economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

2. Why the complementarity (as anticipated by the irrigation planners) between
irrigation infrastructure development and farm level investments on OFO has
been far from the expected levels?
3. How the region-specific factors could be integrated in the project design to
overcome the operational level constraints with a view to make water
institutions more successful in implementing scientific land and water
management practices in canal commands?
4. How to reconcile the contrast between irreversibility <strong>of</strong> public investment in
irrigation development and the irreversibility <strong>of</strong> cropping decisions (as is the
case <strong>of</strong> Kerala)?
3.1 Scope and objectives <strong>of</strong> the study
Given the seriousness <strong>of</strong> the problem <strong>of</strong> under-utilisation <strong>of</strong> irrigation potential
increasing in the successive plan periods and the consequent problems in terms
<strong>of</strong> cost-ineffectiveness <strong>of</strong> the irrigation investments. impact on socio-economic
and environmental conditions in the region, the need for identifying the factors
necessary to improve irrigation efficiency <strong>of</strong> the projects was on the increase.
Several scholars. as brought out by the review <strong>of</strong> literature, have been trying to
diagnose the reasons for the poor performance <strong>of</strong> irrigation projects. But, still
quite a few issues, as mentioned above, need further enquiry to understand the
local dynamics to formulate nppropriate strategies. Therefore, this study tries to
focus on the problems nnd prospects <strong>of</strong> OFD, an important and critical strategy to
improve water use efficiency. In doing so, it tries to identify the design and
technical constraints, if any, for the adoption <strong>of</strong> OFO in a given agro-climatic
81