Study On Agricultural Irrigation Water Price In Ebinur Lake Basin

China has the problem of water shortage.Agriculture,as the basic industry in China,consumes a huge amount of water for irrigation.The lack of an effective restraint mechanism has led to the inefficient use of water resources,making the original problem of water shortage and waste even more serious,especially the impact on water resources in arid areas has become more and more profound.Therefore,finding a practical response mechanism to alleviate the increasingly prominent conflict between water supply and demand is necessary.Prices reflect the scarcity of products,and when water prices are low,agricultural water resources are wasted.With the leverage of price,the scientific and reasonable formulation of agricultural irrigation water price has far-reaching strategic significance for regulating farmers’decision-making behavior,promoting agricultural water conservation,and sustainable development of water resources in dryland basins.This paper aims to study the main economic means of water price that restricts the sustainable use of water resources,based on the research data of farmers in Ebinur Lake Basin and related statistical data.Based on the analysis of the natural geographic location,climatic characteristics,river system,and lake area,socio-economic and agricultural development conditions of the studied area,we first systematically discuss the current situation of water resources development and utilization in the basin,and the basic situation of investigated farmers and the current situation of agricultural irrigation water price.Problems in the use of water resources and the process of setting water prices were identified,including insufficient water entering the lake,an inadequate water resources management system,unreasonable water price setting,and unscientific management of water price reform.Secondly,took farmers as the first perspective,a logistic regression model was used to assess the psychological capacity of farmers for the water price increase,and then the ELES model and water price capacity index method were used to investigate the economic capacity of farmers for water price reform,in an attempt to find out the appropriate water price range standard.At the same time,based on the determination of farmers’willingness and ability to pay,the efficiency of agricultural irrigation water and its influencing factors were analyzed with the help of the stochastic frontier analysis model and Tobit regression model.Finally,we discussed the relevant stakeholders of water price reform and the game of water-saving irrigation,and proposed countermeasure suggestions suitable for the management of water price reform.The main conclusions drawn are as follows.(1)64%of farmers’decision-making behavior when the price of water is higher makes it difficult to improve the efficiency of water use.The response of farmers to a100%increase in water prices shows that 39%of farmers chose to stop farming and switch to other industries,and 20%chose to drill wells,farmers who chose to change their farming structure and adjust their irrigation methods accounted for 17%and 14%,respectively,farmers who chose to optimize their farm management model and to do nothing and continue to farm accounted for 6%and 5%,respectively.The main factors affecting farmers’decision-making are age,location,education level,and whether to drill a well,where older farmers with a certain level of education are more likely to take the measure of drilling a well when the price of water increases.It can be seen that farmers show less willingness to pay when the price of water is increased,and a larger increase in the price of water will reduce farmers’incentive to grow.(2)Farmers for the economic affordability of water price reform range of 600-1082Yuan/hm~2,can improve the space of 482 Yuan/hm~2.The percentage of farmers’households with annual net income per capita below 4845 Yuan is 3%,and they have no ability to pay for irrigation water;the proportion of farmers’households with annual net income per capita between 4845-13780 Yuan is 11%,and they have some ability to pay for irrigation water;the proportion of farmers’households with annual per capita net income above 13780 Yuan is 86%,and they have the ability to pay for irrigation water prices.The threshold value of water price is namely 1950 Yuan/hm~2,and the average value of adjustment space is 960 Yuan/hm~2.The adjustable range of unit water price is between 0.11-0.32 Yuan/m~3,and the average value is 0.18 Yuan/m~3.The results suggest that there is room for water price increases and that farmers have limited economic capacity for water price reform.(3)The coefficient of utilization of agricultural irrigation water efficiency is 0.425.The technical efficiency of agricultural production is high,with a mean value of 0.78 for corn cultivation and 0.85 for cotton cultivation,while the mean value of irrigation water efficiency is lower,with a mean value of 0.44 for corn cultivation and 0.41 for cotton cultivation,and both of them have greater water-saving potential.Irrigation water price,shortage of water resources,and irrigation methods have a significant positive effect on irrigation water efficiency in the basin,while farmers’age,agricultural labor,irrigated area,the proportion of non-agricultural income,education level,whether to drill a well,and whether to be a village cadre are not significantly correlated with irrigation water efficiency.It can be seen that irrigation water efficiency in the basin has some room for improvement,and the main factors affecting water use efficiency are related to irrigation management.(4)The government should incorporate farmers’participatory management model in the water price reform.As a major component of irrigation management,irrigation water price reform involves a wide range of stakeholders,in which the property rights system and role arrangements among the various participants are complex and can have an impact on the process of irrigation water price reform,and farmers play a leading role in the implementation of irrigation water price reform policies.The main stakeholders involved in the game of water-saving irrigation are the government,water management organizations,and farmers.This suggests that the management of water price reform in Ebinur Lake Basin should focus on the improvement of the water rights system among traditional stakeholders,the allocation of the respective responsibility of stakeholders,the implementation of water-saving irrigation technology,and the establishment of the farmers’association organization for irrigation water use.Based on the results of the above study,the suggestions of countermeasures suitable for the reform of agricultural irrigation water price were summarized.Mainly include:ensuring sufficient water sources,improving the construction of water management system;raising farmers’awareness of autonomous water conservation,and ensuring that water prices are within farmers’affordability;strengthen the compensation mechanism for agricultural water use and give full play to the function of water price regulation;improve the irrigation management system and clearly distinguish the responsibilities of different participants;establish a sound water rights system and promote efficient water-saving irrigation technology;build a good environment for the operation of farmers’water use association and strengthen the construction of the association support system.