Ecological compensation for winter wheat abandonment in groundwater over-exploited areas in the North China Plain

Abstract

Abstract:The land fallow policy was adopted by central and local governments to encourage the abandonment of water-intensive crops, such as winter wheat, in groundwater over-exploited areas. At the same time, since the 1990s, many households in the North China Plain (NCP) have chosen to replace the winter wheat and summer maize double-cropping system with the spring maize single-cropping system. Therefore, it is crucial to identify target land parcels for winter wheat abandonment and to design reasonable and proper standards for ecological compensation prior to the implementation of the land fallow policy in the NCP. In this study, multi-level logit models were used with household survey data in order to detect determinants across land parcel, household and village levels on household cropping system decisions; the opportunity costs for winter wheat abandonment were also calculated using cost-benefit analysis. The results show that: (1) land quality and irrigation condition at parcel level are two essential elements influencing household cropping system decisions. Nearly 70% of the total area of poor land and more than 90% of the total area of unirrigated land has suffered winter wheat abandonment. Target land parcels for the land fallow policy should be those that are irrigated and of high quality. (2) There were no significant differences between net profits from spring maize and summer maize under similar farming conditions, and the opportunity cost for winter wheat abandonment should be equal to the net profit of winter wheat. (3) The primary purpose of the land fallow policy is to induce groundwater recovery and restoration as a preliminary stage. A higher level of 350 yuan/mu is recommended as subsidy for ecological compensation at this stage. Later, the primary purpose of the policy should be a transition to a balance between exploitation and supplementation of water resources, and a lower level of 280 yuan/mu is recommended as a subsidy at this stage.

Mixed effects of landscape complexity and insecticide use on ladybeetle abundance in wheat fields

“…Around the seasonal peak in wheat aphid abundance, farmers often apply insecticides to reduce the damage caused by aphids, and natural enemies may move to adjacent woodlots or fallow lands for refuge after insecticide spraying, recolonizing the wheat when the insecticide residue levels have declined . Interestingly, the positive effects of fallow lands support the fallow management strategy promoted by the Chinese government, which not only benefits water and soil conservation, but also protects natural enemies and is of profound significance to the sustainable development of future agriculture . In northern China, there are no crops in fallow lands during the winter–spring seasons, but the weeds in the fallow lands provide many alternative prey items (mainly aphids) and additional nutritional resources (nectar and pollen) for natural enemies in the spring .…”

“…8,31 Interestingly, wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ps the positive effects of fallow lands support the fallow management strategy promoted by the Chinese government, which not only benefits water and soil conservation, but also protects natural enemies and is of profound significance to the sustainable development of future agriculture. 56,57 In northern China, there are no crops in fallow lands during the winter-spring seasons, but the weeds in the fallow lands provide many alternative prey items (mainly aphids) and additional nutritional resources (nectar and pollen) for natural enemies in the spring. 11,58 At the local field level, aphid density was always positively correlated with ladybeetle abundance.…”

Response of net primary production to land use and climate changes in the middle‐reaches of the Heihe River Basin

“…However, most of the NPP produced by agro‐ecosystem was consumed by humans and had limited contribution to maintaining ecosystem sustainability (Erb, Krausmann, Lucht, & Haberl, ; Haberl et al, ; Imhoff et al, ). In contrast, returning or abandoning cropland to forest and grassland, forest transitions, and migration‐derived vegetation restoration has promoted ecosystem NPP (Li & Li, ; Li, Sun, Tan, & Li, ; Li, Li, Tan, & Wang, ; Song & Zhang, ; Wang et al, ).…”

Does Crop Rotation Enhance Groundwater Health? A Review of the Winter Wheat Fallow Policy in the North China Plain

“…The WWFP aims to improve the imbalance of groundwater use by making appropriate reductions to the amount of farmland devoted to winter wheat, involving about 50 thousand hectares (ha) of farmland that covers the largest underground funnel area in the NCP. Although this policy has been implemented for five years, there have been few attempts at estimating the effectiveness of this policy [15][16][17]. Specifically, the change in winter wheat planting area and the impact on groundwater resources have yet to be evaluated prior to and after WWFP's implementation.…”