Water for Agriculture: Irrigation Economics in International Perspective (Spon's Environmental Science and Engineering)

261 Pages·2001·2.15 MB·English

by  Stephen Merrett

Water for Agriculture
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Water for Agriculture
Irrigation economics in international
perspective
Stephen Merrett
London and New York
First published 2002 by Taylor & Francis
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Taylor & Francis Inc
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Taylor & Francis is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
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© 2002 Stephen Merrett
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Merrett, Stephen.
Water for agriculture: irrigation economics in international
perspective/Stephen Merrett.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 221)
1. Irrigation—Economic aspects. I. Title.
HD1714 .M47 2002
333.91′3–dc21 2001049047
ISBN 0-203-30237-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-34613-0 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-25238-5 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-415-25239-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
O shabti, if (the deceased) be summoned to do any work which has to be
done in the realm of the dead, to make arable the fields, to irrigate the land,
or to convey sand from east to west, ‘Here I am’, you shall say, ‘I shall do
it’.
Spell six
Egyptian Book of the Dead
1900 BCE
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of abbreviations ix
Units of measurement xiii
1 The global challenge 1
2 The demand for irrigation services 19
3 Irrigation service supply: the infrastructure 46
4 Irrigation service supply: operation, maintenance and management 76
5 Drainage services demand and supply 104
6 Social cost-benefit analysis for irrigation and drainage projects 126
7 Water allocation at the regional scale 153
8 Institutional economics and irrigation policy 191
Glossary 211
Bibliography 232
Index 240
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the invaluable advice and commentary received on draft
chapters of this book, or other forms of help, from Catherine Abbott, Stephen
Allison, Jeremy Berkoff, Don Brown, Paul Burgess, Roger Calow, Felicity
Chancellor, Geraldine Dalton, Tony Faint, Harald Frederiksen, Shirlee and Bruce
Funk, Bob Hillier, Geoff Hodgson, Ben Hornigold and the staff of the King’s
Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards (KLCIDB) in King’s Lynn, Peter
Howsam, Clare Johnson, Melvyn Kay, Jacob Kijne, Peter Lee, Alan MacDonald,
Jennifer McKay, Andrew McKenzie, John Miller, Max Neutze, Chris Perry,
Tony Rayner, Jean-Jacques Schul, Benu Schneider, John Skutsch, Laurence
Smith, Caroline Sullivan, David Sutherland, Julie Trottier and Sally Watson, and
from Bill, Gina, Beverley and Gareth at Keveral Farm. Special
acknowledgement is due to Laurence Smith, who wrote the Lower Indus case
study in Chapter 5 and to David Scarpa for extended commentary on the West
Bank case study in Chapter 7. Once more it gives me great pleasure to
acknowledge my debt to Professor Tony Allan and to the staff and students of
the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies where I am a
Research Associate. Finally I wish to thank my fellow members of the British
National Committee of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage;
it was their invitation to me to join the Committee and my subsequent exposure
to the irrigation community in the UK and internationally that first led me to
decide to write this book.
Permission has been kindly granted for the use of copyright material in the
following cases:
Blomqvist, A. (1996) Food and Fashion: Water Management and Collective Action
among Irrigation Farmers and Textile Industrialists in South India, Linköping:
University of Linköping, for Figure 1.2.
Kemper, K. (1996) The Cost of Free Water: Water Resources Allocation and Use in the
Curu Valley, Ceará, Northeast Brazil, Linköping: University of Linköping, for
Figure 2.2.
viii
Merrett, S. (1999) ‘The political economy of water abstraction charges’, Review of
Political Economy 11, 4:431–42 (www.tandf.co.uk), for material contained in
sections 4.4 and 4.5.
Schul, J.-J. (1999) An Evaluation Study of 17 Water Projects Located around the
Mediterranean Financed by the European Investment Bank , Luxembourg: EIB, for
Table 3.8.
King’s Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards for Figure 5.1.
King’s Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards (1994) Defenders of Our Low Land
Environment: the Story of the King’s Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards,
King’s Lynn: KLCIDB, for Figure 5.2.
Chancellor, F., Lawrence, P. and Atkinson, E. (1996) A Method for Evaluating the
Economic Benefit of Sediment Control in Irrigation Systems, Wallingford: HR
Wallingford and DFID, for Figure 6.3.
Shapland, G. (1997) Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East,
London: Hurst, for Figure 7.1.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations used in equations
′ a small change (or difference)
AOC average overhead cost
B value of a project’s incremental real output
B* discounted value of a project’s incremental real output
C value of a project’s incremental real costs
C* discounted value of a project’s incremental real costs
d discount rate
e elasticity of demand
E efficiency
G gross margin
g gradient of a function
h half-life of a discounted net benefit stream
i proportionate rate of increase
I gross sales income, turnover
K total cost of the base supply
L output quantity
n number
N value of a project’s net benefits
N* discounted value of a project’s net benefits
P price
Q quantity
R net irrigation requirements
S base supply
b
S field supply
f
t a given year