Influencing Factors and Differences in Farmer Willingness to Pay for Ecological Compensation of Agricultural Waste Utilization: Based on rural areas of Hubei
农业废弃物资源化生态补偿支付意愿的影响因素及其差异性分析——基于湖北省农户调查的实证研究

The shortage and waste of resources, and environmental pollution have become important factors restricting the sustainable development of agriculture in China. Using survey data from rural areas of Hubei, the a Binary Logistic regression model was applied to analyze farmer willingness to pay ecological compensation for agricultural waste utilization. Nearly three-quarters (73.4%) of respondents were willing to pay the ecological benefits brought by agricultural waste utilization. Among them, 75.5 percent of male-headed households were willing, and 52.8% of female-headed ones were willing. A small number of farmers were not willing to pay, due to economic inability, low level of understanding of the value of agricultural waste utilization, and ecological compensation. The following factors affected willingness (in order of descending influence): gender, dependence on the environment, and a recognition of the benefits of agricultural waste utilization for human health, agricultural income ratio, recognition of the benefits of agricultural waste utilization on rural development, total amount of agricultural economy, environmental assessment and understanding of environmental knowledge. Significant heterogeneity was found for the factors influencing farmer willingness to, such as for gender, agricultural income ratio, environmental knowledge and psychological perception. For example, male farmers paid more attention to the impact on human health. We conclude that when developing standards in ecological compensation, costing should consider ecological welfare brought by agricultural waste utilization. The government should strengthen the training of the ecological environment to improve farmer willingness to pay ecological compensation for agricultural waste utilization. Last, developing differentiated ecological compensation policies can help improve farmer willingness to pay.