IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v309y2025ics0378377425000642.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China?

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Guifang
  • Ma, Dongdong

Abstract

Agricultural water pricing reform is often considered one of the most effective tools for improving agricultural water use efficiency in China’s arid and semi-arid regions. However, the implementation effect of this policy remains to be studied. On the basis of farmer survey data in 2014 and 2019, this study takes typical irrigation districts in the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in Northwest China as the study area and measures the net effect of a tiered water price policy (TWPP) on the technical efficiency of crop irrigation (TECI) by constructing sub-vector data envelopment analysis (DEA) and difference-in-differences (DID) models. The results reveal that from 2014 to 2019, the average TECI for seed maize and field maize in the Plain Irrigation District (PID) increased by 0.1419 and 0.1242, respectively. Furthermore, compared with nonpilot villages, the implementation of the TWPP can significantly increase the TECI for seed maize and field maize in pilot villages by 16.24 % and 19.70 %, and this positive effect is significant at the 1 % and 5 % levels, respectively. Furthermore, for the pilot villages, the higher the water price borne by farmers is, the lower the TECI, indicating that compared with farmers who bear lower water prices, these farmers have excessive irrigation behaviour. Finally, it also found that compared with nonpilot villages, the TWPP helps seed maize and field maize via saving irrigation water in pilot villages by 27.56 % and 27.74 %, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Guifang & Ma, Dongdong, 2025. "Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:309:y:2025:i:c:s0378377425000642
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000642
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109350?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kahil, Mohamed Taher & Connor, Jeffery D. & Albiac, Jose, 2015. "Efficient water management policies for irrigation adaptation to climate change in Southern Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 226-233.
    2. Momeni, Marzieh & Zakeri, Zahra & Esfandiari, Mojtaba & Behzadian, Kourosh & Zahedi, Sina & Razavi, Vahid, 2019. "Comparative analysis of agricultural water pricing between Azarbaijan Provinces in Iran and the state of California in the US: A hydro-economic approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Tsur, Yacov & Dinar, Ariel, 1997. "The Relative Efficiency and Implementation Costs of Alternative Methods for Pricing Irrigation Water," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 243-262, May.
    4. Tankari, Moussa & Wang, Chao & Ma, Haiyang & Li, Xiangnan & Li, Li & Soothar, Rajesh Kumar & Cui, Ningbo & Zaman-Allah, Mainassara & Hao, Weiping & Liu, Fulai & Wang, Yaosheng, 2021. "Drought priming improved water status, photosynthesis and water productivity of cowpea during post-anthesis drought stress," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    5. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2011. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 593-650.
    6. Julio Berbel & Carlos Gutiérrez-Martín & Juan Rodríguez-Díaz & Emilio Camacho & Pilar Montesinos, 2015. "Literature Review on Rebound Effect of Water Saving Measures and Analysis of a Spanish Case Study," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(3), pages 663-678, February.
    7. Taro Mieno & Nicholas Brozović, 2017. "Price Elasticity of Groundwater Demand: Attenuation and Amplification Bias Due to Incomplete Information," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(2), pages 401-426.
    8. Dono, Gabriele & Giraldo, Luca & Severini, Simone, 2010. "Pricing of irrigation water under alternative charging methods: Possible shortcomings of a volumetric approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1795-1805, November.
    9. Vos, Jeroen & Vincent, Linden, 2011. "Volumetric water control in a large-scale open canal irrigation system with many smallholders: The case of Chancay-Lambayeque in Peru," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 705-714, February.
    10. Fernández, J.E. & Alcon, F. & Diaz-Espejo, A. & Hernandez-Santana, V. & Cuevas, M.V., 2020. "Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    11. Coventry, D.R. & Poswal, R.S. & Yadav, Ashok & Riar, Amritbir Singh & Zhou, Yi & Kumar, Anuj & Chand, Ramesh & Chhokar, R.S. & Sharma, R.K. & Yadav, V.K. & Gupta, R.K. & Mehta, Anil & Cummins, J.A., 2015. "A comparison of farming practices and performance for wheat production in Haryana, India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 139-153.
    12. Dhehibi, Boubaker & Lachaal, Lassaad & Elloumi, Mohamed & Messaoud, Emna B., 2007. "Measuring irrigation water use efficiency using stochastic production frontier: An application on citrus producing farms in Tunisia," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(2), pages 1-15, September.
    13. Jianjun Jin & Rui He & Haozhou Gong & Xia Xu & Chunyang He, 2017. "Farmers’ Risk Preferences in Rural China: Measurements and Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-11, June.
