Farm-level Incentives for Irrigation Efficiency: Some Lessons from an Indian Canal

In the name of food security for the nation and poverty alleviation for the rural population, every developing country provides its farmers with irrigation water at a fraction of its delivery cost. However, the realization that fresh water is scarce and getting scarcer has forced a widespread rethinking of this “cheap water” policy. A farmer who pays next to nothing for water has no incentive to use it efficiently. He uses it to grow lowvalue field crops, irrigates carelessly using flood and furrow methods, does not repair his field channels, and over-waters his standing crop.