Farmer-Financed Irrigation The Economics of Reform

This book examines the potentials and limitations of user fees for financing irrigation operation and maintenance.

In this book, Leslie Small and Ian Carruthers examine in detail the potentials and limitations of user fees for financing irrigation operation and maintenance. Both authors have extensive field experience in irrigation in developing countries and have combined this experience with simple concepts of economics to examine possible institutional and financial reforms which would not simply ask farmers to pay for an inadequate irrigation service, but would create the potential for significant improvements in the quality of the service provided. The proposed elements of any such reform are discussed in depth - a system of user fees covering the recurrent costs of irrigation; a financially autonomous irrigation agency that can retain and use the fees to operate and maintain the irrigation facilities; and a macro policy environment that is not unduly skewed against the agricultural sector. Written in a style intended to convey economic perspectives and insights to non-economists, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the financing and performance of irrigation in developing countries.

Preface; 1. Irrigation financing in perspective; Part I. Analysing Financing Policies: Theory and Concepts: 2. Key concepts from economic theory; 3. Evaluating irrigation financing policies: a conceptual framework; Part II. Criteria for Evaluating Irrigation Financing Policies: 4. Cost-effective operation and maintenance; 5. Allocating a scarce resource: water-use efficiency; 6. Improving investment decisions; 7. Resource-mobilisation efficiency; 8. The concern for equity; Part III. Financial Autonomy and User Fees: Key Implementation Issues: 9. Establishing financial autonomy; 10. Setting irrigation fees: reconciling the need for funds with farmer's ability to pay; 11. Collecting irrigation fees: fostering a willingness to pay; 12. The political economy of irrigation financing; 13. Conclusions and recommendations; Notes; Index.

In this book, Leslie Small and Ian Carruthers examine in detail the potentials and limitations of user fees, combining their extensive field experience of irrigation in developing countries with simple concepts of economics to propose possible institutional and financial reforms which would not simply ask farmers to pay for an inadequate irrigation service, but would create the potential for significant improvements in the quality of the service provided.