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 that 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.
Reviews
"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
