High irrigation investment costs together with declining world prices for food and the failures of a number of high profile past irrigation projects are the main reasons for the reluctance of development agencies and governments in sub-Saharan Africa to invest more resources in irrigation. This study aims to systematically establish whether costs of irrigation projects in sub-Saharan Africa are truly high, determine the factors which influence costs and performance of irrigation projects, and recommend cost-reducing and performance-enhancing options to make irrigation investments in the region more attractive. It analyzes 314 irrigation projects implemented from 1967 to 2003 in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America funded by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Excerpt from Irrigation System Costs and Performance in the San Joaquin Valley Irrigation systems in the San Joaquin Valley are as varied as the people who use them. Because of the multitude of irrigation products on the market and the innovative and resourceful nature of farmers, an infinite number of irriga tion systems are in operation today, 11 of which have been selected for inclusion in the wade model (table 1) About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Introsuction; Performance indicatores for comparison; Features of the selected indicators; The indicators; Application; Temporal and spatial variation of indicators within a project; Limitations of the indicators; Interpretation of results; Discussion; data requirements to calculate performance indicators; Calculation example of performance indicators; World markrt prices of agricultural; products in constant 1995 dollars.

Farmer managed irrigation systems ; Performance evaluation ; Performance indexes ; Irrigation management ; Case studies ; Water distribution ; Social aspects ; Water users' associations ; Tube wells / Indonesia / Pakistan / Bolivia / Israel / Mexico / Peru / Venezuela / Andean Region / Philippines / Nepal / Sri Lanka / India / Egypt / Portugal / Tanzania / Argentina / China / Bangladesh

Much hope has been vested in pricing as a means of helping to regulate and rationalize water management, notably in the irrigation sector. The pricing of water has often been applied universally, using general and ideological policies, and not considering regional environmental and economic differences. Almost 15 years after the emphasis laid at the Dublin and Rio conferences on treating water as an economic good, a comprehensive review of how such policies have helped manage water resources an irrigation use is necessary. The case-studies presented here offer a reassessment of current policies by evaluating their objectives and constraints and often demonstrating their failure by not considering the regional context. They will therefore contribute to avoiding costly and misplaced reforms and help design water policies that are based on a deeper understanding of the factors which eventually dictate their effectiveness.