IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v69y2010i11p2151-2157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Valuing the environmental externalities of oasis farming in Left Banner, Alxa, China

Author

Listed:
  • Wei, Yongping
  • White, Robert
  • Hu, Kelin
  • Willett, Ian

Abstract

Agriculture's environmental footprint is expanding and one of its most critical impacts in China is the over-exploitation of surface water and groundwater from aquifers. This study investigated an approach for estimating the physical dimensions of the environmental externalities from a maize cropping system in oasis farming of the arid north-west of China, and the monetary valuation of these environmental externalities based on integrated process-based biophysical and economic models. The simulation results show that current farming practices cause 7854 Yuan/ha of groundwater recharge cost, 7696 Yuan/ha of water treatment cost, and 91 Yuan/ha of N2O mitigation cost. These costs lead to a social benefit-cost ratio of only 0.55, although the farmers' benefit-cost ratio was 1.85. A combination of adoption of recommended best management practices by farmers, and an increase in the water price to 1.1 Yuan/m3 could maintain both the social and farmers' benefit-cost ratios above 1, but the costs of recharging groundwater were large in all cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei, Yongping & White, Robert & Hu, Kelin & Willett, Ian, 2010. "Valuing the environmental externalities of oasis farming in Left Banner, Alxa, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2151-2157, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:69:y:2010:i:11:p:2151-2157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(10)00225-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Barrett, Christopher B. & Lee, David R. & McPeak, John G., 2005. "Institutional Arrangements for Rural Poverty Reduction and Resource Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 193-197, February.
    2. Pretty, J. N. & Brett, C. & Gee, D. & Hine, R. E. & Mason, C. F. & Morison, J. I. L. & Raven, H. & Rayment, M. D. & van der Bijl, G., 2000. "An assessment of the total external costs of UK agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 113-136, August.
    3. Perry, C.J, 2001. "Charging for irrigation water: The issues and options, with a case study from Iran," IWMI Research Reports H 27766, International Water Management Institute.
    4. 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.
    5. Hu, Kelin & Li, Baoguo & Chen, Deli & Zhang, Yuanpei & Edis, Robert, 2008. "Simulation of nitrate leaching under irrigated maize on sandy soil in desert oasis in Inner Mongolia, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(10), pages 1180-1188, October.
    6. Lv, Yao & Gu, Shu-zhong & Guo, Dong-mei, 2010. "Valuing environmental externalities from rice-wheat farming in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1436-1442, May.
    7. Li, Yong & White, Robert & Chen, Deli & Zhang, Jiabao & Li, Baoguo & Zhang, Yuming & Huang, Yuanfang & Edis, Robert, 2007. "A spatially referenced water and nitrogen management model (WNMM) for (irrigated) intensive cropping systems in the North China Plain," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 395-423.
    8. Perry, Christopher J., 2001. "Charging for irrigation water: The issues and options, with a case study from Iran," IWMI Research Reports 44567, International Water Management Institute.
    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. Li, Guifang & Shi, Minjun & Zhou, Dingyang, 2021. "How much will farmers be compensated for water reallocation from agricultural water to the local ecological sector on the edge of an oasis in the Heihe River Basin?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    2. Lu, Zhixiang & Wei, Yongping & Xiao, Honglang & Zou, Songbing & Ren, Juan & Lyle, Clive, 2015. "Trade-offs between midstream agricultural production and downstream ecological sustainability in the Heihe River basin in the past half century," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 233-242.
    3. Andrea Pronti & Flavio Bertinaria, 2017. "Un’analisi multidimensionale della sostenibilità per l’agricoltura familiare. Il caso dell’area amazzonica peruviana/A multidimensional assessment of sustainability for small farming production. The c," IRCrES Working Paper 201711, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.

