Valuation of grassland water resources and value realization from the herders’ perspective: Evidence from a discrete choice experiment on grassland irrigation services

Abstract

[Objective] Water scarcity has become a major constraint to the development of grassland regions. From the perspective of herders, exploring the value of grassland water resources and attempting to establish a feasible pricing scheme for irrigation services is of great significance in promoting the realization of the value of grassland water resources. [Methods] Using survey data from pastoral areas of Inner Mongolia in 2021, this study employed the choice experiment method to simulate irrigation services, applied the random parameters logit regression model to analyze and estimate the value of grassland water resources, and conducted a cost-benefit analysis. [Results] (1) From the herders’ perspective, the value of water resources reaches 0.130 Yuan/m3 in the desert grassland areas, 1.366 Yuan/m3 in the typical grassland areas, and around 0.640 Yuan/m3 in the meadow grassland areas; (2) Herders are willing to pay for grassland irrigation services to improve their water scarce situation. They have differential preferences for different service providers and demonstrate a stronger preference for irrigation services provided by the government and agricultural enterprises compared to village committees. The increase in irrigation frequency can significantly improve herders’ well-being. Heterogeneity analysis indicated that herders with smaller land management area are more inclined to purchase paid irrigation services and prefer higher frequency irrigation services; (3) The fee scheme for grassland irrigation services and the results of cost-benefit analysis indicate that the cost of providing grassland irrigation services is much lower than the subjective benefits obtained by herders. (4) Taking the provision of artificial rainmaking technology as an example, herders in Inner Mongolia can obtain an annual consumer surplus of approximately 1.031 billion Yuan by purchasing irrigation services. [Conclusion] Different types of grasslands significantly influence the value of water resources. Furthermore, herders have a real demand for paid irrigation services to reduce the scarcity of grassland water resources, increasing the frequency of irrigation can enhance herders’ utility, and the government and agricultural enterprises play an important role in providing irrigation services. Finally, providing irrigation services is economically viable, and the value of grassland water resources can be realized through the provision of paid grassland irrigation services.

Keywords

• water resources value|irrigation|choice experiment|cost-benefit analysis|fee scheme|inner mongolia