Households’ Response To Water Resources Management In Minqin Oasis

Water scarcity is a critical policy issue in the arid regions of northwest China. Since the1950s, this region has experienced serious water resources shortages, drought, and desertification due to population growth, intensive agricultural activities, and poor water resources management. In addition, a projected increase in surface air temperature in north-western China is expected to result in a27%decline in glacier area and more severe drinking and irrigation water shortages by2050. Facing an unprecedented water resources crisis, northwest China has been designated as a pilot area for the development of water-saving practices by the central government. In recent years, the government has made great efforts to alleviate the over-exploitation of groundwater resources, improve the rural irrigation infrastructure and water use efficiency in agriculture.However, in practice, the implementation of water resources management activities is also difficult, primarily because of the lack of support and participation from small-scale farmers and farm communities. This can negatively affect the effectiveness and sustainability of water policies. In this paper, through a case study in Minqin oasis in northwest China, we performed quantitative and qualitative surveys to examine farmers’ responses to water resources management. We presented empirical results of a survey of small-scale farmers regarding livelihood assets, policy perception, social adaptation and community participation. In particular, we explored the reasons why current measures are unable to function effectively at the community level. Some conclusions are as follows:(1) Minqin oasis has been an irrigation-dependent farming area. Land is the main livelihood asset that small-scale farmers rely on. In2008, income from crop production constitutes the largest share of the rural household income (59%). From the perspective of the farmers, water shortages were ranked as the number one constraint by the majority of the respondents. Sandstorm and deterioration of groundwater quality were the second and third ranked constraints respectively.54.8%of the respondents felt that local ecosystem was becoming worse and worse,27.3%responded that there was no change in the ecosystem and only17.9%felt that the ecosystem became more productive. But there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups with respect to the attitudes toward watrer resources management.(2) The water rights reform is promoting the transformation of livelihood systems in Minqin oasis. However, based on the analysis of sustainable livelihood, the development of five different livelihood assets is out of balance. In particular, the government has paid less attention to the creating of human, social and financial assets as a whole. The livelihood transformation lacks internal motivation and vigor. As land is the most important asset for the farmers in Minqin oasis, livelihood security, not profit maximization, is the basic principle in the decision-making processes of the farmers. Thus, the implementation of policy measures for maximizing the economic benefits remains a challenge.(3) The average cost for irrigation water per household is1,651RMB in2008, which accounts for17.1%of the total crop production cost. With increasing costs from official charges and pumping, the majority of the respondents (over70%) hold a negative attitude toward water price reform, including increasing surface water prices, upwardly adjusting the groundwater resources levy, and establishing scalar pricing mechanism. The reform, which should be based on market-driven principles, ultimately becomes an administrative charge. In addition,45.7%of the respondents feel that the current water resources allocation policy is inequitable,37.2%feel that the water allocation policy is equitable, and17.1%hold a neutral attitude. There is a significant difference among the three groups with regard to attitudes toward water resources management.(4) With a reduction in the amount of water available to irrigation, the total income from crop production for small-scale farmers has declined in the short term. Farmers have taken a series of measures to cope with the water scarcity. There are three main coping strategies:developing water-saving cash crops; reducing the frequency of field crop irrigation and; adopting simple water-saving surface irrigation methods. In rural communities affected by water resources management, the majority of farmers use passive coping strategies and their adaptive capacities are very low. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between small-scale farmers’ social-psychological adaptation to change and their attitudes toward current water resources management.(5) To promote participatory irrigation management, farmer Water Users Associations (WUAs) have been established with the aim of decentralizing water management in the rural communities of Minqin. However, the creation of WUAs do not result in greater efficiency or equity in water resource use. The results of this comprehensive analysis indicate four reasons why WUAs are unable to function effectively:overlapping organizational structures between the farmer WUAs and the villagers’ committees; Mismatch between the scale of the WUA organization and the scale of irrigation water management by the farmers themselves; rural women are marginalized in community decision-making and, therefore, do not play a substantial role in the process of irrigation water management; and inflexibility of IWRM implementation does not allow for WUAs to function.In order to gain support from farmers and farm communities, the study suggests that rebuilding farmer WUAs and promoting the development of community-based water management system should remain a priority of IWRM reform. Management practices can be improved through a series of practical measures. These include clarifying the responsibilities and relationships between farmer WUAs and villagers’ committees; promoting the establishment of natural village-based farmer WUAs that embed informal local institutions and self-organized networks for irrigation water management; and increasing rural women’s participation in WUAs and community water-related decision-making in the context of feminization of agriculture.