Chna, Chna statstcal abstract 5. Bejng: Chna Statstcs Press, 6. [] S. Ja, S. Ln, and A. Lv, Wll Chna s water shortage shae the world s food securty? Water Internatonal,, vol. 35, no., pp [3] X. Luo, A study on the polcy changes n farmland water conservaton n the new Chna, Exploraton and Dscusson,, no. 8, pp (n Chnese). [4] X. He and L. Guo, Farmland water conservaton and ts cost and beneft analyss, Management World,, no. 7, pp (n Chnese).

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