In the context of Bangladesh, water is both an asset and a liability. Perhaps there are very few countries in the world where water appears to be both scarce as well as abundant within a very short period of time. In the dry season (January-April), farmers need water direly for growing crops and its scarcity adversely affects agricultural production. In fact, for ages, farmers in Bangladesh have been deprived of paddy crop in the dry season due to paucity of water, thus forcing them to grow only one paddy crop under rain-fed conditions. But in the monsoon season also, water sometimes becomes a curse rather than a blessing when floods inundate vast tracts of crop fields. About one-thirds of the country's area is expected to be submerged by monsoon flood in a normal year whereas almost the entire dry season faces a serious dearth of water.
From the very inception of mechanised irrigation in Bangladesh - mostly driven by the dry-season - a state entity, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), stepped in for supplying seed and water to the farmers. The BADC used to buy deep tube wells (DTWs) - with a capacity of watering 12-15 hectares of land - and rent these out to village cooperatives. Besides, low lift pumps (LLPs) were also rented out for irrigation for using surface water. In the 1970s, private sector intervention in minor irrigation was banned and almost non-existent. In subsequent periods, under the programmes of deregulation and liberalisation, the BADC decided to sell DTWS and LLPs to farmers. Quite expectedly, these were bought mostly by big landowners because: (a) they could afford to offer substantial amount of cash as down payments to procure these and (b) they had relatively more access to formal institutions for finance.
However, the owners of DTWs and LLPs started selling water to villagers. But very soon it appeared that in the face of high demand for water, owners of the equipment began to charge excessive rates for water and, within a few years, they emerged as 'water-lords' in respective localities. Â
On the other hand, possibly to help these groups, installation of shallow tube wells (STWs) within a fixed radius was banned by the government. Thus, water soon turned out to be a cause of woes in the wake of monopolistic behaviour of the state-sponsored water-lords. More importantly, especially marginal farmers faced a lot of barriers in accessing water for their tiny plots. It is perhaps for this reason that the early critics of the Green Revolution saw a syndrome of differentiation in peasantry following the advent of the expensive input package.
And, then onwards and especially since the mid-1980s, the government implemented an epoch-making policy reform in the marketing of agricultural inputs. The policy aimed at reducing the role of the government and, at the same time, lubricating the role of the private sector in the arena of irrigation. To this effect, the government (a) removed the ban on private sector investment for minor irrigation equipment; (b) encouraged the private sector to import agricultural machinery; (c) reduced import duties on pumps and other accessories and (d) lifted the restrictions on standardisation of irrigation equipment.
Thus, Bangladesh experienced a rapid expansion of irrigation facilities after these policy changes. In the subsequent period after liberalisation of the equipment market, considerable investment has been made in developing groundwater irrigation. As farm holdings are scattered, the owners of the equipment can also operate on lands outside the command area. As a result, especially in dry season, a market developed in rural areas to exchange water for paddy (Boro). We have named it as 'water market'. As of now, 1-2 million shallow machines are operating and all of them are under private ownership. Under different contractual arrangements, the services of the wells are sold in the 'water market'.
The most beneficiary of this development has been the marginal farmers cultivating less than 0.40 ha of land. Most of them do not own equipment but can buy water from an owner who is in dire need of selling it to economise the cost of equipment. At the same time, and as revealed by different researches, a revolutionary change has also taken place in the mode of payment of water price. Initially, one-fourths of the harvested crop was to be surrendered in exchange for water, as and when needed. Later, a system of cash rental, per hectare per season, was introduced. And recently, a system of water charge per hour of the machine has been developed in many places. The hourly rent varies depending on who bears the cost of the fuel. With the development of the hourly rate, reportedly, water is being used more efficiently and the unit cost of irrigation has begun to decline.
It may be mentioned here that the machines used in the dry season are also being used for supplementary irrigation in rainy season rice crop (Aman), particularly during the time of inadequate rainfall. This helps avert the impact of drought on Aman crop. In some places, the owners of the STWs or LLPs are renting out (or using for themselves) equipment for running country boats in rainy season and, thus, opening up another window of non-farm income generation.
In some places again, uses of machines in transport are also reported. Thus, these are used not only for irrigation but also for earning income from non-farm activities. In Barind Tract region, for example, there has developed a system of prepaid metres to reduce wastage and corruption of irrigation water supplied by deep tube wells.
It is thus no surprise that over four-fifths of the marginal farmers can now access water as compared to only 40 per cent in the 1980s, and roughly four-fifths of their cultivated land has been brought under irrigation, especially mechanised irrigation. This has been due to the presence of an active water market at the local level, declining costs of water and wise and economic use of the equipment by the owners. Deregulation and liberalisation of the water market in Bangladesh has created a win-win situation. The 'water-lords' of the 1980s were forced to quit business in the wake of growing competition in the water market. It shows that institutional change in the distribution of agricultural inputs is the key to the access of the marginal farmers.
The writer is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University. abdulbayes@yahoo.com
Water market and farm productivity
Abdul Bayes | Published: March 31, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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