Farmers' Cognition Of Irrigation Water Price Compensation And Its Influencing Factors

Water resources play a vital role in the development of human society.With the continuous growth of population and economy,the demand for water is also rising.The shortage of water resources in China is particularly prominent in the new situation.At the same time,China's agricultural water consumption accounts for a high proportion,and agricultural water price are lower than water supply cost for a long time,resulting in agricultural water price not playing a role in regulating agricultural water usage.Improving the water use efficiency by reforming existing agricultural water price has become the key to solving the lack of water resources.Agricultural irrigation water is a basic production resource related to agricultural development,having both public goods and commodities attributes.Considering the weak nature of agriculture and the social attributes of irrigation water,irrigation water cannot be regarded as a general commodity in the process of water price reform,that is,it cannot simply reduce the waste of agricultural irrigation water and improve the efficiency of agricultural water resources by raising the price of water.The negative impact of rising water price on farmers' income also needs to be considered.At present,the price of irrigation water for farmers cannot fully cover all the costs of the water resources management department,and the government subsidizes the water resources management department.However,this subsidy has not been known by farmers for a long time.It is a typical “indirect subsidy” type.On the one hand,low water price cannot effectively stimulate farmers' awareness of water conservation.On the other hand,government subsidies do not have the compensation effect.Many studies have shown that subsidies after the increase of agricultural water price,that is,the direct subsidy of agricultural water price(realizing the basic value of water,and subsidizing farmers on this basis)is conducive to eliminating the negative impact of rising water price on farmers' income and stimulate farmers to save water.But what factors will affect the water-saving incentives for agricultural water price “direct subsidies”? Exploring this issue is of great significance to the formulation of policies related to agricultural water price reform.This paper uses the research data of Hexi area to explore the above problem.Firstly,this paper discussed the farmers' perception of water price and the impact of water price increasing on farmers' decision-making under subsidized and non-subsidized conditions.Secondly,this paper investigated the water-saving incentive mechanism of agricultural water price “direct subsidy” by introducing the theory of loss aversion in behavioral economics.The results show that:(1)The overall perception of water price by farmers in Hexi area is not reasonable enough,and farmers' perceptions of water price vary among different river basins.The water price perception of farmers in Shiyang River Basin is the most reasonable,followed by the Heihe River Basin,and the water price perception of farmers in the Shule River Basin has the largest deviation.(2)The simple increasing in water price without corresponding supporting measures will cause many farmers to reduce or abandon the cultivated land.Changing the traditional “indirect subsidy” of agricultural water price to “direct subsidy” can enable farmers to take corresponding measures to save water in the case of rising water price,and also reduce the proportion of farmers who abandon farming.The survey also showed that the degree of water conservation depends on the extent of water price increasing.(3)Influenced by factors such as management level and management intensity of different river basins,farmers are sensitive to water price.Farmers in Shiyang River Basin are the most sensitive,followed by Shule River Basin,and the least sensitive is Heihe River Basin.(4)When farmers think that their own irrigation water has water-saving potential,the “direct subsidy” of agricultural water price has a greater incentive effect on farmers who have loss aversion.(5)Farmers' health status,water price judgment,channel evaluation,irrigation water use and regional differences all have an impact on the water-saving incentive effect of “direct subsidy” of agricultural water price.Based on the above research results,this paper puts forward some policy recommendations at the end: exploring and implementing direct subsidies for agricultural water prices;strengthening publicity,raising farmers' awareness of water saving;improving infrastructure development and developing water rights market;strengthening Heihe and Shule River watershed management system reform.