Study On Follow-up Compensation Of Returning The Grain Land To The Forestland Based On The Farmers’ Willingness

Returning the Grain Land to the Forestland (RGLF) is a major strategic measure made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council to improve the ecological environment. At present, the second-round economic forest subsidy have expired in some region where the RGLF is implemented much earlier, and the second-round ecological forest subsidy is also about to expire. In this context, to fully understand the farmers’ evaluation on the compensation policy of RGLF, and to gain an insight into farmers’ willingness to deforest for farmland reclamation and to accept the follow-up compensation and its affecting factors, have important practical significance for the government to make and perfect the follow-up compensation policy, protect farmers’interests and consolidate the achievement of RGLF.At the time when the RGLF subsidies are about to expire, based on the field survey of fanners in Zhangbei County and Yi County, Hebei Province, the research analyzes the farmers’evaluation on the compensation policy of RGLF and their response to the possible compensation policy changes in the future, also makes the econometric analysis on affecting factors of farmers’willingness to deforest for farmland reclamation and to accept the follow-up compensation. The analysis shows that farmers’ satisfaction degree of the second-round compensation is lower than that of the first round, and if the compensation is stopped, deforestation for farmland reclamation is likely to occur. Five variables (including age, household labor force, ratio of household non-agricultural labor, area of conversion land and effect degree of the compensation on fanner) have significant effects on farmers’willingness to deforest for farmland reclamation. It also shows that the mean of the farmers’ willingness to accept the follow-up compensation is 2350.91 yuan·hm-2·a-1, and the regional difference of farmers’willingness is obvious. Six variables (including age, desertification degree of conversion land from farmland to forest, present income from conversion land from farmland to forest, farmers" cognition for ecological benefits from RGLF, farmers’ evaluation of opportunity cost for conversion land from farmland to forest and effect degree of the compensation on farmer) have significant effects on farmers" willingness to accept the follow-up compensation.