Impact of Tube Well Irrigation Development in Sri Lanka

Agricultural Administration 20 (1985) 125-137

Impact of Tube Well Irrigation Development in Sri Lanka: A Case Study H. M. G. Herath Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Old Galaha Road, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (Received: 6 November, 1984)

SUMMARY The impact of tube well irrigation in the Mulankavil youth settlement scheme in Sri Lanka is investigated in this study. The main criterion on which the performance was evaluated was the impact on employment, incomes and crop production. The study showed that the youth settlement farms obtained higher incomes per unit area in comparison with an old colonist scheme. In terms of employment it was apparent that the deep tube wells in the youth scheme have generated a sign$cant demand for labour. The eficiency of use of inputs investigated using various criteria also confirmed the youth scheme to be much better than the colonist scheme. However, there was further potential for improvement of the perjormance of the youth scheme. The main problems appeared to be inadequate water supply, frequent breakdowns and lack of spare parts. Attention to these aspects couldfurther enhance the potential of tube well schemes.

INTRODUCTION Sri Lanka has two main agricultural zones, namely, the wet zone and the dry zone. The wet zone has reacheda considerable level of development but the potential for further expansion is limited. In the dry zone the potential for land development is high, but the exploitation of its agricultural potential is restricted due to constraints such as low and erratic rainfall and lack of perennial sources of water. 125 Agricultural Administration 0309-586X/85/$03.30 0 ElsevierApplied SciencePublishers Ltd, England, 1985. Printed in Great Britain

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In 1978, the Ministry of Lands and Land Development in Sri Lanka started a few youth settlement schemesin the dry zone based on tube wells.2 The Mulankavil educatedyouth settlement project, situated in the North-West part of the Jaffna district, is one of the schemesstarted under this project. This area experiencesmonsoonal rains during OctoberDecember and occasional rains in April-June. The average annual rainfall varies from 600-900mm. The Ministry of Lands of Sri Lanka with the assistanceof the OverseasDevelopment Administration of the United Kingdom established an irrigation infrastructure, comprising mainly drilling tube wells, construction of a rising main, forebays, channels and other structures required for irrigation. Basically the plan was to develop forest land with irrigation water facilities from underground water. The main objectives of this project are to improve employment and income earning opportunities of the educated youths and to increase output of subsidiary food crops. The project will be implemented in two stages. The difference between the two stages is only the time of implementation. StageI of the project has already started. StageII is not completed yet. This study dealswith the progressof StageI of the project and the aim is to evaluate the degreeto which the objectives of subsidiary food crop production and increased employment and incomes for the settlers have been achieved. THE ORGANIZATION

OF THE SCHEME

The project envisaged developing about 200ha of forest land using underground water. This area was divided into several8 ha blocks. Each block is given to 10youths with an averageland allocation of 0.8 ha. One tube well servesone block and hence 10farmers. Already in StageI, eight blocks havebeendevelopedand water is being provided to the total extent of 0.8 ha of each farmer, albeit on a limited scale. METHOD

OF ANALYSIS AND DATA

The method of analysis used computed indices of land use and profitability. Effects on employment were assessedby examining the demand for labour in the different schemes.The data necessaryfor the

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analysis are production, input use, water availability, and prices. These data were collected through a field survey of selected farmers in the settlement schemes using a structured questionnaire. The survey was conducted over a period of six months in 1981-82. In order to study the performance of the youth scheme,two groups of farmers were identified for study as follows: (a) Youths from the youth settlement schemehaving 0.8 ha of land provided with deep tube well irrigation facilities through the government (0.8 ha farms). (b) Old colonists living outside the youth scheme,having 2 ha of land with irrigation water from hand dug or hand drilled tube wells, all of which are privately owned (2 ha farms). The study of the old colonists provided a basis for comparison of the youth scheme with other existing schemes.The details of the samples selectedare given in Table 1. TABLE 1 Information on Samples Selected

