Agricultural water price policy reform and water saving technology adoption tendencies from the perspective of farmers’ differentiation: Based on a survey in Hebei Province

Agricultural water price policy reform is an important innovation in agricultural water resource management that aims to guide farmers in adjusting their irrigation behavior in response to demand-side management. In this study, we considered the agricultural water price reform in Hebei Province as the research topic and use empirical tests to assess the influence of water price policy reform on farmer adoption of water-saving technology. Herein, we discussed the differences in farmer perspectives regarding the adoption of water-saving technology based on technical attributes and variation in farmers endowment. The results indicated that: 1) the “raising price for exceeding amount” water price policy reform mode altered the relative economy of water-saving technology usage and promoted the use of water-saving technologies. 2) Farmer differentiation led to differences in water-saving technology selection; more specifically, low part-time farmers (proportion of non-agricultural income < 50%) preferred to use drought-resistant varieties and traditional water-saving technologies, whereas high part-time farmers (proportion of non-agricultural income > 50%) preferred to use drought-resistant varieties only. Additionally, the water price policy reform did not effectively promote the use of sprinkler and drip irrigation of farmers. 3) Improving farmer awareness of the effectiveness of water-saving technology and the reality of water scarcity forecasts, as well as reducing the risk perception of farmers to the use of water-saving technology, effectively benefited the adoption of water-saving technology. Finally, the degree of non-agricultural employment was found to have a significant negative impact on the local use of water-saving technology. Based on these results, we suggested the following implications for policy: 1) the continuation of vigorous agricultural water price policy reform promotion and the improvement of the reform system and mechanism design; 2) the strengthening of water-saving technology advocation and ensuring the appropriate promotion of technical attribute characteristics;. 3) focusing on differences in the endowments of farmers and striving to alleviate endowment constraints; 4) increasing publicity efforts aiming to enhance farmer awareness of water-saving technologies and water regimes, as well as helping farmers establish the appropriate water-saving awareness and water use concepts. This study provides empirical support for the practical effects of water price policy reform. Additionally, it is subdivided according to the attribute differences of various water-saving technology elements and describes farmers irrigation adaptation behavior in detail.