Groundwater Fees and its Impact on Grain Fanners Irrigation Practices: A Case Study in Hebei, China
Irrigation farmers in Hebei Province increasingly rely on groundwater as their sole water source. The rapid growth in use has played a vital role in maintaining the increase in China s agricultural production. However, falling groundwater tables, soil salinisation and land subsidence bring into question the future exploitation of the resource. The groundwater fee paid by farmers is considered a crucial factor that influences fanners irrigation decisions. In this paper two research sites in Hebei Province are used to study the influence of economic factors on irrigation practices. The hydrogeology is the main difference between these sites resulting in farmers pumping groundwater from shallow aquifers in the Piedmont Plain whereas in the Flood Plain mainly deep aquifers are utilised for irrigation. This research design allows the authors to explore two research questions: ① What factors determine the groundwater fee per unit of water used? ② To what extent does the groundwater fee per unit of water influence fanners irrigation decisions? Our preliminary results show that the groundwater fee in electricity charging pricing systems is determined by the pump s capacity, the agricultural electricity tariff, the tubewell management fee and the groundwater table depth. We also found that farmers in the village that charges the highest groundwater fee per unit of water use the least amount of water. However, our preliminary results indicate that a groundwater fee of at least 0.35 Yuan per cubic metre is essential to stimulate any response from farmers. In villages with low groundwater fees farmers do not consider the water prices when irrigating.
groundwater management groundwater fee irrigation decision - making
Kai Rebensburg Michael Webber Brian Finlayson Zongxue Xu Deli Chen
School of Resource Management & Geography, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
国际会议
郑州
英文
1974-1984
2009-10-20（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）