Speaker
Description
Many nutrient management policy combinations have been implemented to reduce the influx of agricultural nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into watersheds in China and elsewhere. These policy combinations not only consist of measures that directly control nutrient input but also comprise other conservation measures, such as crop selection regulations. However, the combined and separate impacts of combined policies are not well-understood, which hinders the improvement of nutrient management policy design. To gain a clearer insight into policy effects, we take a policy mix implemented in Eryuan County, a watershed region in southwest China, as a case study. The policy aimed at reducing the agricultural N and P pollution entering the downstream Erhai Lake through the control of nutrient input and the regulation of crop choice. We examined the impacts of this policy mix by applying a fixed-effects model to farmer panel survey data for the years 2017 and 2021. Our findings indicate that the policy mix was insufficient to achieve its target, but substantially reduced farmers’ benefit by 65.1%. It effectively reduced N surplus, but the two policy instruments had opposite on the use of P and as a result did not significantly change P surplus. Given these findings, we recommend that more precise fertilization regimes should be developed, along with the promotion of new farming models to effectively reduce N and P losses simultaneously. Furthermore, policymakers should pay more attention to addressing the trade-offs between environmental gains and farmer benefits of nutrient management policies.
| Keywords | Policy mix; Crop choice; Fertilizer use; Manure substitution; Nutrient loss |
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