IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v135y2017icp42-54.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multiple Policy Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in Crop Production - A Modeling Study for the Chinese Aksu-Tarim Region

Author

Listed:
  • Feike, Til
  • Henseler, Martin

Abstract

China's crop production sector faces severe water scarcity issues. Previous research has shown that effective water conservation policies exert strongly negative impacts on agricultural production and farmers' income, which make them politically unfeasible under Chinese conditions. To highlight ways out of this dilemma, the present study tests three alternative water policies complemented by supportive agricultural policies to reduce the trade-offs between water conservation and rural development policy goals. Using the case of the extremely arid Aksu-Tarim Region in northwest China, a regional supply model is developed which serves as the analysis framework. Applied as stand-alone water policies, irrigated area tax, water quota and water pricing differ clearly in effectiveness and efficiency. Combined with agricultural policies (subsidies) into multiple policy instruments, the price-based and quota-based instruments mitigate the negative impacts on rural development goals. Targeting a water conservation rate of 20%, the tested multiple policies perform alike on the level of the entire study region; cotton production decreases by 15%, cereals production remains stable, and regional income decreases by 13%. However, at the sub-regional level, the impacts on water conservation, production and income differ significantly between the alternative policy instruments and sub-regions, constituting a crucial challenge for practical water policy implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Feike, Til & Henseler, Martin, 2017. "Multiple Policy Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in Crop Production - A Modeling Study for the Chinese Aksu-Tarim Region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 42-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:135:y:2017:i:c:p:42-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915301531
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.012?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wusheng Yu & Hans G. Jensen, 2010. "China’s Agricultural Policy Transition: Impacts of Recent Reforms and Future Scenarios," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 343-368, June.
    2. Holst, Jirko & Liu, Wenping & Zhang, Qian & Doluschitz, Reiner, 2014. "Crop evapotranspiration, arable cropping systems and water sustainability in southern Hebei, P.R. China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 47-54.
    3. Ottmar Röhm & Stephan Dabbert, 2003. "Integrating Agri-Environmental Programs into Regional Production Models: An Extension of Positive Mathematical Programming," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(1), pages 254-265.
    4. Richard E. Howitt, 1995. "Positive Mathematical Programming," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(2), pages 329-342.
    5. Molden, D. J. & Sakthivadivel, R. & Perry, C. J. & de Fraiture, C. & Kloezen, W. H., 1998. "Indicators for comparing performance of irrigated agricultural systems," IWMI Research Reports H022308, International Water Management Institute.
    6. Molden, David J. & Sakthivadivel, Ramasamy & Perry, Christopher J. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Kloezen, Wim H., 1998. "Indicators for comparing performance of irrigated agricultural systems," IWMI Research Reports 44581, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Zhang, Lei & Heerink, Nico & Dries, Liesbeth & Shi, Xiaoping, 2013. "Water users associations and irrigation water productivity in northern China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 128-136.
    8. Li Jiang & Feng Wu & Yu Liu & Xiangzheng Deng, 2014. "Modeling the Impacts of Urbanization and Industrial Transformation on Water Resources in China: An Integrated Hydro-Economic CGE Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Experience with market-based environmental policy instruments," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 355-435, Elsevier.
    10. Nina Graveline & Pierre Mérel, 2014. "Intensive and extensive margin adjustments to water scarcity in France's Cereal Belt," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 41(5), pages 707-743.
    11. Huang, Qiuqiong & Rozelle, Scott & Howitt, Richard & Wang, Jinxia & Huang, Jikun, 2010. "Irrigation water demand and implications for water pricing policy in rural China," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 293-319, June.
    12. Varela-Ortega, Consuelo & M. Sumpsi, Jose & Garrido, Alberto & Blanco, Maria & Iglesias, Eva, 1998. "Water pricing policies, public decision making and farmers' response: implications for water policy," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 19(1-2), pages 193-202, September.
    13. Minjun Shi & Xiaojun Wang & Hong Yang & Tao Wang, 2014. "Pricing or Quota? A Solution to Water Scarcity in Oasis Regions in China: A Case Study in the Heihe River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Yi, Fujin & Sun, Dingqiang & Zhou, Yingheng, 2015. "Grain subsidy, liquidity constraints and food security—Impact of the grain subsidy program on the grain-sown areas in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 114-124.
