Farmer Financed Irrigation: The Economics of Reform (Wye Studies in Agricultural and Rural Development) - Softcover

Small, Leslie E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052106208X ISBN 13: 9780521062084

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

"Leslie Small and Ian Carruthers have written a lucid, policy-oriented book about this challenge and options for meeting it. Drawing on strong familiarity with a wide range of cases and making a significant effort to apply basic neoclassical economic insights in an understandable matter, the book identifies and reviews many of the key issues....this is a clearly written and exceptionally well-grounded book. It addresses an important policy issue in comtemporary international agricultural development policy." Bruce Koppel, Rural Sociology

Book Description:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 052106208X
• ISBN 13: 9780521062084
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248