The Effects of Well Depth and Land Quality on the Choice of Irrigation Technology

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces a framework to study the effects of farm characteristics (land quality and well depth) and irrigation technology characteristics (application effectiveness and pressurization requirement) on a farmer's choice of irrigation system. Conditions indicating how the adoption of drip or sprinkler irrigation affects water and energy demands are presented as well as conditions under which these technologies are likely to be adopted. Two functional forms for the production function (quadratic and Cobb‐Douglas) are presented with realistic values of key parameters. The empirical analysis demonstrates the importance of using forms which are consistent with the classical three stages of production.