The effectiveness of regulations and technologies on sustainable use of crop residue in Northeast China

Abstract

Burning agricultural residue adversely affects air quality and results in a loss of valuable nutrients required to improve soil quality. Sustainable use of crop residue can reduce air pollution from open field burning. In addition to the mandatory regulation on burning crop residue, the Chinese government also promotes the sustainable use of crop residue by subsidizing residue chopper machines and establishing agricultural demonstration sites. This paper documents the trends of crop residue utilization and evaluates the effectiveness of different regulations and technology policies toward the sustainable use of crop residue in Northeast China. Using a unique household level panel dataset, our regression results show that the ban on burning crop residue does not reduce crop residue burning, while increased availability of residue choppers induces farmers to adopt residue retention. Establishing demonstration projects also helps promote the acceptance of residue retention. Given the low level of availability of residue choppers and demonstration projects and their effectiveness, our results recommend further supporting the spread of residue chopper machines through subsidization and establishing demonstration projects. This paper also lends experience to other developing countries that have similar issues.