Farmers’ preferences for water-saving strategies in brazilian eucalypt plantation

Gabriela Demarchi (1) , Julie Subervie (1) , Fernando Palha Leite (2) , Jean-Paul Laclau (3, 4)

1 CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010
2 CENIBRA - Celulose Nipo-Brasileira SA
3 UMR Eco&Sols - Ecologie fonctionnelle et biogéochimie des sols et des agro-écosystèmes
4 Cirad-PERSYST - Département Performances des systèmes de production et de transformation tropicaux

In a climate change context, changing temperature and precipitation pattern are expected to have strong impacts on Brazilian eucalyptus plantations. Implementing adaptive water-efficient management practices is thus becoming necessary to maintain high levels of productivity while preserving the water resources. This paper investigates the ability of eucalyptus farmers to modify their current silvicultural practices in order to adapt to drought in the near future. We ran a choice experiment in the state of Minas Gerais, among 80 eucalyptus producers, who were asked to choose from several management options associated with various financial supports. The results show that adaptation by reducing the length of the eucalyptus rotation proves to be by far the preferred option, despite the associated costs. On the contrary, reducing density appears to be the least chosen option by the respondents, which may suggest that they underestimate the benefits of this strategy. We moreover find a clear and relevant segmentation of farmers’choice behavior, the general preference for reducing the length of the eucalyptus rotation being driven by themost vulnerable farmers of the sample.

Mots clés: water resources; Brazil; eucalyptus; choice experiment; drought

Domaines: Economies et finances; Agronomie

Gabriela Demarchi, Julie Subervie, Fernando Palha Leite, Jean-Paul Laclau. Farmers’ preferences for water-saving strategies in brazilian eucalypt plantation. 2019. ⟨hal-02086526⟩