The impacts of management reform on irrigation water use efficiency in the Guanzhong plain, China

Jianjun Tang, Henk Folmer, Arno van der Vlist, Jianhong Xue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper examines the efficiency of the 1998 irrigation management reform in the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi, China, at farm and canal level. Stochastic frontier analysis is applied to estimate irrigation water use efficiency, based on panel data for 800 farmers, spread over 80 irrigation canals, for the period 1999–2005. Analysis of determinants of water use efficiency shows that at farm level, water price and disclosure are important factors. Compared to the base case of unreformed, management reform has a positive impact with water user association having the largest effect, followed by joint‐stock co‐operative and private company. The canal model is in line with the farm level model, although estimates are less significant.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)455-475
Number of pages21
JournalPapers in Regional Science
Volume93
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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