Publication
Title
Estimating the impacts of water pricing on smallholder irrigators in North West Province, South Africa
Author
Abstract
Worldwide growing water scarcity has increased the call for economic instruments to stimulate rational water use in agriculture. Furthermore, cost-recovery is now widely accepted as a cornerstone of sustainable water management. In many developing countries, where agricultural water use is often still subsidised, water pricing policies are developed for allocating water efficiently and achieving sustainability of water systems. However, the impacts of water pricing policies on irrigation water use and on farm production systems is mostly unknown. We introduce an innovative two-stage methodology that allows estimating these effects at farm level. Applying the method to small-scale irrigators in South Africa, we show that water demand is quite responsive even to small changes in water price. In addition, the introduction of a water price significantly decreases farm profit. This appears to be a problem primarily for the poorer farmers.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Agricultural water management. - Amsterdam
Publication
Amsterdam : 2009
ISSN
0378-3774
DOI
10.1016/J.AGWAT.2009.06.014
Volume/pages
96 :11 (2009) , p. 1560-1566
ISI
000270106000009
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 08.12.2009
Last edited 25.05.2022
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