Study On The Effect Of Comprehensive Reform Of Agricultural Water Price

Although the agricultural water price reform has achieved remarkable results since 1985,it has always faced a "dilemma" : the low water price will cause a waste of water resources and insufficient operation and maintenance costs of irrigation and water conservancy facilities,and the increase of water price will reduce the income of farmers,and even affect food production and food security.Compared with the traditional agricultural water price reform,which only increases the agricultural water price,the comprehensive agricultural water price reform comprehensively implemented since 2016 emphasizes comprehensive implementation of policies,trying to solve the "dilemma" through the comprehensive use of "collect then refund"(Yi Ti Yi Bu)and "water right transaction".This paper makes comprehensive use of resource allocation theory,farmer behavior theory and institutional change theory to clarify the effect mechanism of comprehensive agricultural water price reform,analyzes the theoretical reference point of comprehensive agricultural water price reform,and reveals the incentive and restraint effect of comprehensive agricultural water price reform;reviews the process and results of agricultural water price reform,sorts out the motivation of agricultural water price comprehensive reform,builds an interactive analysis model of water resource owner,water supplier and water user,and explore the incentive compatibility mechanism of various stakeholders;takes the practice of Shandong Province as an example,uses the comprehensive evaluation method and cluster analysis method to evaluate the implementation status of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price;uses Meta method and PSM method comprehensively to measure the behavior response of farmers in the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price;builds the simulation model of the effect system of agricultural water price comprehensive reform,evaluates the effect of the reform and identify the key influencing factors;and on this basis,put forwards policy suggestions.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:First,the process of comprehensive agricultural water price reform is promoted in the process of mutual game between water resource owners and stakeholders such as water suppliers and water users.All subjects continue to pursue their self-interest maximization in the process of reform.Perfect institutional arrangement is the prerequisite for the success of agricultural water price reform.The reform can be carried out smoothly only if the interests of all relevant subjects can be guaranteed in the comprehensive agricultural water price reform.The current practice of comprehensive agricultural water price reform has protected the interests of water suppliers and water resource owners.However,the interests of water users are only guaranteed in some areas and in a short period of time,which constitutes a potential resistance to the wide and long-term implementation of comprehensive agricultural water price reform.The realization of the interests compatible incentive mechanism of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price depends on the support of the surplus water right trading mechanism of end water users.By transferring agricultural water saved to industrial and urban water with a high price,the social and economic benefits of the optimal allocation of water resources can be realized,and a virtuous circle of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price is formed.At present,agricultural water right terminal transaction is not only faced with institutional and technical problems such as imperfect market mechanism,limited transaction channels and imperfect metering facilities,but also limited by the decentralized operation of small farmers.We should build a surplus water rights trading mechanism for end-users,focus on areas with relatively mature reform conditions such as areas with a severe water shortage or agricultural scale management,explore the decomposition and confirmation,trading forms and trading procedures of water rights,and gradually form typical experience that can be copied and popularized.For most regions,while agricultural water saved is scattered among so many agricultural water users,in order to save the cost of water right conversion and improve the efficiency of agricultural surplus water right conversion,we should focus on exploring the implementation of water right repurchase system.Second,there are regional differences in the implementation of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price.There are differences in capital investment,policy implementation and incentive mechanism in the reform progress of cities,reflecting the differences in agricultural development and local financial support capacity of these regions.The main grain producing areas have large agricultural water consumption,large funding gap for the construction,operation and maintenance of irrigation and water conservancy facilities,and generally heavy reform tasks.However,the general economic capacity of agricultural counties and regions is limited,the local support capacity for the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price is insufficient,and the reform area and funding investment are unbalanced.It is still difficult to rely on the income of agricultural water price increasing to compensate the construction,operation and maintenance cost of water conservancy facilities and raise accurate reward and subsidy funds.The funding source of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price mainly depends on financial support,which is limited and unstable.The shortage of funds has become a restrictive factor in the implementation of agricultural water price reform in many regions.At the national level,we should increase financial investment,clarify the proportion of financial investment at all levels,and provide institutionalized sources of funds for grass-roots reform.We should improve the special financial support policies for main grain producing areas,give appropriate policy preference in capital investment and farmland and water conservancy construction,and explore the counterpart support in policies,funds and projects from economically developed regions.Third,although the current reform executors and bearers have a high overall evaluation of the measures related to the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price,they do not have high recognition of "water price formation mechanism" and "water right system".It is generally believed that under the existing conditions,the effect of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price still mainly depends on the construction of engineering facilities and the state’s increasing financial investment in irrigation and water conservancy.Market mechanism can only play a limited role.Therefore,we must continue to clarify the public welfare orientation of the construction and maintenance of agricultural water saving and irrigation and water conservancy facilities,increase the investment in water-saving irrigation projects,synchronously equipped with the terminal metering facilities suitable for the reform regional tasks and financial resources,so as to provide basic guarantee for promoting the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price.Further improve the formation mechanism of agricultural water price,reasonably verify the water supply cost,scientifically formulate the water supply price,build a sharing system for the construction,operation and maintenance of farmland water conservancy facilities with clear responsibilities of the central finance,local finance and farmers,and gradually implement the adjustment of agricultural water supply price,so as to ensure the long-term sound operation of farmland water conservancy facilities.Fourth,the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price can promote the response of farmers’ water-saving behavior.Raising water prices can encourage farmers to reduce irrigation times,adopt water-saving technologies,choose drought resistant varieties and other water-saving behaviors.The comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices can improve farmers’ willingness to adopt water-saving technologies and reduce the risk of abandoning irrigation.Education level and water-saving technology training have a positive impact on Farmers’ adoption of water-saving technology.Compared with water price adjustment and incentive,increasing farmers’ income and promoting appropriate scale operation have a more significant impact on the expected effect of the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price.Use the "collect then refund" mechanism to guide large-scale and professional water conservation.On the one hand,give priority to supporting large-scale farmers to develop water-saving irrigation,participate in the construction and management of water-saving irrigation projects,improve the intensification and scale of agricultural irrigation,and improve water use efficiency and output benefits.On the other hand,provide irrigation service subsidies and encourage large-scale farmers to provide irrigation services for small farmers.Improve the level of irrigation organization,socialization and industrialization,so as to effectively deal with the practical constraints of small-scale peasant economic structure on the development of water-saving agriculture.Promote the healthy circulation of agricultural land,increase agricultural income,and gradually create an institutional environment in which the agricultural water price and water right trading mechanism can play an effective incentive.