    15. Cuiping Xu & H. Holly Wang & Qinghua Shi, 2012. "Farmers’ Income and Production Responses to Rural Taxation Reform in Three Regions in China," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 291-309, June.
    16. Niels Thevs, 2011. "Water Scarcity and Allocation in the Tarim Basin: Decision Structures and Adaptations on the Local Level," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 40(3), pages 113-137.
    17. Hendricks, Nathan P. & Peterson, Jeffrey M., 2012. "Fixed Effects Estimation of the Intensive and Extensive Margins of Irrigation Water Demand," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 37(1), pages 1-19, April.
    18. Lori Bennear & Robert Stavins, 2007. "Second-best theory and the use of multiple policy instruments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 111-129, May.
    19. Yang, Hong & Zhang, Xiaohe & Zehnder, Alexander J. B., 2003. "Water scarcity, pricing mechanism and institutional reform in northern China irrigated agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 143-161, June.
    20. McCown, R. L. & Hammer, G. L. & Hargreaves, J. N. G. & Holzworth, D. P. & Freebairn, D. M., 1996. "APSIM: a novel software system for model development, model testing and simulation in agricultural systems research," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 255-271.
    21. Wei, Yongping & Chen, Deli & Hu, Kelin & Willett, Ian R. & Langford, John, 2009. "Policy incentives for reducing nitrate leaching from intensive agriculture in desert oases of Alxa, Inner Mongolia, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1114-1119, July.
    22. Wang, Ruoshui & Wan, Shuqin & Kang, Yaohu & Dou, Chaoyin, 2014. "Assessment of secondary soil salinity prevention and economic benefit under different drip line placement and irrigation regime in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 41-49.
    23. Eskeland, Gunnar S & Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1992. "Policy Instruments for Pollution Control in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 7(2), pages 145-169, July.
    24. Scheierling, Susanne M. & Young, Robert A. & Cardon, Grant E., 2004. "Determining the Price-Responsiveness of Demands for Irrigation Water Deliveries versus Consumptive Use," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 29(2), pages 1-18, August.
    25. Requate, Till, 2005. "Dynamic incentives by environmental policy instruments--a survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 175-195, August.
    26. Blanke, Amelia & Rozelle, Scott & Lohmar, Bryan & Wang, Jinxia & Huang, Jikun, 2007. "Water saving technology and saving water in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 139-150, January.
    27. Michael R. Moore & Noel R. Gollehon & Marc B. Carey, 1994. "Multicrop Production Decisions in Western Irrigated Agriculture: The Role of Water Price," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(4), pages 859-874.
    28. repec:ags:jrapmc:122312 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Feike, Til & Khor, Ling Yee & Mamitimin, Yusuyunjiang & Ha, Nan & Li, Lin & Abdusalih, Nurbay & Xiao, Haifeng & Doluschitz, Reiner, 2017. "Determinants of cotton farmers’ irrigation water management in arid Northwestern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1-10.
    2. Martin Henseler, 2022. "The AGREE-model," Working Papers hal-03904598, HAL.
    3. Zhang, Huiming & Huang, Jiying & Hu, Ruohan & Zhou, Dequn & Khan, Haroon ur Rashid & Ma, Changxian, 2020. "Echelon utilization of waste power batteries in new energy vehicles: Review of Chinese policies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    4. Lan Mu & Chunxia Luo & Zongjia Tan & Binglin Zhang & Xiaojuan Qu, 2023. "Assessing the Impact of Different Agricultural Irrigation Charging Methods on Sustainable Agricultural Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Hong, Yu & Berentsen, Paul & Heerink, Nico & Shi, Minjun & van der Werf, Wopke, 2019. "The future of intercropping under growing resource scarcity and declining grain prices - A model analysis based on a case study in Northwest China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    7. Liuyang Yao & Minjuan Zhao & Tao Xu, 2017. "China’s Water-Saving Irrigation Management System: Policy, Implementation, and Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Falk, Thomas & Spangenberg, Joachim H. & Siegmund-Schultze, Marianna & Kobbe, Susanne & Feike, Til & Kuebler, Daniel & Settele, Josef & Vorlaufer, Tobias, 2018. "Identifying governance challenges in ecosystem services management – Conceptual considerations and comparison of global forest cases," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(PB), pages 193-203.
    9. Xiaoqing Dai & Lijie Pu & Fangping Rao, 2017. "Assessing the Effect of a Crop-Tree Intercropping Program on Smallholders’ Incomes in Rural Xinjiang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Mirzaei, Arezoo & Knierim, Andrea & Fealy Nahavand, Saeid & Shokri, Shahab Alddin & Mahmoudi, Hossein, 2019. "Assessment of policy instruments towards improving the water reservoirs’ governance in Northern Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 48-58.

