Why polluter-pays principle is difficult to implement in rural areas?——A case study of pig-farmer paying behavior under the third party govern-ance of pig-farming pollution in Nanping

In recent years, livestock breeding industry has significantly contributed to the development of rural areas, serving as the main industry of rural economy.But it also induces severe environmental pollution in rural areas for a long time.Dust, harmful gases and sewage produced in livestock breeding have not only affected the survival rate of livestock and poultry, but also endangered the health quality of residents in the surrounding areas.The professional third party governance of wastes is one of the fast developing trends of pollution governance, in which polluter paying pollution fees in time is not only a requirement of "polluter-pays principle", but also the key to the continuous operation of the third party governance system.However, in reality, many farmers fail to pay pollution fees in time.To ensure sustainable development of the third party governance and re-vitalization of animal husbandry areas, this paper used logistic regression model to analyze the key factors influencing payment behaviors of pig farmers in relation to individuals, family, production and business operations, and other external factors.The paper investigated the payment behaviors of 117 pig farmers in 7 villages of Luxia Town, Nanping City, Fujian Province.The results showed that:(1) the late/none payment of pollution fee greatly affected the normal operations of the third party governance.Although 73.50% of farmers believed that the fee should be paid, only 61.54% actually paid it in time.The main reason for the none/late payment was the farmers'judgment of the environment, which ignored the negative externalities of pollution on environment in the downstream areas.Other reasons included the lack of full understanding of "polluter-pays principle", effects of acquaintances in rural communities, public comparisons with other regions and the lack of law enforcement in punishing offenders.The performance of third-party governance was quite different from the expectations of the farmers.Also local governments did not have the means and mechanisms to efficiently implement the"polluter-pays principle".(2) The characteristics of production and management, and family and individuals had significant impacts on payment behaviors of farmers.The order of influence was operating type > education level of farmers > household head age > proportion of foreign capital > farming area > net income from breeding.(3) Due to small difference among external factors, their effect was not obvious, although the extent of effect was comparatively high.Therefore, enhancing environmental awareness, making full use of rural social capital and social network, promoting large-scale industry and intensive and enterprise management, strengthening development of new vocational farmers, improving effectiveness of assessment and information disclosure and setting up pricing mechanisms based on service levels were conducive for the implementation of the"polluter pays principle".These measures were also good for the promotion of sustainable development of the third party governance of pollution and the healthy development of livestock breeding.