Afforestation Through Sand Control: Farmer Participation Under China’s New Round of Grain-for-Green Compensation Policy

Within the context of global desertification trends in arid regions, advancing afforestation and sand stabilization efforts are not only vital for human survival but are also key considerations in addressing the challenges of climate change and achieving sustainable development. This study, set against the backdrop of China’s new round of Grain-for-Green compensation policies implemented in 2014, investigates farmers’ behavior in planting economically valuable forests and grasslands driven by compensation incentives. Grounded in the principles of behavioral economics and assuming farmers as rational “economic agents”, this study focuses on farmers residing on the northern and southern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang. Employing the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach, it examines the intricate causal mechanisms that shape farmers’ involvement or lack thereof in economic forest and grassland activities. These mechanisms are analyzed through the lenses of resource endowment, psychological perception, and external environmental factors. The results indicate that perceived benefits and neighbor imitation serve as essential conditions for non-participation in planting economic forests and grasslands. Three configurational pathways account for participation: farmers motivated by perceived benefits, those guided by the combined influence of “psychological perception and external environment”, and individuals driven by ecological aspirations alongside neighbor imitation. Additionally, four configurational pathways explain non-participation, with two types of farmers identified: those facing a dual deficiency of psychological perception and external environment, and non-high income traditional farmers dependent on agricultural irrigation water.