Influences of farmers’ participation levels in participatory irrigation management on crop production—Based on survey data from Jiangsu and Henan provinces，China

Based on 1 076 farmers’survey data in Jiangsu and Henan provinces，this paper used PSM （propensity score matching） method to analyze the influences of farmers’ participation behavior levels in participatory irrigation management on irrigation system and crop production. Two main results were got. First， farmers’ participation behavior in different levels of rules positively influenced the performance of irrigation system. With farmers’ participation levels raising，from lower level of operation rules，to higher levels of collective selection rules and constitutional rules，the performance of irrigation system improved more significantly，including higher irrigation timeliness，better maintenance of irrigation facilities，and partly improving irrigation services that performed significantly only in constitutional rule level. Second，farmers’ participation behavior was accorded with the improvement of crop production performance. As farmers participated in actions of higher rule levels，better performance of crop production including larger crop planting area and higher crop yields was got. Therefore，policy makers should guide farmers to participate in multi levels of irrigation management in order to promote the sustainable reform of irrigation management.