Study On Benefit Evaluation Of Returning Farmland To Forest Program In Hebei Province

The returning farmland to forest is an ecological development program with huge investment and many aspects and featuring clear-cut policies. It is a complex process and involves broad mass participation. The monitoring and evaluation of the benefits of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program concerns the whole society. Although many scholars have made some researches on the benefits of the Returning Farmland to Forest, most of them have only analyzed the data collected in some special project areas, lacking systematic data sources. Based on the consecutive several years of fixed site monitoring of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program in Hebei Province, this paper have broadly collected the monitoring data in each monitoring site and the relevant data of the whole province by way of interviewing households and making extensive discussions.Taking the relevant evaluation indexes of forest benefits as a comprehensive reference, based on the Comprehensive Benefit Evaluation Index System of China's Eco-forestry Programs and the Benefit Monitoring Index System of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program formulated by the State Forestry Administration and in accordance with the actual situation of Hebei Province, this paper has selected the comprehensive benefit evaluation index system of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program in Hebei Province with the AHP-Delphi method. The said evaluation index system includes 1 overall level indicator, 3 state level indicators, 8 variable level indicators and 21 element level indicators, and the weight of each indicator is given.By synthesizing the benefit evaluation of the forest ecosystem at home and abroad and the benefit evaluation of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program, and by selecting two project areas of Hebei Province with relatively large differences in economical and geographical environment as representatives, this paper has made a systematic overall measurement evaluation on the comprehensive benefits of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program with the shadow engineering method, the opportunity cost method and the market value method. The results show that: (1) in Chengde City, the comprehensive benefit of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program is 67.15 marks indicating the comprehensive benefit is common. The ecological benefit is 66.00 marks of which the water conservation function is 93.00 marks indicating the water conservation function of the returning farmland to forest areas in Chengde is very good, the water and soil conservation function and the soil improvement function are 60.00 marks and 68.40 marks respectively indicating these functions are common, the environment improvement function is 40.00 marks indicating the environment improvement function is not good enough. The economic benefit in the returning farmland to forest project areas is 66.64 marks. The social benefit is 71.24 marks indicating the benefit is fairly good. (2) in Shijiazhuang City, the comprehensive benefit of the Returning Farmland to Forest Program is 70.47 marks indicating the comprehensive benefit is fairly good. The ecological benefit is 67.36 marks of which the water conservation function is 86.00 marks indicating the water conservation function of the returning farmland to forest areas in Shijiazhuang is very good, the water and soil conservation function is 60.00 marks indicating the benefit is common, the soil improvement function is 84.20 marks indicating the benefit is fairly good, the environment improvement function is 40.00 marks indicating the environment improvement function is not good enough. The economic benefit in the returning farmland to forest project areas is 76.00 marks indicating the benefit is fairly good. The social benefit is 73.28 marks indicating the benefit is fairly good. (3 ) The study results of two cases show that the comprehensive benefit of the returning farmland to forest in less developed Chengde City is not as good as that of the capital Shijiazhuang. With the increase of vegetation, the ecological benefits of the two cities begin to appear and the water conservation benefit is good. The socio-economic benefits of the returning farmland to forest program in Chengde are not as good as that of Shijiazhuang.In order to further analysis the effectiveness of the returning farmland to forest program in Hebei Province, this paper has modeled and analyzed the socio-economic development of Hebei Province in recent 20 years. The results show that: (1) the number of people engaged in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery are in the steady decline, but the number of people engaged in the non-agricultural sector such as industry, transport industry, construction, wholesale and retail accommodation has a different proportion of increase, it proves the project of returning farmland to forest promote the implementation of the rural surplus labor transfer to other industries, and is beneficial to the adjustment of industrial structure in rural areas. (2) The grain sown area decreased significantly after returning farmland to forests, but the food production and income has steadily increased, which indicates that the input per unit area after returning farmland to forests have been increased, more intensive management has been adopted, the land-use is more rational and sustainable, and the food crisis will not result from the returning farmland to forest program.