Determinants of cotton farmers’ irrigation water management in arid Northwestern China

To combat China’s water crisis tremendous research efforts are undertaken aiming at the improvementof water management in cotton production, which is the major consumer of the scarce water resourcesin arid Northwestern China. In recent years extensive field experiment based research strongly enhancedthe theoretical knowledge of optimal water management in cotton production. However, farmers’ actualirrigation water productivity remains low. To fill the critical void the present study aims at increasingthe understanding of Chinese cotton farmers’ actual irrigation water management. The northwesternChinese Aksu-Tarim Region was selected as a hot-spot of water scarcity in China, where around 60% oftotal sown crop land are cultivated with cotton. The increasing overuse of scarce surface water resourcesfor irrigation not only leads to severe ecological degradation, but also increases competition among waterusers triggering the expansion of groundwater exploitation. Based on primary survey data of 228 cottonproducing farm households we firstly analyze the production factors determining farmers’ yield andirrigation water productivity (IWP). Apart from soil salinity and unbalanced fertilization, which negativelyaffect yield and IWP, especially the applied irrigation method (drip vs. flood irrigation) and installationof a groundwater well were identified as major determinants. Secondly, we apply logistic regression toevaluate which household and farm characteristics determine the irrigation method and installation ofgroundwater well. We find that farm size, crop types and cropping intensity determine the use of dripirrigation. We furthermore find that the installation of well is largely related to marginalization, withfarm families of ethnic minorities, remote farms and lower educated families being more likely to installwells. The findings of our study can help policymakers in devising strategies for improving irrigation waterproductivity, while reducing groundwater degradation in the study region and similar arid productionregions in the world.