The Diet Composition Of Livestock And The Factors Affecting Household’s Feed Payment Willingness In The Loess Hilly-gully Region

The animal husbandry industry has developed rapidly.However,due to lack of knowledge on animal feeding supply,low protein level and lack of high-quality forage in feeding are the crucial problems for farmers to improve their productivity and economic benefits.This study was carried out in Xiangquan town,Dingxi city and Wujiao town,Qingyang city,Gansu province.The questionnaire survey method was applied with 233 valid questionnaires on the composition of livestock forage and willingness to pay for farmers and the study used ordered Probit regression.The model analyzes the main factors that affect households’ willingness to pay for livestock forage clarify the main problems in the structure of livestock forage in the study area,and determine the key influencing factors of household’ willingness to pay for forage.The main results showed that:(1)Sheep,cattle number and sale rate per household stand for 61.2 sheep units and 33.8 sheep units,113.4% and 127.4% in Xiangquan town,Dingxi city;32.7sheep units and 60.3 sheep units,42.0% and 75.0% in Wujiao town,Qingyang city.Thus,the latter study area has a lower sale rate than the former study area.The average forage consumption for cattle was 12 kg/d and concentration accounted for20 % of total feed consumption.Average forage consumption for sheep was 3 kg/d,among of that concentration taking 14%.The proportion of livestock diet composition stands for: energic feed accounted for 80% up among in concentration,among of that,corn grain was >60%.protein rich feed was less than 3%;Crop straws in roughage was 60% up,among of that,corn stalks was 45%.(2)The main factors that affect household’s willingness on payment for forage,gender,age,healthy status,family size,agricultural labour force,agricultural income,forage planting area,value of agricultural facilities,whether to increase the scale of farming,understanding of government policy,children willingness to engage in planting and animal husbandry,insurance satisfaction and farmers’ willingness to pay for livestock forage was significantly positively correlated(p<0.01).while location,education level,proportion of agricultural expenditure,the income satisfaction and the influence of households’ willingness to pay for forage significantly negative correlation(p<0.01).The feed supply diversity for livestock industry in study area was low.Farmers who are mainly engaged in agricultural operations,have a good healthy,a certain understanding of agricultural policies,and a good perception of agricultural prospects for livestock invest more in agricultural resources.The willingness on payment for forage is high.From the point of view of forage production structure in the study area and households’ willingness to pay,it is recommended to establish diversified training methods to improve the professional quality on farming;to increase the intensity and scope of subsidies for animal husbandry and high-quality forage planting;to increase the investment on agricultural infrastructure such as agricultural machinery,those measures will promote the sustainable development of regional agriculture and animal husbandry.