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Reform of user charges, market pricing and management of water: problem or opportunity for irrigated agriculture?
Author(s) -
Backeberg Gerhard R.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.221
Subject(s) - irrigated agriculture , agriculture , business , water pricing , agricultural economics , water resource management , natural resource economics , economics , water conservation , irrigation , environmental science , agronomy , geography , biology , archaeology
Changes in the approach to water management include charging for water use to recover cost of services, enabling market trades for water reallocation and decentralising functions for water supply. Analysis of selected case studies shows that willingness to pay is less than operation and maintenance cost, water licences are considered insecure and diverse membership impedes cooperation in local organisations. Complications must be overcome to improve efficient use and allocation of water and effective participation in management. Priority attention should be given to empowerment of water users through training and extension to increase the momentum of socio‐economic transformation in irrigated agriculture. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.