697 research outputs found
Financial Capacity and Willingness of Farmers to pay for Irrigation Services in the Post-reform Scenario in Pakistan: Two Case Studies
To eliminate the subsidy on the canal irrigation system, the Government of Pakistan has decided to reform the management, intending to make it more efficient, equitable, transparent, and able to take care of the sustainability of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation network. The water users are being entrusted with greater role in the management through the formation of Farmers’ Organisations (FOs) to operate and maintain secondary canals and pay for full cost of water delivery. Ultimate payer will be the farmer. The economic viability of the reforms, therefore, much depends on farmers’ ability and willingness to pay for the cost of irrigation water delivery, which is expected to rise. This paper estimates financial liabilities of the farmers in the post-reform scenario, and assesses their capacity and willingness to pay for liabilities in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. One distributary in each of the two provinces is studied as the reference distributary, where FOs have already been formed. The cost of desired level of operation and maintenance levels are worked out using secondary data for 1997-98. With these costs, the water users in the Punjab and Sindh provinces need to pay Rs 333 and Rs 373 per ha for their water service, respectively. The estimated O&M costs form about 5.4 and 3 percent of production costs and 3.8 and 3.5 percent of the net income in the Punjab and Sindh provinces respectively. The farmers’ net income from crop enterprise is higher than the cost of water. Thus, an average farmer has the potential to pay for water. Recent experience of Hakra 4-R Distributary FO suggests that the farmers are also willing to pay for water service, if they are organised properly.
Institutional reforms for agricultural water management
Irrigation managementDrainageParticipatory management
Social mobilization and institutional development approach and strategy
Institutional development, Water users associations, Training, Capacity building, Water resource management, Irrigated farming, Farm Management, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
Potential for Blue-Gray Water Trade-offs for Irrigation in Small Towns of Pakistan: A Case Study of Farmers' Costs and Benefits in Haroonabad
The growing demand and the competition for fresh water in various sectors suggest that the irrigated agriculture will have to release freshwater for more important and valuable uses. This implies that other options would need to be identified to meet water demands for agriculture. Meeting irrigation requirements through non-conventional water sources is one of the options for agricultural uses. Gray water use for irrigation, a pervasive practice in urban and peri-urban areas of many developing countries, could be one of the solutions. The debate on wastewater irrigation from an environmental point of view is already on, focussing more on human and environmental “safety” aspects. The “value” aspect of the wastewater irrigation remains neglected, however. The irrigation users of untreated wastewater in many parts of the world had already traded off and revealed their preference for gray over blue water decades ago, when the water supply systems in towns and cities were set up. Why they would do it despite the high environmental and health risks associated with its use needs an answer. The paper documents the costs and benefits of wastewater irrigation from users’ point of view, and assesses the potential for real blue water savings in a small town setting in the southern Punjab, Pakistan. The data presented in the paper suggest that wastewater irrigation does lead to blue water savings, and it is profitable for farmers. While its potential is not fully exploited, more focus on appropriate approaches to physical and institutional aspects of wastewater disposal planning and management could make wastewater irrigation more productive, profitable, and safe for individuals as well as for the society as a whole.
