Effects of Permanent and Temporary Water-Right Payments on Balancing Agricultural and Ecological Interests: A Case Study of Hami Prefecture in Northwestern China
This article has been corrected.
VIEW CORRECTIONPublication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 148, Issue 11
Abstract
Water productivity promotion is critical for achieving a balance maintaining the livelihood of large poor agricultural population and protecting ecological water in developing countries in arid and semiarid regions, and government financial payments play a significant role in this process. According to different water rights, government financial payment can be categorized as permanent water right payment and temporary water right payment, whereas the impacts of the two policies and their interrelationship are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the impacts of the two water right payments on the balance between agricultural and ecological interests in developing countries in arid and semiarid areas. Taking the Hami Prefecture in east Xinjiang, China, as the case study area, an agent-based model was developed to simulate farmers’ decisions and agricultural and ecological results under different policy conditions. Results showed that the temporary water right payment is useful in promoting water right trade but hard to drive technology adoption individually or protect agriculture economic profit. The single permanent water right payment is better under the crop production preference and ecology preference, whereas the proper combination of the two financial payment policies could reinforce each other and cost less fiscal expenditure if the government prefers a balance between agricultural production and ecology interests.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2019YFC0409000) approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX20_0557).
References
Abro, Z. A., B. A. Alemu, and M. A. Hanjra. 2014. “Policies for agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in rural Ethiopia.” World Dev. 59 (Jul): 461–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.01.033.
Aghaie, V., H. Alizadeh, and A. Afshar. 2020a. “Agent-based hydro-economic modelling for analysis of groundwater-based irrigation water market mechanisms.” Agric. Water Manage. 234 (May): 106140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106140.
Aghaie, V., H. Alizadeh, and A. Afshar. 2020b. “Emergence of social norms in the cap-and-trade policy: An agent-based groundwater market.” J. Hydrol. 588 (Sep): 125057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125057.
Berbel, J., C. Gutiérrez-Martín, and A. Expósito. 2018. “Impacts of irrigation efficiency improvement on water use, water consumption and response to water price at field level.” Agric. Water Manage. 203 (Apr): 423–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.02.026.
Bjornlund, H. 2003. “Efficient water market mechanisms to cope with water scarcity.” Int. J. Water Resour. Dev. 19 (4): 553–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/0790062032000161364.
Bjornlund, H., A. van Rooyen, and R. Stirzaker. 2017. “Profitability and productivity barriers and opportunities in small-scale irrigation schemes.” Int. J. Water Resour. Dev. 33 (5): 690–704. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1263552.
Cai, X. 2008. “Water stress, water transfer, and social equity in northern China—Implications for policy reforms.” J. Environ. Manage. 87 (1): 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.12.046.
Chatzimichael, K., D. Christopoulos, S. Stefanou, and V. Tzouvelekas. 2020. “Irrigation practices, water effectiveness, and productivity measurement.” Eur. Rev. Agric. Econ. 47 (2): 467–498. https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbz012.
Debaere, P., and T. Li. 2020. “The effects of water markets: Evidence from the Rio Grande.” Adv. Water Resour. 145 (Nov): 103700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103700.
Deng, X., Z. Xu, X. Song, J. Zhou. 2017. “Transaction costs associated with agricultural water trading in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China.” Agric. Water Manage. 186: 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.02.021.
Du, E., X. Cai, N. Brozović, and B. Minsker. 2017. “Evaluating the impacts of farmers’ behaviors on a hypothetical agricultural water market based on double auction.” Water Resour. Res. 53 (5): 4053–4072. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020287.
Du, E., Y. Tian, X. Cai, Y. Zheng, F. Han, X. Li, M. Zhao, Y. Yang, and C. Zheng. 2022. “Evaluating distributed policies for conjunctive surface water-groundwater management in large river basins: Water uses versus hydrological impacts.” Water Resour. Res. 58 (1): e2021WR031352. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031352.