    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. 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.
    2. de Fraiture, Charlotte & Perry, C. J., 2007. "Why is agricultural water demand unresponsive at low price ranges?," IWMI Books, Reports H040602, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Shah, Tushaar & Scott, C. & Kishore, A. & Sharma, A., 2003. "Energy-irrigation nexus in South Asia: Improving groundwater conservation and power sector viability," IWMI Research Reports H033885, International Water Management Institute.
    4. de Fraiture, Charlotte & Perry, C. J., 2007. "Why is agricultural water demand unresponsive at low price ranges?," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    5. G. R. Soltani & M. Bakhshoodeh & M. Zibaei, 2009. "Optimization of Agricultural Water Use and Trade Patterns: The Case of Iran," Working Papers 508, Economic Research Forum, revised Dec 2009.
    6. Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Bjornlund, Henning & Shanahan, Martin & Zuo, Alec, 2008. "Price elasticity of water allocations demand in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(1), pages 1-19.
    7. Molle, F., 2003. "Reform of the Thai irrigation sector: is there scope for increasing water productivity," IWMI Books, Reports H032647, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Salman, Amer Zahi & Al-Karablieh, Emad, 2004. "Measuring the willingness of farmers to pay for groundwater in the highland areas of Jordan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 61-76, July.
    9. He, Lixia & Tyner, Wallace E. & Doukkali, Rachid & Siam, Gamal, 2005. "Strategic Policy Options to Improve Irrigation Water Allocation Efficiency: Analysis on Egypt and Morocco," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19467, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Kadigi, R. M. J. & Mdoe, N. S. & Lankford, B. A. & Morardet, Sylvie, 2005. "The value of water for irrigated rice and hydropower generation in the Great Ruaha, Tanzania," Conference Papers h037531, International Water Management Institute.
    11. Shah, Tushaar & Scott, Christopher & Berkoff, J. & Kishore, A. & Sharma, A., 2007. "The energy-irrigation nexus in South Asia: groundwater conservation and power sector viability," IWMI Books, Reports H040608, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Liang, Hao & Hu, Kelin & Batchelor, William D. & Qin, Wei & Li, Baoguo, 2018. "Developing a water and nitrogen management model for greenhouse vegetable production in China: Sensitivity analysis and evaluation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 367(C), pages 24-33.
    13. Mullen, Jeffrey D. & Yu, Yingzhuo & Hoogenboom, Gerrit, 2009. "Estimating the demand for irrigation water in a humid climate: A case study from the southeastern United States," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(10), pages 1421-1428, October.
    14. Huanyuan Wang & Baoguo Li & Liang Jin & Kelin Hu, 2020. "Exploring a Sustainable Cropping System in the North China Plain Using a Modelling Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, June.
    15. Li, Zhoujing & Hu, Kelin & Li, Baoguo & He, Mingrong & Zhang, Jiwang, 2015. "Evaluation of water and nitrogen use efficiencies in a double cropping system under different integrated management practices based on a model approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 19-34.
    16. Bjornlund, Henning & Nicol, Lorraine & Klein, K.K., 2007. "Challenges in implementing economic instruments to manage irrigation water on farms in southern Alberta," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 131-141, September.
    17. Shah, Tushaar & Scott, Christopher & Berkoff, Jeremy & Kishore, Avinash & Sharma, A., 2007. "The energy-irrigation nexus in South Asia: groundwater conservation and power sector viability," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    18. Alfonso Expósito & Julio Berbel, 2017. "Why Is Water Pricing Ineffective for Deficit Irrigation Schemes? A Case Study in Southern Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(3), pages 1047-1059, February.
    19. Kadigi, Reuben M.J. & Mdoe, Ntengua S.Y. & Ashimogo, Gasper C. & Morardet, Sylvie, 2008. "Water for irrigation or hydropower generation?--Complex questions regarding water allocation in Tanzania," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(8), pages 984-992, August.
    20. Salvador, R. & Martínez-Cob, A. & Cavero, J. & Playán, E., 2011. "Seasonal on-farm irrigation performance in the Ebro basin (Spain): Crops and irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 577-587, February.

    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:69:y:2010:i:11:p:2151-2157. 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.