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Measuring Benefits to Operation and Maintenance Expenditure in the Canal Irrigation System of Pakistan: A Simulation Analysis
Author(s) -
Chaudhry Muhammad A.,
Ali Mubarik
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-0862.1989.tb00084.x
Subject(s) - productivity , investment (military) , economics , irrigation , agriculture , agricultural economics , yield (engineering) , business , finance , natural resource economics , macroeconomics , ecology , materials science , politics , biology , political science , metallurgy , law
Estimates regarding benefits to O&M investments help rationalize financial allocation decisions. A distributed lag model is used to estimate the contribution to agricultural productivity of funds utilized for O&M of the canal system in Pakistani Punjab. Estimated parameters are used to simulate the effects of alternative O&M investment scenarios on agricultural output, farm prices and income. Marginal benefits to past and prospective O&M investments in the canal irrigation system were found to be fairly high, suggesting the need to allocate more funds for O&M of the canal system. Results indicate that O&M investments yield substantial gains to both producers and consumers, implying that funds required for O&M activities could be generated by taxing both these segments of society.