Hybridizing the commons. Privatizing and outsourcing collective irrigation management after technological change in Spain

García-Mollá, Marta; Ortega-Reig, Mar; Boelens, Rutgerd; Ibor, Carles Sanchís

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104983

Cited by 41 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…According to the existing research literature, rural irrigation collective actions are rich in content, including the supply of rural collective irrigation facilities (such as the construction [40,63,64], investment [7,49,53] and commissioning [65]), the management of rural collective irrigation facilities (such as facility management and protection [4,66,67], performance evaluation of collective farmland irrigation system [68][69][70] and irrigation management reform [10,27]), and future demand analysis of rural collective irrigation facilities (such as demand willingness) [48,49]. According to the basic theory of economics, exclusivity and competitiveness are two important criteria used to classify the attributes of goods.…”

Section: Dependent Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China

Zang

Wang

2021

Land

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Farmland scale management represents an inevitable trend toward global modern agriculture. In the new development context, the key to solving the tough problem of the insufficient supply of rural public goods is to effectively improve the enthusiasm of farming households to participate in rural collective action in countries with a small arable area per capita, such as India, China and countries in Eastern Europe. This paper adopts the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework in the context of a land system with Chinese characteristics, and uses sample data of 3663 rural households in 17 provinces to study the impact of farmland scale and various relevant systems on farming households’ participation in rural collective action. We found that the advantages of collective action, such as reduced production costs, enhanced risk resistance and improved production efficiency, can offset the disadvantages incurred by free-riding behavior, and the expansion of farmland scale can significantly facilitate rural collective action. Additionally, as the farmland scale expands, stable farmland tenure and reasonable farmland tenure transfer can help to optimize the allocation of arable land resources, increase investment, and reduce free-riding behavior, thus effectively stimulating farming households to actively participate in collective action. However, since socialized agricultural services lead to the separation of the suppliers and the users of rural public goods, the expansion of farmland scale shows a negative effect. Therefore, in the context of the continuous migration of the rural population to cities, a stable farmland tenure adjustment mechanism should be established, while the balance between farmland tenure transfer and socialized agricultural services, in pushing forward rural collective action, should be emphasized, so as to ensure the effective supply of rural public goods in propelling farmland scale management. Especially in promoting the development of socialized agricultural services, more attention should be paid to specifying the responsibilities and obligations of the main provider of commercialized services in the supply of rural public goods.

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Section: Dependent Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China

Zang

Wang

2021

Land

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“…Agreements were reached to restructure the pending debts, and in February 1996, the definitive ordinances of the general community were passed, and its General Assembly and Governing Body were constituted according to the current functioning. The studied case shows the importance of human and social capital quality, their local rootedness, and recognition of how valuable collective water management is; these factors, which depend on the tradition, culture, and size of the water user collectives, make irrigation entities more robust vis-à-vis external pressures and disturbances [8]. This evolution of the entity, by means of an adaptive governance to water management, shows the significant role that the new structure may play in resolving underlying differences between stakeholders, contributing to the sustainability of the integrated system [27,28].…”

Section: The Constitution Of the "Comunidad General De Regantes Riegomentioning

confidence: 99%

From Private Company to Water User Association and Natural Park over a Century: The Case of Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura (Spain)

Fernández-Aracil

Melgarejo

López-Ortiz

2021

Water

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This work examines the transformations occurred with the shift from private company to water user association and natural park, looking at one collective irrigation system located in Alicante province (Spain): Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura, one of the most extensive irrigation areas in Europe. Between 1918 and 2018, a process of change and transformation of both landscape and institutions occurred, considering: infrastructure expansion and its operation, the transfer of irrigation management responsibilities to water user association, after years of financial operations with water, thanks to state intervention, the coexistence of traditional agriculture with the modernisation of the irrigation systems, the history of an irrigation reservoir which was transformed into a natural site in 1988, or the evolution of the composition of water resources, taking into account the arrival of the Tajo-Segura transfer waters from the year 1979. The general objective is to understand key factors driving these changes, by means of a paradigmatic case study, as well as to identify policymaking and context-relevant dynamics that could enable it.

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“…The rapid technological shift has provoked numerous changes in irrigation practices and institutions [9][10][11][12][13], water management and water resource savings [14][15][16][17][18][19], and energy costs [20][21][22]. Some of these changes were more or less explicitly defined as objectives of the modernization mission, but many others are unforeseen effects caused by the lack of an ex ante integrated analysis of both irrigation management and technological change processes [23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irrigation Post-Modernization. Farmers Envisioning Irrigation Policy in the Region of Valencia (Spain)

et al. 2021

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During the last three decades, like many other Mediterranean states, Spain has intensively promoted the modernization of irrigation, focusing mainly on the introduction of pressurized irrigation systems. Following 30 years of investment, a shift in irrigation policies is needed to solve some of the deficiencies in this modernization process and to incorporate new measures to cope with upcoming challenges generated by international markets, climate change and other social and economic processes. This paper describes and analyses the results of participatory research carried out with the water user associations in the autonomous region of Valencia, in order to define post-modernization irrigation policies. A survey and 24 local workshops involving 304 water user associations were conducted during the irrigation season of 2018 in order to form an assessment of the sector and design new irrigation policies. The results show that after 30 years of important investment, the obsolescence of the infrastructure has become the current main priority, making farmers dependent on public subsidies. New necessities have also emerged, such as renewable energies and nonconventional water resources, which farmers consider indispensable in order to reduce operating costs and guarantee water supply.

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Hybridizing the commons. Privatizing and outsourcing collective irrigation management after technological change in Spain

Cited by 41 publications

References 48 publications

Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China

Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China

From Private Company to Water User Association and Natural Park over a Century: The Case of Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura (Spain)

Irrigation Post-Modernization. Farmers Envisioning Irrigation Policy in the Region of Valencia (Spain)

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