Du, E., Y. Tian, X. Cai, Y. Zheng, X. Li, and C. Zheng. 2020. “Exploring spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of human-hydrological interactions in large river basins with intensive agriculture: A tightly coupled, fully integrated modeling approach.” J. Hydrol. 591 (Dec): 125313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125313.
Fan, Y., S. Park, and Z. Nan. 2018. “Participatory water management and adoption of micro-irrigation systems: Smallholder farmers in arid north-western China.” Int. J. Water Resour. Dev. 34 (3): 434–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2017.1400424.
Fang, L., and L. Zhang. 2020. “Does the trading of water rights encourage technology improvement and agricultural water conservation?” Agric. Water Manage. 233 (Apr): 106097. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106097.
Feike, T., and M. Henseler. 2017. “Multiple policy instruments for sustainable water management in crop production—A modeling study for the Chinese Aksu-Tarim Region.” Ecol. Econ. 135 (May): 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.012.
Garrick, D. E., M. Hanemann, and C. Hepburn. 2020. “Rethinking the economics of water: An assessment.” Oxford Rev. Econ. Policy 36 (1): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grz035.
Grafton, R. Q., and J. Horne. 2014. “Water markets in the Murray-Darling Basin.” Agric. Water Manage. 145 (Nov): 61–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2013.12.001.
Grafton, R. Q., G. D. Libecap, E. C. Edwards, R. J. O’Brien, and C. Landry. 2012. “Comparative assessment of water markets: Insights from the Murray–Darling Basin of Australia and the western USA.” Water Policy 14 (2): 175–193. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2011.016.
Kahil, M. T., J. D. Connor, and J. Albiac. 2015. “Efficient water management policies for irrigation adaptation to climate change in southern Europe.” Ecol. Econ. 120 (Dec): 226–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.11.004.
Kanta, L., and E. Zechman. 2014. “Complex adaptive systems framework to assess supply-side and demand-side management for urban water resources.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 140 (1): 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000301.
Lewis, D., and H. Zheng. 2019. “How could water markets like Australia’s work in China?” Int. J. Water Resour. Dev. 35 (4): 638–658. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2018.1457514.
Li, K., G. Huang, and S. Wang. 2019. “Market-based stochastic optimization of water resources systems for improving drought resilience and economic efficiency in arid regions.” J. Cleaner Prod. 233 (Oct): 522–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.379.
Loch, A., D. Adamson, and N. P. Dumbrell. 2020. “The fifth stage in water management: Policy lessons for water governance.” Water Resour. Res. 56 (5): e2019WR026714. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026714.
Manjunatha, A. V., S. Speelman, M. G. Chandrakanth, and G. Van Huylenbroeck. 2011. “Impact of groundwater markets in India on water use efficiency: A data envelopment analysis approach.” J. Environ. Manage. 92 (11): 2924–2929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.001.
Manson, S.M. 2003. “Validation and verification of multi-agent systems for ecosystem management.” In Complexity and ecosystem management: The theory and practice of multi-agent approaches, edited by M. A. Janssen, 63–74. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Marchiori, C., S. S. Sayre, and L. K. Simon. 2012. “On the implementation and performance of water rights buyback schemes.” Water Resour. Manage. 26 (10): 2799–2816. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0047-8.
Molle, F., and O. Tanouti. 2017. “Squaring the circle: Agricultural intensification versus water conservation in Morocco.” Agric. Water Manage. 192 (Oct): 170–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.07.009.
Nikouei, A., M. Zibaei, and F. A. Ward. 2012. “Incentives to adopt irrigation water saving measures for wetlands preservation: An integrated basin scale analysis.” J. Hydrol. 464–465 (Sep): 216–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.07.013.
Nouri, A., B. Saghafian, M. Delavar, and M. R. Bazargan-Lari. 2019. “Agent-based modeling for evaluation of crop pattern and water management policies.” Water Resour. Manage. 33 (11): 3707–3720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-019-02327-3.
