Suchergebnisse

This paper examines efficiency and equity in groundwater markets with special attention to output sharing contracts and to the bargaining relationships between sellers and buyers, using household level data from Madhya Pradesh, India. Regression results find no significant inefficiency on farms managed by output sharing buyers, presumably because optimal input intensities are achieved through effective monitoring and contract adherence mechanisms embedded in long-term and intensive personal relationships between sellers and buyers. As for equity, the finding is that, while output sharing buyers pay higher water prices, the rate of premiums is merely 5 percentage points higher than the informal interest rate that they would have had to carry under other types of groundwater contracts. The results also show that buyers who have access to alternative water sellers pay lower water prices. These findings indicate that if the imperfection of credit and contingent markets in rural areas are taken into account, informal groundwater markets work fairly well in agrarian communities if monitoring and contract adherence mechanisms are embedded and a sufficient number of potential sellers are available.

The current paper reviewed the development of the Green Revolution in Vietnam, using long-term regional yield and modern variety adoption statistics, as well as household data collected in 1996 and 2003. The present study indicates that the Green Revolution began in irrigated favorable areas and spread to the less favorable areas in Vietnam such as in other Asian countries. What is unique in Vietnam is that although the Green Revolution ended in the mid-1980s in the Philippines and Indonesia, it has still been sustained as of 2003. Our analyses revealed that such growth had been supported by continuous improvements of modern varieties by regional research institutes. The varieties imported from China have contributed to the Green Revolution in northern Vietnam and those developed by the International Rice Research Institute in southern Vietnam. The national agricultural research systems have also played a critically important role in developing location-specific and appropriate technologies. (Dev Econ/GIGA)

Irrigation tanks are classic examples of common pool resources that have been traditionally managed by local communities. However, the tank performance under community management in Tamil Nadu has declined over the last few decades and threatened the local livelihoods. This study investigates the effect of community management on irrigation tank performance using village‐level two‐period data collected across 100 tank‐intensive villages in Tamil Nadu. To address the problems encountered in the subjective measures, this study adopts an objective assessment method using the satellite imageries of Landsat‐7 to derive tank performance measures. Satellite‐derived data are then incorporated with the field survey data and used in the analysis. The results show that community participation in tank management has a significant positive impact on tank performance, suggesting that strengthening traditional institutions in irrigation tank management can be a viable strategy for reviving tank irrigation systems.