Farmer's participation consciousness and the influencing factors in the reclamation of saline-alkali land in Hetao Irrigation Region, Inner Mongolia

Soil salinization becomes more and more serious in Hetao Irrigation Region in Inner Mongolia caused by the combined effect of climate and human activities. In such a case, lots have been done by the government. However, the participation consciousness of farmers, who play an important role in the improvement of soil salinity, is still unclear. In this study, participatory rural appraisal method was used to study the farm's cropping pattern, cropping methods, and knowledge on salinity land in Hetao Irrigation Region, Inner Mongolia. The relative perception intensity and multiple logistic regression methods were used to quantitatively analyze the farmer's participation consciousness and its influencing factors. The results showed that helianthus was the main crop which was planted by 98% of the interviewees. Besides helianthus, wheat and corn also were important crops, but these crops mainly planted in soil with less or no salinization. All the planting of helianthus was based on the flowing steps: mulching film, leaching salt and artificial seeding. Chemical fertilizer was still the main type of fertilizers rather than organic fertilizer. Flood irrigation always used to leach salt, which led to the raising of groundwater table, and in turn led to the salt accumulation in the surface soil in spring. In addition, long term application of chemical fertilizer with little organic fertilizer led to the degradation of soil structure. This indicated that the cropping and managing methods in Hetao Irrigation Region may go against the improvement of soil salinization. Fifty-four percent of the interviewees considered their land as severe soil salinization, and some of them had realized the mechanism of soil salinization. The average perception intensity of farmer on mechanism of soil salinization, the degree of salinization for their own land, and the willingness to increase cost to improving saline land were 2.82, 2.44 and 2.15, respectively. This suggested that farmers had a certain understanding of soil salinization. However, none of them had taken measure to improve their land. The maximum cost that the farmers could accept in improving soil salinity was about 750 RMB per hectare per year, which was very low compared to the cost of treatment project such as sub-drainage project. The multiple logistic regression analyses showed that the education degree was the main factor that influenced the farmer's participation sense at P < 0.05 in the influence of farmers' willing to improve saline alkali land, and P < 0.1 in the influence of farmers' understanding of saline alkali land. In addition, high cost and technical level were also important factors that had to be considered. Therefore, measures must be taken in the improving of salinity land in Hetao Irrigation Region. Firstly, the government should organize trainings on saline alkali land to farmers regularly. Secondly, interest free loans should be provided to farmers who implement the saline alkali land treatment project. Thirdly, enterprises and scientific research institutions should give fixed-point support to farmers from the implementation of the project to the later maintenance. That is to say, a mode that led by the government, cooperated by scientific research institutions, and participated by enterprises and farmers should be formed in the saline alkali land improvement in Hetao Irrigation region of Inner Mongolia. Such results can provide a scientific basis for relevant policies.