An Analysis of Decision Making Behavior of Farmers’Participation in the Afforestation Subsidy Program
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Lin, Yi-Chun
Abstract
The policy of afforestation in the plain area was enacted by the Executive Yuan in January 1, 2002. Until 2005, the percentage of the private farmland among the total afforestation area was only 8.53%. Due to the low participation rate of farmer in the afforestation program, the objective of the afforestation policy might be jeopardized. The purpose of this study is to analyze the issues and problems which are related to the implementation of agricultural land afforestation policy in Taiwan. A survey and empirical analysis is conducted to analyze the problems of afforestation and also factors affecting the willingness of farmers participating in the afforestation policy. probit model is used to analyze the factors affecting farmer’s willingness to participate in the afforestation program. According to the empirical results, if the amount of subsidy is increased, the participation rate of the program will be increased. If the amount of subsidy could be raised to a level which increases the average supporting scale by one point, the probability of farmers’ participation could be increased by 16.32%. If the government reduces the minimum acreage requirement level to the extent that the average supporting scale of farmers increases by one point, the probability of farmers’ participation could be increased by 9.2%. Likewise, if the government offers the subsidy to the matured forest, the probability of farmers’ participation could be increased by 18.16%. The empirical result also shows that the size of the agricultural land plot has positive effect on the willingness of farmers’ participation. If the size of agricultural land plot increases by 1 hectare, the probability of farmers’ participation could be increased by 55.19%. his study analyzes the famers’ choice-making behavior of the flexible afforestation period and subsidy payment if the measure of the afforestation policy is implemented by the government in the future. According to the empirical results of Multinomial Logit model, if the opportunity cost of farmland in the short term program of the flexible subsidy payment is higher, farmers prefer to choose the middle-term or long term program of the flexible subsidy payment. Likewise, if the future revenue of afforestation in the long-term program of the flexible subsidy payment is higher, farmers prefer to choose the middle-term or long-term program of the flexible subsidy payment. In addition, the total area of farmers’ farmland will have a positive effect on farmers’ decision to choose long term program, while the distance between farmland and farmers’ residence will have a negative effect on farmers’ decision to choose the long term program.ccording to the empirical result, we could generalize several different factors which affect the willingness of farmers’ participation in the afforestation program and the choice of the program of flexible afforestation period and subsidy payment. These factors include the opportunity cost of farmland, the future revenue of afforestation and the area of farmland, etc. Based on these findings, if the government could proposes revised measures to decrease the opportunity cost of the use of farmland and the uncertainty of future revenue of afforestation, such as the flexible afforestation period and subsidy payment, the payment for the matured forest, and the reduction of the minimum acreage requirement for consolidated afforestation, etc., it might enhance the willingness of farmers’ participation in the afforestation program.
Subjects
Afforestation Policy
Afforestation Policy for Landscape in Plain Area
Agricultural Environment
Probit Model
Multinomial Logit Model
SDGs
Type
thesis
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