Assessment of Economic Loss Caused by Agricultural Non-point Source Nutrient Loss

Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, we use the JOHNES export coefficient model to estimate the total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) load of agricultural planting, livestock and poultry breeding and rural living non-point source in 2009. Based on the protection cost method in environmental economics, we quantitatively assess the economic loss caused by these three types of non-point source nutrient loss. The results show that in TN non-point source load, the load of land for planting accounts for 57.48%, the load of rural living accounts for 30.22%, and the load of livestock and poultry breeding accounts for 12.30%; in TP non-point source load, the load of rural living accounts for 46.18 %, the load of livestock and poultry breeding accounts for 29.00 %, and the load of land for planting accounts for 24.82%. The economic loss arising from the agricultural non-point source nutrient loss is equivalent to 2.3294247 billion yuan per year (the loss from land for planting accounts for 55.46 %; the loss from rural living accounts for 31.21 %; the loss from livestock and poultry breeding accounts for 13.33 %). It indicates that in order to reduce the loss arising from agricultural non-point source nutrient loss, we should pay attention to controlling the land for planting and rural living source.