Water for Agriculture Irrigation Economics in International Perspective

About this book

World population is set to increase by a third in the next 25 years, with no corresponding increase in global rainfall. About seventy per cent of the world's abstracted water is used in farming and therefore the economics of irrigation is becoming an increasingly important issue for sustainable development. Water for Agriculture provides a thorough overview of this highly topical subject, written in a clear and accessible style. The scope of the book is wide both in its analysis and in its geographical coverage. Topics covered include the infrastructure, operation and maintenance of irrigation service supply, the supply of drainage services, economic cost benefit analysis, water resource planning at the regional scale, political economy and irrigation policy. The content of Water for Agriculture is enhanced by numerous tables, diagrams, and in-depth case-studies. This book will be an essential read for those professionals involved in the planning of water resources, and for advanced students studying this topic as part of agriculture, development studies, economics, engineering, environmental science, geography, hydrology and planning courses.

Contents

Abbreviations. Units of measurement. The global challenge: In the year 2025. In the year 2080. The irrigation cycle. The economic paradigm. Structure and content. Case study - an irrigation cycle in southern India. Reworking the cycle. The demand for irrigation services: Crop water requirements. Determinants of water efficiency. The cost of water to farmers. The elasticity of demand. Farm budgets. The management of demand. Case study - the demand for irrigation water in the Curu Valley, Brazil. Case study - irrigation water use at Keveral Farm, Cornwall, England. The demand function and the cost of water to the farmer. Irrigation service supply - the infrastructure: Capital and current spending. The short term - economies of capital utilization. The long term - economies of scale. The capital financing of irrigation infrastructures. Gestation period delays and cost overruns. Case study - European Investment Bank activity in the Mediterranean. Case Study 2. Analysis and case studies. Irrigation service supply - operation, maintenance and management: Economies of scale - the short term. The value of irrigation system maintenance. Managing common property resources. Case study - irrigation management transfer on the Alto RYo Lerma, Mexico. Analysis and case studies. Drainage services demand and supply: The demand for drainage services. Paying for drainage services. The supply of drainage services. Drainage services and water quality. Case study - farmland drainage in Norfolk, England. Case study 2. Analysis and case studies. Social cost-benefit analysis for irrigation projects: The evaluation of capital projects. Project definition. The net present value approach. Discounting the future. Shadow prices and transfer entries. Estimation errors. The management of demand. Case study - sedimentation reduction on Luzon, the Philippines. Case study - the American West and its disappearing water. Analysis and case studies. Case study - dams and development - a new framework fo

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