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 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, t...
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Agricultural Water Management |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000642 |
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| author | Guifang Li Dongdong Ma |
| author_facet | Guifang Li Dongdong Ma |
| author_sort | Guifang Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3517a237f50f45798e7a9b58f0ee588e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1873-2283 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agricultural Water Management |
| spelling | doaj-art-3517a237f50f45798e7a9b58f0ee588e2025-02-05T04:31:06ZengElsevierAgricultural Water Management1873-22832025-03-01309109350Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China?Guifang Li0Dongdong Ma1College of Economics and Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, ChinaSchool of Economics, Henan University of Economics and Law, Zhengzhou 450046, China; Correspondence to: School of Economics, Henan University of Economics and Law, No. 180, Jinshui East Road, Zhengzhou 450046, China.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.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000642Technical efficiency of crop irrigationTiered water price policyPricing method of the tiered water price policyDifference-in-differencesHeihe River Basin |
| spellingShingle | Guifang Li Dongdong Ma 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 Technical efficiency of crop irrigation Tiered water price policy Pricing method of the tiered water price policy Difference-in-differences Heihe River Basin |
| title | Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China? |
| title_full | Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China? |
| title_fullStr | Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China? |
| title_short | Can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China? |
| title_sort | can a tiered water price policy improve the technical efficiency of crop irrigation for maize in the heihe river basin in northwest china |
| topic | Technical efficiency of crop irrigation Tiered water price policy Pricing method of the tiered water price policy Difference-in-differences Heihe River Basin |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000642 |
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