Improving Irrigated Agriculture: Institutional Reform and the Small Farmer

Abstract

"Irrigation is a technological and institutional innovation which permits cultivation of lands otherwise ill-suited to agriculture. The institutional environment in which irrigation takes place is critical to the successful operation of any system. This institutional environment has received little analytical attention by those concerned with irrigation.

"A model of farmer interdependence is developed and is related to the concept of farmers as cautious optimizers. This allows a focus on institutional uncertainty as a major impediment to creating irrigation systems which meet both efficiency and equity goals.

"Suggestions for improving existing irrigation systems-and for designing new ones-are derived from the framework."