Economic Benefit Analysis Of The Conversion Of Farmland To Forest In Mulan County Of Heilongjiang Province

The Conversion of Farmland to Forest is a very important national policy carried out by government to safeguard the ecology security and protect the sustainability of forest resources,the project has a quite large investment and a high degree of public participation and relates to many sections.It has achieved the expected accomplishments and huge social and economic effects since began to implement officially in 2002.With the further deepening of the project,the policy goal is no longer a single item in order to improving ecological environment,but has developed into the people’s livelihood project which has a profound effect on resident income and industrial structure and consumption level.So,the analysis and evaluation of social and economic benefits of The conversion of Farmland to Forest,has important significance to its smooth and sustainable development.This paper selects The conversion of Farmland to Forest in Mulan county as the research object,acquires materials from the collected data on-site and the database,uses and combines the theories of economics,public economics,institutional economics,ecology and forestry,chooses model measurements and data analysis as the tools of the research,deeply discusses the influences of The conversion of Farmland to Forest to the social and economic benefits of Mulan county.First of all,by using the first hand information based on in-depth visiting and questionaire,comparing the data of two groups:participant households and non-participant households,to analyze contrastively the changes of income and expenditure of these two groups of farmers since the Conversion of Farmland to Forest’s implementation.The research shows that the incomes of participant households and non-participant have increased obviously,but emerged obvious differences in income structure since the implementation of project.The participant households’ proportion of non-agricultural income has increased significanly,comparing with the non-participant households’ giving priority to planting income,at the same time,the influences of allowance of conversion is decreasing continually.In terms of expenditure,the participant households’ proportions of clothes and other expenses have decreased while the proportionsof healthcare and education and communication,because of outward employment population increasing and concept changing.Using the model of difference examination of statistics,from the quantitative analysis of significant situation of the project influence to famers’ income and expenditure,we can see that the difference is not obvious,shows that the influence of the Conversion of Farmland to Forest to farmers’ economic benefits is limited.Secondly,on the basis of statistical data got from related departments,this paper analyzes and researches the changes brought by the Conversion of Farmland to Forest in terms of gross domestic product(GDP),rural income,cultivated area,grain production,industrial structure,employment structure and land use structure of Mulan county.The research suggests that this project has positive meanings for the county economic development,increasing farmers’ income,adjusting the industrial structure and changing ways of employment.The grain security problem focused by the society did not appear,instead,the grain output per unit area has been going up steadily because of scientific planting and planting structure changing.Thirdly,using forestry measurement model,through the tools of shadow engineering method and market value method,measure the ecological benefits brought by the Conversion of Farmland to Forest economically.This research finds that this project could produce physical quantity for 5478499.8 tons and economical value for 204555.4 thousand yuan annually in the four terms of water conservation,water and soil maintenance,carbon fixation and oxygen release and soil improvment.Through this kind of economic measurement,it will highlight the project ecological value,and improve data support when some compensation policies are given for the project of the Conversion of Farmland to Forest in Mulan county in the future.At last,research finds the problem produced in the process of performance by analyzing datas,and proposes policy suggestions and management advices,considers that though it has achieved certain effects,there are still some points to discuss and improve in respect of management mechanism,compensation system and sustainability.