With decentralization experiments occurring in the Chinese forestry sector, the authors used a survey-based choice experiment to investigate farmers’ preferences for various property-rights attributes of a forestland contract.
Farmers are highly concerned with what rights a contract provides. Reducing the risk of contract termination and introducing a priority right to renew a contract significantly increase farmers’ marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for a forest contract. Farmers are also concerned with tenure length and waiting time to harvest. In one region, the annual WTP for a 50-year contract is higher than a 25-year contract.
EfD Authors
