Does the grassland ecological compensation policy improve the herders’ breeding technical efficiency in China?—Based on the parallel mediation effect model

The Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy (abbreviated as GECP), which aims to realize the ecological protection by reducing the stock-carrying capacity of pastures and promote the transformation of pasture animal husbandry by improving the herders’ breeding methods, has been a major project in China’s grassland pastoral areas and grassland ecological construction. This study, thus, sought to measure the breeding efficiency of herders before and after the implementation of GECP. Moreover, the study also thought to analyze the effect and the effecting path of the implementation of GECP on the efficiency of herders’ livestock breeding. GECP enables herders to obtain financial subsidies while minimizing the utilization of grassland, which brings challenges and opportunities to herders’ traditional livestock production. This study used the two-stage data obtained from a randomly selected sample of 449 herders in the Inner Mongolia grassland area of China in 2018. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and parallel mediating effect (PME) models were used to analyze the data. The results show that the general effect of GECP on the breeding efficiency of herders in the Inner Mongolia is positive (P < 0.01), and the change of breeding methods (direct effect) is the main influence path. Specifically, the grassland circulation behavior (P < 0.01) and the scale of breeding (P < 0.01) are part of the mediating effect. While the mediating effect of the breeding structure is not significant (P > 0.1). This study also shows that the non-agricultural and animal husbandry income of herders has a negative impact on the breeding efficiency (P < 0.01), and herders’ age and breeding scale have a positive effect on the breeding efficiency (P<0.01). This study has not only answered the question whether the GECP can improve the efficiency of husbandry, but also focused on the analysis of the impacting mechanism of policies on efficiency. It is of great significance to further improve GECP and the related supporting policies and promote the transformation of China’s grassland animal husbandry.