    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. Yan, Tingting & Wang, Jinxia & Huang, Jikun, 2015. "Urbanization, agricultural water use, and regional and national crop production in China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 318(C), pages 226-235.
    2. 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.
    3. Blanco Fonseca, Maria & Iglesias Martinez, Eva, 2005. "Modelling New EU Agricultural Policies: Global Guidelines, Local Strategies," 89th Seminar, February 2-5, 2005, Parma, Italy 232644, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Wang, Tong & Park, Seong & Jin, Hailong, 2016. "Will Farmers Save Water? A Theoretical Analysis of Groundwater Conservation Policies for Ogallala Aquifer," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 229904, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    5. Minjun Shi & Xiaojun Wang & Hong Yang & Tao Wang, 2014. "Pricing or Quota? A Solution to Water Scarcity in Oasis Regions in China: A Case Study in the Heihe River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Dietrich Earnhart & Nathan P. Hendricks, 2023. "Adapting to water restrictions: Intensive versus extensive adaptation over time differentiated by water right seniority," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(5), pages 1458-1490, October.
    7. Phoebe Koundouri, 2004. "Current Issues in the Economics of Groundwater Resource Management," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 703-740, December.
    8. Khampheng Boudmyxay & Shuai Zhong & Lei Shen, 2019. "Designing Optimum Water-Saving Policy in China Using Quantity and Price Control Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, May.
    9. Tian, Qing & Holland, John H. & Brown, Daniel G., 2016. "Social and economic impacts of subsidy policies on rural development in the Poyang Lake Region, China: Insights from an agent-based model," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 12-27.
    10. Wang, Jinxia & Zhu, Yunyun & Sun, Tianhe & Huang, Jikun & Zhang, Lijuan & Guan, Baozhu & Huang, Qiuqiong, 2020. "Forty years of irrigation development and reform in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(1), January.
    11. de Bonviller, Simon & Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec, 2020. "The dynamics of groundwater markets: Price leadership and groundwater demand elasticity in the Murrumbidgee, Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    12. Manning, Dale T. & Lurbé, Salvador & Comas, Louise H. & Trout, Thomas J. & Flynn, Nora & Fonte, Steven J., 2018. "Economic viability of deficit irrigation in the Western US," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 114-123.
    13. Zhang, Biao & Fu, Zetian & Wang, Jieqiong & Zhang, Lingxian, 2019. "Farmers’ adoption of water-saving irrigation technology alleviates water scarcity in metropolis suburbs: A case study of Beijing, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 349-357.
    14. Zhang, Lei & Heerink, Nico & Dries, Liesbeth & Shi, Xiaoping, 2013. "Water users associations and irrigation water productivity in northern China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 128-136.
    15. Zhou, Qing & Zhang, Yali & Wu, Feng, 2021. "Evaluation of the most proper management scale on water use efficiency and water productivity: A case study of the Heihe River Basin, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    16. Feike, Til & Khor, Ling Yee & Mamitimin, Yusuyunjiang & Ha, Nan & Li, Lin & Abdusalih, Nurbay & Xiao, Haifeng & Doluschitz, Reiner, 2017. "Determinants of cotton farmers’ irrigation water management in arid Northwestern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1-10.
    17. Elshaikh, Ahmed E. & Jiao, Xiyun & Yang, Shi-hong, 2018. "Performance evaluation of irrigation projects: Theories, methods, and techniques," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 87-96.
    18. Lee, Hwarang & Eom, Jiyong & Cho, Cheolhung & Koo, Yoonmo, 2019. "A bottom-up model of industrial energy system with positive mathematical programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 679-690.
    19. Kaixing Huang & Wenshou Yan & Jikun Huang, 2020. "Agricultural subsidies retard urbanisation in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(4), pages 1308-1327, October.
    20. Yiyu Feng & Ming Chang & Erga Luo & Jing Liu, 2023. "Has Property Rights Reform of China’s Farmland Water Facilities Improved Farmers’ Irrigation Efficiency?—Evidence from a Typical Reform Pilot in China’s Yunnan Province," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-27, January.

    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:ecolec:v:135:y:2017:i:c:p:42-54. 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/ecolecon .

    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.