    14. Prakashan Veettil & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 55-73, January.
    15. Jedidiah Brewer & Robert Glennon & Alan Ker & Gary Libecap, 2008. "2006 Presidential Address Water Markets In The West: Prices, Trading, And Contractual Forms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(2), pages 91-112, April.
    16. Guifang Li & Dingyang Zhou & Minjun Shi, 2019. "How Do Farmers Respond to Water Resources Management Policy in the Heihe River Basin of China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, April.
    17. Guifang Li & Dongdong Ma & Cuiping Zhao & Hang Li, 2023. "The Effect of the Comprehensive Reform of Agricultural Water Prices on Farmers’ Planting Structure in the Oasis–Desert Transition Zone—A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-17, March.
    18. Speelman, Stijn & D'Haese, Marijke & Buysse, Jeroen & D'Haese, Luc, 2008. "A measure for the efficiency of water use and its determinants, a case study of small-scale irrigation schemes in North-West Province, South Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 31-39, July.
    19. D. Latinopoulos, 2008. "Estimating the Potential Impacts of Irrigation Water Pricing Using Multicriteria Decision Making Modelling. An Application to Northern Greece," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1761-1782, December.
    20. Fang, Lan & Fu, Yong & Chen, Shaojian & Mao, Hui, 2021. "Can water rights trading pilot policy ensure food security in China? Based on the difference-in-differences method," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(6), pages 1415-1434.
    21. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    22. Frija, Aymen & Chebil, Ali & Speelman, Stijn & Buysse, Jeroen & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2009. "Water use and technical efficiencies in horticultural greenhouses in Tunisia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1509-1516, November.
    23. Omezzine, Abdallah & Zaibet, Lokman, 1998. "Management of modern irrigation systems in oman: allocative vs. irrigation efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 99-107, July.
    24. Steven M. Smith & Krister Andersson & Kelsey C. Cody & Michael Cox & Darren Ficklin, 2017. "Responding to a Groundwater Crisis: The Effects of Self-Imposed Economic Incentives," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 985-1023.
    25. Penglong Wang & Yao Wei & Fanglei Zhong & Xiaoyu Song & Bao Wang & Qinhua Wang, 2022. "Evaluation of Agricultural Water Resources Carrying Capacity and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Townships in the Arid Region of Northwest China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-24, May.
    26. R Quentin Grafton & Long Chu & Paul Wyrwoll, 2020. "The paradox of water pricing: dichotomies, dilemmas, and decisions," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(1), pages 86-107.
    27. Levan Elbakidze & Brett Schiller & R. Garth Taylor, 2017. "Estimation of Short and Long Run Derived Irrigation Water Demands and Elasticities," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(01), pages 1-22, January.
    28. Lai, Wangyang, 2017. "Pesticide use and health outcomes: Evidence from agricultural water pollution in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 93-120.
    29. Drysdale, Krystal M. & Hendricks, Nathan P., 2018. "Adaptation to an irrigation water restriction imposed through local governance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 150-165.
    30. Mustapha Alhassan & Emily J. Pindilli & Collin B. Lawrence, 2020. "Farmer Behavior Under Groundwater Management Scenarios: Implications for Groundwater Conservation in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(04), pages 1-24, October.
    31. Chebil, Ali & Soula, Rania & Souissi, Asma & Bennouna, Bechir, 2022. "Efficiency, valuation, and pricing of irrigation water in northeastern Tunisia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    32. Hu, Jin-Li & Wang, Shih-Chuan, 2006. "Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3206-3217, November.
    33. Fernández García, I. & Rodríguez Díaz, J.A. & Camacho Poyato, E. & Montesinos, P. & Berbel, J., 2014. "Effects of modernization and medium term perspectives on water and energy use in irrigation districts," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 56-63.
    34. Zhang, Cheng-Yao & Oki, Taikan, 2023. "Water pricing reform for sustainable water resources management in China’s agricultural sector," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    35. William W. Cooper & Kyung Sam Park & Gang Yu, 1999. "IDEA and AR-IDEA: Models for Dealing with Imprecise Data in DEA," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(4), pages 597-607, April.
    36. Yunquan Zhang & Peiling Yang, 2022. "Agricultural Water Optimal Allocation Using Minimum Cross-Entropy and Entropy-Weight-Based TOPSIS Method in Hetao Irrigation District, Northwest China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, June.
    37. Wang, Linlin & Xie, Junhong & Luo, Zhuzhu & Niu, Yining & Coulter, Jeffrey A. & Zhang, Renzhi & Lingling, Li, 2021. "Forage yield, water use efficiency, and soil fertility response to alfalfa growing age in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    38. Smith, Steven M., 2018. "Economic incentives and conservation: Crowding-in social norms in a groundwater commons," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 147-174.
