Social Capital and Farmers’ Participation in Public Irrigation Infrastructure Investment—Evidence from Rural Xinjiang, China

Effective investments in rural irrigation infrastructure are critical for sustainable agricultural development and rural revitalization. This study investigates how social capital influences farmers’ investment in public infrastructure in terms of management and maintenance of irrigation facilities in rural Xinjiang, China. By using field survey data from 700 farmers in southern Xinjiang, we distinguished traditional social capital from newly emerged social capital (accumulated aid assigned to Xinjiang governors by upper authorities) and found that (1) both social capitals significantly facilitate farmers’ investment in managing and maintaining irrigation maintenance, particularly the latter; (2) the main influencing mechanism is twofold, directly promoting irrigation investments and indirectly stimulating participation in non-agricultural employment. These findings suggest that policy interventions should simultaneously strengthen rural social networks and improve non-agricultural employment services to foster collective action in investing in public irrigation system management and maintenance.