Irrigation-as-a-Service for Smallholder Farmers

Authors

Ishani Lal, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Nicholas Brozović

Date of this Version

5-2023

Citation

A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Agricultural Economics

Under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Brozović

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2023

Comments

Copyright 2024, Ishani Lal

Abstract

Irrigation is a crucial management practice that can help increase food security among smallholders globally while mitigating climate change impacts. High-efficiency irrigation technologies such as drip kits and sprinkler systems are relatively expensive and smallholder farmers cannot afford them to buffer crop yields against low precipitation. In many developing countries, farmers participate in robust informal markets for renting and sharing of irrigation equipment. Such services may be operated by farmers or via a third party such as irrigation start-ups, water user associations, non-governmental organizations, or even government agencies. These services are referred to collectively as Irrigation-as-a-Service (IaaS).

The objective of this study is to develop and analyze a decision-making model for IaaS. For purposes of this study, a decision maker is defined as someone who must choose an optimal strategy to provide occasional and mobile irrigation service across multiple possible fields when there are constraints that prevent all fields from being irrigated fully. Analytical and simulation methods will be used for solving the objective functions.

Here, a crop water production function was used to model the crop yield resulting from a given irrigation application. This establishes a mathematical relationship between crop yield and variable irrigation water inputs for a given set of climate conditions and farm management practices. Optimal irrigation service strategy across landscape was analyzed as it varies as a function of field-level parameters (soil type, crop type, and field size), regional parameters (weather), physical parameters (pump and pipe capacities), and economic parameters (fuel cost, labor cost, and crop prices).

Results reveal that decision-making under IaaS is complex, with solutions ranging from irrigating all, some, or only one field depending on key parameters. Analyzing the crop water production function and understanding the value of marginal irrigation is crucial to determining the optimal irrigation strategy for each field to maximize yield and profit. Asset utilization rates of irrigation equipment may increase or remain the same in IaaS as compared to a fixed irrigation system. The research also found there are situations where not using the equipment to its full potential is actually more profitable.

The results have policy implications regarding the cost-effectiveness of donor funds: indicating that IaaS can increase water-use efficiency, returns on invested funds, and asset utilization rates in most cases. In some countries pump sharing and pump rental markets are discouraged by government policies so a strong implication from these findings is that government would achieve its goals much better through encouraging water entrepreneurs and pump sharing than trying to suppress it.

Advisor: Nicholas Brozović