Omotilewa, O. J., J. Ricker-Gilbert, and J. H. Ainembabazi. 2019. “Subsidies for agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from a randomized experiment with improved grain storage bags in Uganda.” Am. J. Agric. Econ. 101 (3): 753–772. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aay108.
Pérez-Blanco, C. D., A. Hrast-Essenfelder, and C. Perry. 2020. “Irrigation technology and water conservation: A review of the theory and evidence.” Rev. Environ. Econ. Policy 14 (2): 216–239. https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/reaa004.
Pérez-Blanco, C. D., and G. Standardi. 2019. “Farm waters run deep: A coupled positive multi-attribute utility programming and computable general equilibrium model to assess the economy-wide impacts of water buyback.” Agric. Water Manage. 213 (Mar): 336–351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.10.039.
Ranjan, R. 2014. “Technology adoption for long-term drought resilience.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 140 (3): 384–392. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000329.
Rosegrant, M. W., and H. P. Binswanger. 1994. “Markets in tradable water rights: Potential for efficiency gains in developing country water resource allocation.” World Dev. 22 (11): 1613–1625. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(94)00075-1.
Smajgl, A., S. Heckbert, J. Ward, and A. Straton. 2009. “Simulating impacts of water trading in an institutional perspective.” Environ. Modell. Software 24 (2): 191–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.07.005.
Statistic Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and National Bureau of Statistics. 2020. Xinjiang statistical yearbook: 2020. China: China Statistics Press.
UN (United Nations). 2021. The United Nations world water development report 2021: Valuing water. Paris: UNESCO.
Wheeler, S. A., E. Carmody, R. Q. Grafton, R. T. Kingsford, and A. Zuo. 2020. “The rebound effect on water extraction from subsidising irrigation infrastructure in Australia.” Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 159 (Aug): 104755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104755.
Wheeler, S. A., A. Zuo, and H. Bjornlund. 2014. “Investigating the delayed on-farm consequences of selling water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin.” Agric. Water Manage. 145 (Nov): 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2013.10.015.
World Bank. 2016. Poverty and shared prosperity 2016: Taking on inequality. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Xu, T., H. Zheng, Y. Liu, and Z. Wang. 2016. “Assessment of the water market in the Xiying irrigation district, Shiyang River Basin, China.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 142 (8): 04016021. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000653.
Xu, T., H. Zheng, J. Zhao, Y. Liu, P. Tang, Y. C. E. Yang, and Z. Wang. 2018. “A two-phase model for trade matching and price setting in double auction water markets.” Water Resour. Res. 54 (4): 2999–3017. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021231.
Yang, Y.-C. E., X. Cai, and D. M. Stipanović. 2009. “A decentralized optimization algorithm for multiagent system–based watershed management.” Water Resour. Res. 45 (8): W08430. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007634.
Zekri, S., and W. Easter. 2005. “Estimating the potential gains from water markets: A case study from Tunisia.” Agric. Water Manage. 72 (3): 161–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2004.09.018.
Zeng, X. T., Y. P. Li, G. H. Huang, and J. Liu. 2016. “Modeling water trading under uncertainty for supporting water resources management in an arid region.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 142 (2): 04015058. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000593.
Zhang, B., Z. Fu, J. Wang, and L. Zhang. 2019. “Farmers’ adoption of water-saving irrigation technology alleviates water scarcity in metropolis suburbs: A case study of Beijing, China.” Agric. Water Manage. 212 (Feb): 349–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.09.021.
Zhao, J., X. Cai, and Z. Wang. 2013. “Comparing administered and market-based water allocation systems through a consistent agent-based modeling framework.” J. Environ. Manage. 123 (Jul): 120–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.005.
Zou, Y., X. Duan, Z. Xue, E. Mingju, M. Sun, X. Lu, M. Jiang, and X. Yu. 2018. “Water use conflict between wetland and agriculture.” J. Environ. Manage. 224 (Oct): 140–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.07.052.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 148 • Issue 11 • November 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 15, 2021
Accepted: Jul 8, 2022
Published online: Sep 8, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 8, 2023
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.