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Arid Land Geography ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (1): 48-57.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2023.291

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Influence of farmers’ irrigation behavior goals on irrigation water efficiency: A case of Xayar County

LI Shiyi(),GUAN Quanli()   

  1. College of Economics and Management, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2023-06-18 Revised:2023-07-24 Online:2024-01-25 Published:2024-01-26

Abstract:

The predominant share of total water consumption is currently attributed to agricultural water, which serves as the fundamental input for agricultural production and development. However, the intricate climate environment presents formidable challenges to the effective use of agricultural water, accentuating the imbalance between the supply and demand of agricultural water resources. This study delves into micro-level dynamics, specifically exploring the impact of irrigation behavior goal preferences on irrigation water use efficiency. This study aims to optimize strategies and select methods that enhance agricultural water use efficiency, thereby maximizing agricultural benefits within available resources and environmental context constraints. Focusing on traditional farmers in Xayar County, Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang, China, this study employs a stochastic frontier model to calculate farmers’ technical efficiency in agricultural production and irrigation water efficiency. Subsequently, the Tobit model was applied to examine the influences of irrigation behavior goal preferences and other factors on irrigation water use efficiency. The findings reveal that the average technical efficiency of farmers’ agricultural production is 0.824, with an average irrigation water efficiency of 0.560. Both technical efficiency in agricultural production and irrigation water efficiency fall short of achieving total technical efficiency, indicating potential for improvement. Upon analyzing the influencing factors, we observed that age, education level, proportion of agricultural income in total income, irrigated area, awareness of water shortage, village cadres status, participation in training, preference for profit maximization, and preference for water conservation exert substantial positive effects on irrigation water efficiency. Consequently, the proportion of planting area for water-consuming crops to the total sown area and the preference to reduce labor input have notable negative impacts on irrigation water efficiency. The agricultural labor force, proportion of water-saving irrigated area in the total irrigated area, water use cost, preference for timely irrigation, and sustainable development have no substantial effects on irrigation water use efficiency. Notably, water use costs negatively influence improving irrigation water use efficiency. Several strategic recommendations have been proposed to enhance irrigation water use efficiency, including increasing farmers’ awareness of water conservation, adjusting planting structures, and refining the irrigation water price mechanism.

Key words: irrigation behavior, goal preference, influencing factors, irrigation water efficiency, Xayar County