Direct Payments for Environmental Services from Mountain Agriculture in Japan: Evaluating its Effectiveness and Drawing Lessons for Developing Countries
No hay miniatura disponible
Fecha
Autores
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
Descripción
This article evaluates the effectiveness of ex-post targeting of the direct payment
program for mountain agriculture in Japan. A regression analysis explaining the entry into
the program shows that the farm profitability and the production cost were significant
positive and negative factor, respectively, in determining the uptake, while the efforts by local
governments were a robust factor in facilitating the enrollment. These findings imply
ineffective ex-post targeting and call for the differentiation of the premium, alternative
incentives to promote forestation for the un-enrolled fields and additional funds targeted to
those prefectures with the low uptake ratio. Lessons drawn from the Japanese experience for
effective incentive measures in developing countries include the use of composite indicators in
designating eligible areas to avoid the risk of insufficient targeting and the engagement of
local governments to facilitate the entry through the reduction of transaction costs among
participants.