    39. Sapino, Francesco & Pérez-Blanco, C. Dionisio & Gutiérrez-Martín, Carlos & García-Prats, Alberto & Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel, 2022. "Influence of crop-water production functions on the expected performance of water pricing policies in irrigated agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ali Chebil & Aymen Frija, 2014. "Impact of Improving Irrigation Water Use Efficiency on the Valorization of Water Resources: Case of Irrigated Wheat Production Systems in Central Tunisia," Working Papers 865, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    2. Chebil, Ali & Frija, Iheb & Bahri, Walid, 2014. "Irrigation water efficiency in wheat production in Chbika (Tunisia):Parametric versus Nonparametric Comparisons," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(01), pages 1-14.
    3. Andrea Pronti & Julio Berbel, 2020. "Analysis of the impact of a volumetric tariff for irrigation in Northern Italy through the “Inverse DiD†approach," SEEDS Working Papers 1320, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jul 2020.
    4. Prakashan Veettil & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 55-73, January.
    5. Duyen Nhat Lam Tran & Tien Dinh Nguyen & Thuy Thu Pham & Roberto F. Rañola & Thinh An Nguyen, 2021. "Improving Irrigation Water Use Efficiency of Robusta Coffee ( Coffea canephora ) Production in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Guifang Li & Dongdong Ma & Cuiping Zhao & Hang Li, 2023. "The Effect of the Comprehensive Reform of Agricultural Water Prices on Farmers’ Planting Structure in the Oasis–Desert Transition Zone—A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Chebil, Ali & Abbas, Kais & Frija, Aymen, 2013. "Irrigation water use efficiency in central Tunisian's wheat production systems: A stochastic data envelopment approach," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 160290, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    8. Imran, Muhammad Ali & Ali, Asghar & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Hassan, Sarfraz & Culas, Richard & Ma, Chunbo, 2019. "Impact of climate smart agriculture (CSA) through sustainable irrigation management on Resource use efficiency: A sustainable production alternative for cotton," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Chebil, Ali & Soula, Rania & Souissi, Asma & Bennouna, Bechir, 2022. "Efficiency, valuation, and pricing of irrigation water in northeastern Tunisia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    10. Pereira, Helga & Marques, Rui Cunha, 2017. "An analytical review of irrigation efficiency measured using deterministic and stochastic models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 28-35.
    11. Frija, Aymen & Chebil, Ali & Abdelkafi, Belhassen, 2012. "Irrigation water use efficiency in collective irrigated schemes of Tunisia: determinants and potential irrigation cost reduction," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 13(01), pages 1-10.
    12. Vallury, Sechindra & Abbott, Joshua K. & Shin, Hoon C. & Anderies, John M., 2020. "Sustaining Coupled Irrigation Infrastructures: Multiple Instruments for Multiple Dilemmas," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    13. Nguyen Truc Le & Nguyen An Thinh & Nguyen Thi Vinh Ha & Nguyen Dinh Tien & Nguyen Duc Lam & Nguyen Van Hong & Nguyen Tat Tuan & Ta Van Hanh & Nguyen Ngoc Khanh & Nguyen Ngoc Thanh & Luc Hens, 2022. "Measuring water resource use efficiency of the Dong Nai River Basin (Vietnam): an application of the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 12427-12445, October.
    14. Godwin Kwabla Ekpe, 2024. "Modeling and evaluating marginal pumping fees in groundwater commons: do varying scarcity levels matter?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 563-590, July.
    15. Zhuo-wan Liu & Tomas Balezentis & Yao-yao Song & Guo-liang Yang, 2019. "Estimating Capacity Utilization of Chinese State Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-29, September.
    16. Frija, Aymen & Chebil, Ali & Speelman, Stijn & Buysse, Jeroen & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2009. "Water use and technical efficiencies in horticultural greenhouses in Tunisia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1509-1516, November.
    17. Sloggy, Matthew R. & Hrozencik, R. Aaron & Manning, Dale T. & Goemans, Chris G. & Claassen, Roger L., 2025. "Insurance and extraction incentives in a common pool resource: Evidence from groundwater use in the high plains," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    18. Chebil, Ali & Frija, Aymen, 2016. "Impact of improving water-use efficiency on its valuation: The case of irrigated wheat production in Tunisia," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(02), pages 1-10.
    19. Lampe, Hannes W. & Hilgers, Dennis, 2015. "Trajectories of efficiency measurement: A bibliometric analysis of DEA and SFA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 1-21.
    20. Rouhi Rad, Mani & Brozović, Nicholas & Foster, Timothy & Mieno, Taro, 2020. "Effects of instantaneous groundwater availability on irrigated agriculture and implications for aquifer management," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:309:y:2025:i:c:s0378377425000642. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.