Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in the Next-Stage Grain-for-Green Project in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

Abstract

The policy implications for success in the next-stage Grain-for-Green Project (GFGP) in China are analyzed from the perspectives of farmers' willingness. The ecological protection belt of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area was chosen as the case study area, where 1207 valid questionnaire surveys based on participatory rural appraisal were collected in 2012. Our study found that farmers with lower levels of education, older age, and higher livelihood dependency on farmland were more prone to reclamation if the compensation ended. Females and non-migrants were more reluctant to participate in the next GFGP than others. Nevertheless, traditional farming was no longer a preferred livelihood by all respondents. The majority of respondents (74.4%) wished to be liberated from the low-income farmland work through the next GFGP, and half of them (50.6%) hoped to get non-cash compensation. The Willingness to Accept (WTA) values of the next GFGP showed significant social heterogeneity and regional difference, with an average of annual RMB¥16,665 ha(-1), about 4.5 times the local compensation standard in 2000. By revealing some limitations of the uniform nationwide compensation standard system and the single payment form in adapting to evolving socioeconomic conditions, our study highlighted the importance of developing a region-based compensation standard system, integrating the next GFGP into regional sustainable development organically by more comprehensive alternative policy, and bonding a vertical partnership between the local community and the nation. Our study revealed some key elements for success in the future design of restoration projects in China.

Local perceptions of the conversion of cropland to forestland program in Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, China

“…In all LR models, male respondents were more likely to positively perceive and support the program compared to female respondents. These findings are consistent with previous research on farmers' perceptions of the CCFP, which have reported that women are less likely to have positive views of the CCFP as they are more vulnerable than males due to their lower incomes and education (Cao et al 2009;Feng and Xu 2015). Moreover, male farmers in Sichuan held the most positive perception of the program, which may be due to a relatively higher rural GDP in Sichuan in comparison to Jiangxi and Shaanxi (NBS 2016).…”

“…However, the former did not include the CCFP and the latter used a small sample size of 146 respondents (in comparison to the 1089 respondents of this study). Additionally, when farmers' perceptions have been examined, most studies have only used a single dependent variable, such as whether they support the project (Cao et al 2009) or are willing to participate (Feng and Xu 2015).…”

Does Poverty Matter in Payment for Ecosystem Services Program? Participation in the New Stage Sloping Land Conversion Program

“…Households with more sloping lands over 25 degrees had higher probability to be enrolled (0.08 and statistically significant), consistent with policy design and previous studies [25,26]. However, compared with other factors, households' desire did not have a statistically significant impact on the final enrollment.…”

‘Get a Fish’ vs. ‘Get a Fishing Skill’: Farmers’ Preferred Compensation Methods to Control Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution

“…Scholars have conducted extensive research on how to improve farmers' enthusiasm to participate in ecological compensation policies. At present, relevant studies mainly analyze farmers' willingness to participate [17] and calculate reasonable compensation standards [18][19][20][21]. However, few studies discuss how to execute the compensation methods available to farmers.…”