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Abstract
Most of China’s surface waters are undergoing anthropogenic eutrophication, mainly due to leaching of phosphorus (P) from both sewage and agriculture. This is causing quality deterioration in their scarce water resources. The problem has been acknowledged by Chinese authorities and actions sought implemented, though expected ameliorations are on hold.
This interdisciplinary study focuses on actions taken by farmers adjacent to Yuqiao reservoir; the raw water source for five million people in Tianjin City. As is often the case, these farmers apply excessive amounts of fertilisers. The leaching of P is aggravated by poor P sorption capacity of the soils and a practically impermeable clay layer below a shallow ploughing layer. During heavy rainfalls the soils become saturated, causing P to be flushed out through shallow-water flow paths. A low content of organic matter in the soils makes things worse.
This study documents how farmers are taking action to improve crop yield, the environment, and health issues. Farmers taking more action than others consider themselves as having good farming competence, they are usually local members of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), and have a relatively low family income. The study concludes with suggested policy measures. The main recommendation is to collect household sewage and most of their manure and use it as feedstock for large-scale biogas reactors, combined with returning the residual organic matter to the soil. Cooperating with well-respected farmers and drawing on local CPC members’ willingness to take action may facilitate a successful implementation of the above measures.
Acknowledgements
Dr J. Wang and four graduate students of Zhou EnLai School of Government, Nankai University; and local village leaders (in particular Mr Sun) contributed during the survey. We thank the reviewers for asking questions helping to clarify certain issues linked to the analysis.
Notes
1. On the other hand, Wong et al. (Citation2015, p. 109) define ecosystem services as the ‘indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being’, and final ecosystem services as ‘components of nature possessing an explicit connection to human well-being that have direct value to society’ – a truly anthropocentric perspective that would not fit easily within an ecological economics perspective. Moreover, the focus on marginal changes in service production and economic values indicates an economistic perspective.
2. This seems very much like a sort of local game of ‘who blinks first’, with local farmers acknowledging the need to set aside land for the good of the local habitat of pandas, and the question is, ‘who will make the offer?’
3. SinoTropia; RCN no.: 209,687 and CAS.
4. The selection of villages was made with the assistance of a local village leader with good local knowledge. In each village, the survey was announced by word of mouth and loudspeakers. Residents showed up at will and the questionnaires were filled in on the spot.
5. In regard to age: 30 and below: 21.5%; 31–40: 17.7%; 41–50: 24.5%; 51–60: 22.2%; 60 and above: 14.1%. A representative sample would have demanded a top-down approach, with government officials being in charge of the survey. In order to allow the guiding of respondents, we opted for the bottom-up strategy of cooperating with village leaders.
6. Linear regression was chosen after checking the linearity by normal P-P plot charts, which showed the curves of Model A–D described below to as close to the linear axis.
7. A new push for industrialisation, information technology application, urbanisation, and agricultural modernisation (South China Morning Post Citation2012).
8. The NEP scale is based on 15 statements, of which compliance with eight represents a NEP world view and compliance with the seven others represents a DSP world view.
9. The study by Orderud and Vogt (CitationForthcoming 2015) was conducted on exactly the same sample as was used in the analysis presented above.
10. The Agriculture Advisory and Experimental Society simply spreads practical learning among farmers with the help of professionals, with regular local meetings for and among farmers.
11. As expected, multivariate regression analyses show that the young are somewhat more prone to want to move and that their elders are more positive regarding the social milieu, but this does not mean that the young generally support statements like ‘gossip everywhere’ and ‘boring life here’.
