Analyzing the impacts of virtual social network and income on farmers’ willingness to pay for rural environmental governance based on a survey data in Fujian, Henan, and Sichuan

In the context of China’s rural revitalization strategy, exploring the willingness of farmers to pay for environmental governance is of great significance to the construction of a pleasant living rural environment. Based on a survey data of 820 farmers in Fujian, Henan and Sichuan and applying a two-part model, this paper analyzed the impacts of virtual social network and income on farmers’ willingness to pay for rural environmental governance from the perspectives of both participation in payment and the amount of payment. Results show that 60.98% of famers are willing to pay for the improvement of rural environment, with the average willing payment of 429.08 yuan. The distribution of virtual social network stock among rural households is relatively uneven, and there are more rural households whose virtual social network stock is still low, and there is a large gap in income levels among rural households. Virtual social network and income have significant positive influences on farmers’ willingness to pay for rural environmental governance with heterogeneity among different income groups: farmers with higher agricultural income are more willing to participate. The expansion of the virtual social network is helpful to alleviate the adverse effects faced by farmers with low income when participating in village environmental governance. Therefore, this paper provides the following suggestions: 1) promoting Internet construction in rural areas to improve the network environment for farmers; and 2) to stimulate economic vitality in rural areas to improve the income of farmers.