Irrigation financing and cost recovery policy in India: Case studies from Bihar and Haryana

Several recent studies analyze the financial aspects of public irrigation systems in Asia. Repetto (1937) points out that governments collect from user fees on average less than 10 percent of the full costs of irrigation services; government subsidies range from 75 to 99 percent. Among the widespread problems encouraged by subsidies are chronic excess demand for water and water projects, poor operation and maintenance of completed systems, and inattention to water conservation opportunities. n a multicountry study of financing and cost recovery mechanisms in Asia, Small and others (1986) conclude that it is probably not feasible to collect irrigation service fees based on the volune of water used because of two factors: the inability of most agencies to measure water consumption accurately at the turnout ard the administrative costs of collecting fees from the large nurrber of individual farmers usually found in the irrigation system:: of developing countries. There does, however, appear to be sccpe for charging organized groups of farmers served from a common canal.