Exploring China’s farmer-level water saving mechanisms: Analysis of an experiment conducted in Taocheng district, Hebei Province

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cg.contributor.affiliationTsinghua University
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Institute
cg.contributor.crpWater, Land and Ecosystems
cg.howPublishedFormally Published
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3390/w6030547
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Environment and Production Technology Division
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.identifier.wlethemeManaging Resource Variability and Competing Use
cg.isijournalISI Journal
cg.issn2073-4441
cg.issue3
cg.journalWater
cg.reviewStatusInternal Review
cg.subject.wleWATER STORAGE
cg.subject.wleWATER ANALYSIS
cg.volume6
dc.contributor.authorChen, S.
dc.contributor.authorWang, Y.
dc.contributor.authorZhu, T.
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-02T07:43:57Zen
dc.date.available2015-10-02T07:43:57Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/68419
dc.titleExploring China’s farmer-level water saving mechanisms: Analysis of an experiment conducted in Taocheng district, Hebei Provinceen
dcterms.abstractTwo types of farmer-level mechanisms have been traditionally adopted to increase agricultural water use efficiency in northern China: pricing mechanisms and tradable water rights systems. However, the reluctance of policymakers to exacerbate farmers’ burdens has rendered pricing mechanisms politically infeasible, while tradable water rights systems involve prohibitively high transaction costs in rural China. An experiment conducted in 2005 in the Taocheng District of Hebei Province created a new kind of water-saving mechanism that involves a number of institutional innovations, including “flexible total management”, “collect then refund” and “collect and subsidize, then refund”. This paper evaluates the district’s water-saving mechanisms based on efficiency, equity and operability criteria. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the “collect then refund” mechanism can more effectively enhance water use efficiency and reduce farmers’ burdens than water pricing instruments, tradable water rights systems and flexible total management. Adequate infrastructure and trusted institutions are identified as necessary prerequisites for the successful implementation of the new water-saving mechanism. We believe the new mechanism has great potential to be scaled up.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2014-03-21
dcterms.bibliographicCitationChen, S., Wang, Y. and Zhu, T. 2014. Exploring China’s farmer-level water saving mechanisms: Analysis of an experiment conducted in Taocheng district, Hebei Province. Water 6(3):547-563.en
dcterms.extentp. 547-563
dcterms.issued2014
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-3.0
dcterms.publisherMDPI
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll5/id/4366
dcterms.subjectagricultural sectoren
dcterms.subjectwater conservationen
dcterms.subjectmarketsen
dcterms.subjectwater pricingen
dcterms.subjectprice fixingen
dcterms.subjectwater marketsen
dcterms.subjectwater useen
dcterms.subjectagricultural water useen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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