Performance assessment of canal irrigation in Pakistan

Abstract

Irrigated agriculture plays an important role in economic development of many countries world wide. Pakistan has a 
large system of irrigated agriculture. In this research, performance of an irrigation system in Punjab Pakistan has 
been investigated. Five indicators; Cost Recovery Ratio, Benefit Cost Ratio, Economic Delivery Efficiency, Relative 
Water Cost and Delivery Performance Ratio have been used to assess performance of the system. The data 
regarding cost of water paid by farmers, the irrigation benefits per unit water volume, operation and maintenance 
cost, and total production cost including the cost of irrigation, seed, fertilizer, pesticide, labour, etc. were collected 
by field measurements, interviews with farmers and market surveys. The data have also been taken from the records 
of Punjab Irrigation Department. The analysis shows that irrigated agriculture in Pakistan is potentially cost
effective. However, the establishment costs of the system are more, which shows the inefficiency of the managerial 
system. It was concluded that the Recovery Cost Ratio and Relative Water Cost of the system are 0.777 and 0.311 
respectively. Low value of Delivery Performance Ratio indicates inequitable distribution.