Sustainability of returning wheat straw to field in Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces: A contingent valuation method

Abstract

In China, returning wheat straw to the field (RWSF) is the most popular way of utilizing wheat straw. RWSF can not only improve soil quality, but also help to control agricultural pollution from wheat straw burning. However, the increased production cost caused by RWSF reduces farmers' enthusiasm to adopt this approach. This study estimated farmers' willingness to accept compensation (WTA) for RWSF by using the contingent valuation method (CVM), and identified determinants that influence farmers' WTA by using an ordered choice model (OCM). It aimed to determine how much compensation should be given to farmers for encouraging them to adopt RWSF and which factors affect their WTA. The results showed that, currently, the increased cost caused by adopting RWSF was 743 RMB/ha, and which was fully burdened by farmers. Although more than 90% of the surveyed farmers adopted RWSF, only 3.8% of these farmers were willing to adopt RWSF voluntarily without any compensation. The farmers' WTA of adopting RWSF was 479 RMB/ha, and it was much higher than the current subsidy rate of 300 RMB/ha in Jiangsu, which could not effectively encourage farmers to adopt RWSF voluntarily. Farmers' WTA is not only positively affected by the increasing production cost caused by RWSF and negatively influenced by the benefits resulting from RWSF, but also restricted by social-economic characteristics such as age, education, income etc. It is costly for the Chinese government to subsidize all the farmers adopting RWSF, letting farmers to become aware of the long-term environmental value of RWSF is an effective measure to motivate them to protect environment responsibly by adopting RWSF. These findings are useful in improving the current provincial subsidy policies or designing new subsidy policies nationwide for RWSF, and helpful in encouraging famers more sustainably adopting RWSF and promoting cleaner wheat production.