The economic feasibility of run-off impoundments for supplemental irrigation in Blacklands region of Texas /
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1991.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | ProQuest, Abstract Link to OAKTrust copy |
| Abstract: | Weather variation in humid regions is an important cause of yield variation and, in turn, farm income variation. Supplemental irrigation can be used to mitigate such weather variation, increasing income and/or reducing income variability. One potential source of supplemental irrigation water is an on-farm run-off collection reservoir. The purpose of this study is to develop an analytical procedure for investigating the economic feasibility of investments in on-farm on-farm-reservoir-based supplemental irrigation systems. A case study is done in the Backlands region of Texas. To analyze the problem, a two-stage decision environment is assumed. In the first stage, long-run decisions involving pond size, distribution system and cropmix are made. In the second stage irrigation application decisions are made conditioned on weather which alters the water supply and crop water demand. A combination of optimization and simulation modeling is adopted to carry out this analysis. Crop-growth simulation models are used to estimate crop yields and crop water demand under varying weather conditions and cultural practices. In addition, a hydrologic simulator is used to estimate water supply for different choices of reservoir size under varying weather. Subsequently the simulation information is incorporated into a nonlinear, mixed integer, discrete stochastic program. This optimization problem treats both profit maximization and risk aversion. The decision criterion embedded involves whether supplemental irrigation increases expected income (or expected income adjusted for risk) across the states of nature minus annualized fixed costs of investment when compared to dryland production. The model chooses the optimal reservoir size, irrigation system, crop mix and weather dependent irrigation application subject to land availability, crop rotations, labor availability, and stochastic water availability. Bender's decomposition is used to solve the problem. The analysis indicates that supplemental irrigation using on-farm water run-off is economically feasible under all conditions considered in this study. However, the investment plan (reservoir size, irrigation system, and size of irrigable land), the expected net benefit, and the variability of total farm income varies with product prices, drainage area, cultural practices and risk attitudes. The analysis also showed that, in this case, supplemental irrigation is both an income-increasing and a risk -reducing input. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Typescript (photocopy). Vita. "Major subject: Agricultural Economics." |
| Physical Description: | xii, 185 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |