IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v245y2021ics0378377420320953.html

The impact of water-pricing policies on water productivity: Evidence of agriculture sector in Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Zamani, Omid
  • Azadi, Hossein
  • Mortazavi, Seyed Abolghasem
  • Balali, Hamid
  • Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed
  • Jurik, Lubos

Abstract

Water pricing and reducing the costs of the implementation and maintenance of irrigation systems have been a challenging topic for a long time. Water pricing issues combine two complex dimensions. The first dimension is the economy of the farm and its association with the broader economic system and farming practices. The second dimension is the hydrology and interconnection of the plot with the irrigation system, the river basin, and the underlying water policy framework. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate how the institutionalization of water applied would affect water productivity through the implementation of a water-pricing policy. To this end, this study formulated a Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) model with a gross margin maximizing objective function to assess the data collected from 213 farms in Hamadan-Bahar Plain, Iran. The results revealed that a water-pricing policy can change the cropping pattern and also irrigation system within the limitations of the case study. It can also be a driver to motivate farmers to use a modern and more efficient irrigation system. The potential environmental benefits from the improved on-farm irrigation efficiency depend on the government's ability to prevent the extension of the irrigated area. In absence of such controls, the aquifer depletion will be accelerated. Therefore, an appropriate water-pricing policy could improve water productivity and also reduce water applied.

Suggested Citation

  • Zamani, Omid & Azadi, Hossein & Mortazavi, Seyed Abolghasem & Balali, Hamid & Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed & Jurik, Lubos, 2021. "The impact of water-pricing policies on water productivity: Evidence of agriculture sector in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:245:y:2021:i:c:s0378377420320953
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377420320953
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106548?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:bosers:h021374 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gorjian, Shiva & Ghobadian, Barat, 2015. "Solar desalination: A sustainable solution to water crisis in Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 571-584.
    3. Molle, François & Venot, Jean-Philippe & Hassan, Youssef, 2008. "Irrigation in the Jordan Valley: Are water pricing policies overly optimistic?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 427-438, April.
    4. Argyris Kanellopoulos & Paul Berentsen & Thomas Heckelei & Martin Van Ittersum & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2010. "Assessing the Forecasting Performance of a Generic Bio‐Economic Farm Model Calibrated With Two Different PMP Variants," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 274-294, June.
    5. Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R., 2015. "Shadow price of water for irrigation—A case of the High Plains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 20-31.
    6. Rui Manuel de Sousa Fragoso & Carlos Alberto Falcão Marques, 2013. "The Economic Impact of Alternative Water Pricing Policies in Alentejo Region," CEFAGE-UE Working Papers 2013_02, University of Evora, CEFAGE-UE (Portugal).
    7. Pierre Mérel & Richard Howitt, 2014. "Theory and Application of Positive Mathematical Programming in Agriculture and the Environment," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 451-470, October.
    8. Faramarzi, Monireh & Yang, Hong & Schulin, Rainer & Abbaspour, Karim C., 2010. "Modeling wheat yield and crop water productivity in Iran: Implications of agricultural water management for wheat production," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1861-1875, November.
    9. Varela-Ortega, Consuelo & M. Sumpsi, Jose & Garrido, Alberto & Blanco, Maria & Iglesias, Eva, 1998. "Water pricing policies, public decision making and farmers' response: implications for water policy," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 19(1-2), pages 193-202, September.
    10. Zamani, Omid & Grundmann, Philipp & Libra, Judy A. & Nikouei, Alireza, 2019. "Limiting and timing water supply for agricultural production – The case of the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin, Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 322-335.
    11. Gómez-Limón, José A. & Gutiérrez-Martín, Carlos & Riesgo, Laura, 2016. "Modeling at farm level: Positive Multi-Attribute Utility Programming," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 17-27.
    12. Pierre Mérel & Santiago Bucaram, 2010. "Exact calibration of programming models of agricultural supply against exogenous supply elasticities," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 37(3), pages 395-418, September.
    13. Jean-Philippe Venot & François Molle, 2008. "Groundwater Depletion in the Jordan Highlands: Can Pricing Policies Regulate Irrigation Water Use?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1925-1941, December.
    14. Molden, David J., 1997. "Accounting for water use and productivity," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 113623, January.
    15. Galioto, Francesco & Guerra, Elisa & Raggi, Meri & Viaggi, Davide, 2017. "The impact of new regulations on water pricing in the agricultural sector: a case study from Northern Italy," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 0(Issue 2).
    16. Mohammad Ali Asaadi & Seyed Abolghasem Mortazavi & Omid Zamani & Gholam Hassan Najafi & Talal Yusaf & Seyed Salar Hoseini, 2019. "The Impacts of Water Pricing and Non-Pricing Policies on Sustainable Water Resources Management: A Case of Ghorveh Plain at Kurdistan Province, Iran," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    17. Tagarirofa Jacob & Chazovachii Bernard, 2013. "Exploring the politics of local participation in rural development projects: small dams rehabilitation project in Zimbabwe," Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, CyberLeninka;Редакция журнала Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, vol. 14(2), pages 74-88.
    18. Ørum, Jens Erik & Boesen, Mads Vejlby & Jovanovic, Zorica & Pedersen, Søren Marcus, 2010. "Farmers' incentives to save water with new irrigation systems and water taxation--A case study of Serbian potato production," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 465-471, December.
    19. Kaveh Madani, 2014. "Water management in Iran: what is causing the looming crisis?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 4(4), pages 315-328, December.
    20. Ahmad, M.D. & Turral, H. & Nazeer, A., 2009. "Diagnosing irrigation performance and water productivity through satellite remote sensing and secondary data in a large irrigation system of Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(4), pages 551-564, April.
    21. Minjun Shi & Xiaojun Wang & Hong Yang & Tao Wang, 2014. "Pricing or Quota? A Solution to Water Scarcity in Oasis Regions in China: A Case Study in the Heihe River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-20, October.
    22. Balali, Hamid & Khalilian, Sadegh & Viaggi, Davide & Bartolini, Fabio & Ahmadian, Majid, 2011. "Groundwater balance and conservation under different water pricing and agricultural policy scenarios: A case study of the Hamadan-Bahar plain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 863-872, March.
    23. Liu, Junguo & Williams, Jimmy R. & Zehnder, Alexander J.B. & Yang, Hong, 2007. "GEPIC - modelling wheat yield and crop water productivity with high resolution on a global scale," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 478-493, May.
    24. Lee, Hwarang & Eom, Jiyong & Cho, Cheolhung & Koo, Yoonmo, 2019. "A bottom-up model of industrial energy system with positive mathematical programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 679-690.
    25. Chebil, A. & Frija, A. & Thabet, C., 2012. "Irrigation water pricing between governmental policies and farmers’ perception: Implications for green-houses horticultural production in Teboulba (Tunisia)," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11.
    26. Barati, Ali Akbar & Azadi, Hossein & Scheffran, Jürgen, 2019. "A system dynamics model of smart groundwater governance," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 502-518.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Ismaeil Kamali & Hossein Ansari & Rouzbeh Nazari, 2022. "Optimization of Applied Water Depth Under Water Limiting Conditions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(11), pages 4081-4098, September.
    2. Lan Mu & Yuan Wang & Binrui Xue, 2024. "The Impacts of Agricultural Water Pricing on Sustainable Agricultural Production," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 38(3), pages 1061-1078, February.
    3. Rahmatollah Kazemi-nejad & Azam Rezaee & Ramtin Joolaie & Ali Keramatzadeh, 2024. "Investigating the effects of water resources consumption reduction policies on agricultural sustainability in different climates in Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1007-1032, January.
    4. Lei Deng & Jingjie Zhao, 2025. "Assessing economic and environmental impacts of subsidies for organic fertilizer in vegetable production: insights from a combined PMP-LCA-LCC approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(8), pages 19707-19726, August.
    5. Ershadfath, Farnaz & Shahnazari, Ali & Sarjaz, Mahmoud Raeini & Moghadasi, Omid Ali & Soheilifard, Farshad & Andaryani, Soghra & Khosravi, Rezvan & Ebrahimi, Raheleh & Hashemi, Fatemeh & Trolle, Denni, 2024. "Water-energy-food-greenhouse gas nexus: An approach to solutions for water scarcity in agriculture of a semi-arid region," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lan Mu & Yuan Wang & Binrui Xue, 2024. "The Impacts of Agricultural Water Pricing on Sustainable Agricultural Production," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 38(3), pages 1061-1078, February.
    2. Zamani, Omid & Grundmann, Philipp & Libra, Judy A. & Nikouei, Alireza, 2019. "Limiting and timing water supply for agricultural production – The case of the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin, Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 322-335.
    3. Prakashan Veettil & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 55-73, January.
    4. Buttinelli, Rebecca & Cortignani, Raffaele & Caracciolo, Francesco, 2024. "Irrigation water economic value and productivity: An econometric estimation for maize grain production in Italy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    5. Lee, Hwarang & Eom, Jiyong & Cho, Cheolhung & Koo, Yoonmo, 2019. "A bottom-up model of industrial energy system with positive mathematical programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 679-690.
    6. Siwa Msangi & Sarah Ann Cline, 2016. "Improving Groundwater Management for Indian Agriculture: Assessing Tradeoffs Across Policy Instruments," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 1-33, September.
    7. Nouri, Milad & Homaee, Mehdi & Pereira, Luis S. & Bybordi, Mohammad, 2023. "Water management dilemma in the agricultural sector of Iran: A review focusing on water governance," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    8. Rouzaneh, Davoud & Yazdanpanah, Masoud & Jahromi, Arman Bakhshi, 2021. "Evaluating micro-irrigation system performance through assessment of farmers' satisfaction: implications for adoption, longevity, and water use efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    9. Mohamed Kharrou & Michel Le Page & Ahmed Chehbouni & Vincent Simonneaux & Salah Er-Raki & Lionel Jarlan & Lahcen Ouzine & Said Khabba & Ghani Chehbouni, 2013. "Assessment of Equity and Adequacy of Water Delivery in Irrigation Systems Using Remote Sensing-Based Indicators in Semi-Arid Region, Morocco," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(13), pages 4697-4714, October.
    10. Muhammad Usman & Talha Mahmood & Christopher Conrad & Habib Ullah Bodla, 2020. "Remote Sensing and Modelling Based Framework for Valuing Irrigation System Efficiency and Steering Indicators of Consumptive Water Use in an Irrigated Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-33, November.
    11. Abolpour, Behrouz, 2018. "Realistic evaluation of crop water productivity for sustainable farming of wheat in Kamin Region, Fars Province, Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 94-103.
    12. Wang, Shuping & Tan, Qian & Zhang, Tianyuan & Zhang, Tong, 2022. "Water management policy analysis: Insight from a calibration-based inexact programming method," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    13. Ali Akbar Barati & Hossein Azadi & Saghi Movahhed Moghaddam & Jürgen Scheffran & Milad Dehghani Pour, 2024. "Agricultural expansion and its impacts on climate change: evidence from Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 5089-5115, February.
    14. Susanne Scheierling & David O. Treguer & James F. Booker, 2016. "Water Productivity in Agriculture: Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 1-33, September.
    15. Slocum, Alexander H. & Gessel, David J., 2022. "Evolving from a hydrocarbon-based to a sustainable economy: Starting with a case study for Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Umed Temurshoev & Marian Mraz & Luis Delgado Sancho & Peter Eder, 2015. "EU Petroleum Refining Fitness Check: OURSE Modelling and Results," JRC Research Reports JRC96207, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Steren, Aviv & Slater, Yehuda & Rubin, Ofir D. & Fleischer, Aliza & Kan, Iddo, 2025. "Toward sustainable practices in photovoltaic and agricultural greenhouse systems: An ecosystem services framework," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    18. Xuan Liu & Gerrit Cornelis van Kooten & Jun Duan, 2020. "Calibration of agricultural risk programming models using positive mathematical programming," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(3), pages 795-817, July.
    19. Ifaei, Pouya & Farid, Alireza & Yoo, ChangKyoo, 2018. "An optimal renewable energy management strategy with and without hydropower using a factor weighted multi-criteria decision making analysis and nation-wide big data - Case study in Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 357-372.
    20. Jonathan R. Sweeney & Richard E. Howitt & Hing Ling Chan & Minling Pan & PingSun Leung, 2017. "How do fishery policies affect Hawaii's longline fishing industry? Calibrating a positive mathematical programming model," Papers 1707.03960, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:245:y:2021:i:c:s0378377420320953. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.