Financial Capacity and Willingness of Farmers to Pay for Irrigation Services in the Post-reform Scenario in Pakistan: Two Case Studies
To eliminate the subsidy on the canal irrigation system, the
Government of Pakistan has decided to reform the management, intending
to make it more efficient, equitable, transparent, and able to take care
of the sustainability of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation
network. The water users are being entrusted with greater role in the
management through the formation of Farmers’ Organisations (FOs) to
operate and maintain secondary canals and pay for full cost of water
delivery. Ultimate payer will be the farmer. The economic viability of
the reforms, therefore, much depends on farmers’ ability and willingness
to pay for the cost of irrigation water delivery, which is expected to
rise. This paper estimates financial liabilities of the farmers in the
post-reform scenario, and assesses their capacity and willingness to pay
for liabilities in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. One distributary
in each of the two provinces is studied as the reference distributary,
where FOs have already been formed. The cost of desired level of
operation and maintenance levels are worked out using secondary data for
1997-98. With these costs, the water users in the Punjab and Sindh
provinces need to pay Rs 333 and Rs 373 per ha for their water service,
respectively. The estimated O&M costs form about 5.4 and 3 percent
of production costs and 3.8 and 3.5 percent of the net income in the
Punjab and Sindh provinces respectively. The farmers’ net income from
crop enterprise is higher than the cost of water. Thus, an average
farmer has the potential to pay for water. Recent experience of Hakra
4-R Distributary FO suggests that the farmers are also willing to pay
for water service, if they are organised properly
Returns to Facilitating Farmers’ Organisations for Distributary Maintenance: Empirical Results from a Pilot Project in Southern Punjab
Institutional reforms currently underway in Pakistan’s irrigation and drainage sector require that farmers take over the operation and maintenance responsibilities of their secondary canals. However, the farmers need to be organised first, for which investments are a prerequisite. A great deal of skepticism about the farmers’ collective ability and willingness to undertake the needed tasks exists, even now when they are actually organised. This skepticism originates from past experiences when direct subsidies were offered to induce collective action. Theoretically, collective action can be more sustainable if investments are made in capacity building for the tasks that the farmers have to perform to improve the service delivery. Farmers are being organised for distributary operation and maintenance. So far, the delay in formulation of an appropriate legal framework has prevented the irrigation departments from formally transferring the operation and maintenance responsibilities to farmers. Self-help-based maintenance has been the only avenue for farmers to participate in the management of the irrigation system. The paper uses data pertaining to the cost of facilitation and estimates the amount of resources mobilised for two successive years from a pilot project. The analysis shows that investments made for facilitation do pay off. Investment in facilitation returns 69 percent higher than the actual investment per year during the initial years. In the short-run, the returns to facilitation indicate an increasing trend. The paper argues that when compared to previous approaches adopted in Pakistan, investments for facilitation and capacity building have a greater chance of prompting sustainable collective action for irrigation and drainage management.
“Bright spots” in Uzbekistan, reversing land and water degradation while improving livelihoods: key developments and sustaining ingredients for transition economies of the former Soviet Union
Irrigated farming / Water quality / Drainage / Soil fertility / Crop yield / Investment / Uzbekistan / Bukhara Province / Zarafshan River / Dijzzakh Province / Syrdarya Province
Handbook on implementing a time-based water distribution: for WUA hydrotechnicians in Central Asia with examples from the Sokolok Distributory off the Aravan-Akbura Main Canal in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan
Water distribution / Irrigation scheduling / Handbooks / Water requirements / Crop production / Irrigation canals / Water users / Central Asia / Kyrgyzstan
Inadequacies in the water reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic: an institutional analysis
Water resource management / Analysis / Irrigation management / Participatory management / Water users’ associations / Research methods / Agrarian reform / Irrigation programs / Operations / Maintenance / Conflict / Rivers / Kyrgyzstan
Potential for Blue-Gray Water Trade-offs for Irrigation in Small Towns of Pakistan: A Case Study of Farmers’ Costs and Benefits in Haroonabad
The growing demand and the competition for fresh water in
various sectors suggest that the irrigated agriculture will have to
release freshwater for more important and valuable uses. This implies
that other options would need to be identified to meet water demands for
agriculture. Meeting irrigation requirements through non-conventional
water sources is one of the options for agricultural uses. Gray water
use for irrigation, a pervasive practice in urban and peri-urban areas
of many developing countries, could be one of the solutions. The debate
on wastewater irrigation from an environmental point of view is already
on, focussing more on human and environmental “safety” aspects. The
“value” aspect of the wastewater irrigation remains neglected, however.
The irrigation users of untreated wastewater in many parts of the world
had already traded off and revealed their preference for gray over blue
water decades ago, when the water supply systems in towns and cities
were set up. Why they would do it despite the high environmental and
health risks associated with its use needs an answer. The paper
documents the costs and benefits of wastewater irrigation from users’
point of view, and assesses the potential for real blue water savings in
a small town setting in the southern Punjab, Pakistan. The data
presented in the paper suggest that wastewater irrigation does lead to
blue water savings, and it is profitable for farmers. While its
potential is not fully exploited, more focus on appropriate approaches
to physical and institutional aspects of wastewater disposal planning
and management could make wastewater irrigation more productive,
profitable, and safe for individuals as well as for the society as a
whole
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