BOOK REVIEW by www.watermagazine.com
WATER FOR AGRICULTURE: Irrigation Economics in International Perspective
By Stephen Merret
Published by Spon Press & Taylor & Francis Publishing Group
Details: www.sponpress.com
This 230 page book by Stephen Merret, is part of Spon Press's Environmental Science & Engineering series. Water for Agriculture was published in 2002. It is part if a series covering water, waste and contaminated land issues. The series is targeted at engineers and scientists, and will also be of interest to economists, lawyers, legislators, regulators and advanced students.
"...whereas world population will increase by about one-third to some eight billion by the year 2025, there is no prospect whatsoever of any increase in the global effective rainfall that nurtures the world's plant and animal life and that feeds its lakes, rivers and aquifers..."
This is a concise and useful book, packed with up-to-date tables and graphics, useful bullet point summaries of key arguments and issues, and well explained case studies drawn from countries around the world. One of the most helpful elements of the book is an extremely detailed and careful glossary. There is also a comprehensive index and bibliography.
The chapter contents of the book include:
- 1. The Global Challenge (This sets the scene, looking out to 2025 and 2080. It introduces the core concept of The Irrigation Cycle which is explained by reference to a case study in Southern India. It then introduces some ideas as to how that "Irrigation Cycle" might be changed.);
- 2. The Demand for Irrigation Services (Looks at plants and farmers' demand for water, and gets into the efficiency of irrigation. A few equations here for the economists - but quite readable.);
- 3. Irrigation Service Supply: the infrastructure (This looks at the pipes and pumps needed for supply, and how this capital equipment might be financed. As in Chapter 2 - case studies are freely used.);
- 4. Irrigation Service Supply: operation, maintenance & management (This looks at costs of operation, and considers how these costs might be met. It goes into full cost payment. Various charging regimes are examined - including for example an environmental regulation charge, abstraction charges etc. Case studies include irrigation transfer management on the Alto Rio Lerma in Mexico, and tradeable abstraction rights in Victoria, Australia.);
- 5. Drainage Services demand and supply (Case studies include farmland drainage in England and in the Lower Indux, Pakistan. The Chapter introduces the idea of "The Public Good". The author advocates for the English and Welsh systems of Net Rateable Value methods of charging with respect to drainage.);
- 6. Social Cost-Benefit Analysis for irrigation and drainage projects (Case studies here include Luzon, the Philippines and the disappearing water in the American West. The author concludes that project evaluations must include social and environmental criteria as well as economic criteria. And suggests 7 golden rules of procedure.);
- 7. Water Allocation at the Regional Scale (Water allocation on the Palestinian West Bank sets the scene here in considerable detail.);
- 8. Institutional economics and irrigation policy (This chapter brings all the points raised in previous chapters together. A further set of 9 procedures is recommended for decision-making.);
A quote from the book's conclusion in Chapter 4 gives an indication of the sources used and contradictions the author tries to tease out in this difficult and controversial subject: "...Perhaps it is that irrigation management transfer is quinessentially a compound of private economic interests and political power set within a given hydrological context - and that Kloezen and his colleagues have a good grasp of hydropolitics. In contrast, the language of many economists is so distant from the complex drives of individuals, families and organisations, and so wedded to a vision of the determining interplay of measureable quantities, that they fail to understand the nature and exercise of power...".
The book is a genuine attempt at de-mystifying economics and economist thinking. It seeks to apply honest economics to the problem of irrigation and drainage in a meaningful way - which connects with the real world. It provides a set of policy procedures for irrigation and drainage related management, (a sort of tool kit for decision-makers), which embody the essence of economic thinking, without forcing the user into complex mathematics.
Water for Agriculture is 235 pages long and is available in soft cover. It was first published in 2002 and retails at 29.99 pounds UK. The isbn is 0-415-25239-3. To order it readers should contact ITPS, Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5BE. Tel +44 (0)1264343071 or Fax +44 (0)1264343055. Books can also be ordered on their website at www.sponpress.com or by e-mail
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