Typeof farm

0.8 ha 2ha

Number of original settlers

Number of settlers at present

78 100

43 20

Size of sample selected

34 I1

CROPPING PATTERN The existing cropping systemsfor both youths and colonists are given in Table 2. The cropping system consists of cash crops such as chillies, onions, potatoes and tobacco; local vegetables such as brinjals and tomatoes; exotic vegetablessuch as cabbage, cauliflower and beetroots; semi-perennials like bananas and perennials such as pawpaw, lime and coconuts. The cropping patterns between old colonists and the youth settlers indicate that most crops grown are common to both groups. The youths, however, grow small amounts of exotic vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, beetroot, etc. These give high returns but are very risky and are not adopted by the old colonists.

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H. M. G. Herath TABLE

2

The Crops Grown, Period of Cultivation and Source of Irrigation Period

Crop

Chillies Onion I Onion II Brinjals Cabbage and cauliflower Tomato Tobacco Potato Banana Groundnut Pulses Sunhemp Vegetables (luffa, snakegourd, etc.)

Source of Irrigation

November-August April-June July-September July-February December-February January-March March-June December-February Continuous September-November September-November September-November Continuous

TABLE

Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated Irrigated/Rainfed Rainfed Rainfed Rainfed Irrigated/Rainfed

3

Percentage of Farmers Reporting Different Crops and the Average Farm Size Crop Percentage of jhrmers reporting

Chillies Onions Brinjals Cabbage and cauliflower Tomatoes Tobacco Beetroot Banana ’ Sample size: 32 b Sample size: 10

Colonistsb

Youths“ Acerage jhrm size (ha)

Percentage of jiwmers reporting

Acerage jhrm size (ha)

96.87 46.87 62.50

0.28 0.05 0.06

100 30 80

044 0.06 0.18

31.25 21.87 12.50 28.12 62.50

0.04 0.01 0.02 0.08 0.02

40 40 100

0.02 0.16 0.34


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A diversified system of cropping adopted by farmers helps to maximize resourceuse sincecrops are grown according to the availability of inputs, especiallywater. The importance of the individual crops in the diversified crop portfolio differs however. Data in Table 3 indicate that chillies occupy the largest proportion of land in both groups and nearly 100 percentof the farmers grew it. Bananawas the secondimportant crop for the colonists both in terms of the extent of land allocated and the percentageof farmers growing it. Brinjals came as the third important crop for the colonists and tobacco was the fourth. Among the youths, beetroot was the secondimportant crop, in terms of land but only 28 percent of the youths grew it. However, on the basis of the percentageof farmers reporting, brinjals was the second important crop where 62.5 percent of the farmers grew it in an average area of 0.06ha per farmer. Banana was the fourth important crop. Thus, it appearsthat the crop portfolio is basically dominated by chillies, brinjals, and bananas which are common to both groups and exotic vegetables grown by 30 percent of the youths. Small amounts of land were allocated to onions and tomatoes in both groups. INTENSITY

OF LAND USE

In land-scarceeconomies more intensive useof land is often advocated in order to maximize its optimal use.There is evidencethat smaller farmers in most developing countries cultivate their land more intensively than larger farmers. The intensive useof land dependsupon the availability of the necessaryinputs suchas irrigation water. Thus, cropping intensity is a useful index in evaluating the effects of irrigation. A diversified cropping system is adopted by the farmers both in spatial (several crops in contiguous units) and temporal (single, double or multiple) dimensions. Both theseaspectsmust be incorporated in computing cropping intensity. In computing the intensities in this study the extent of land used for different crops and the number of times that each crop is grown are incorporated. If the total land is used by one crop but two crops are obtained within a year the intensity is 200 percent. The intensities were computed both for individual farmers aswell as for the total sample. The average cropping intensity is 77 percent for the youth scheme and 68 percent for the colonists (Table 4). Although the cropping intensity for the youths is higher than that of the colonists, in

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4

Average (Annual) Cropping Intensity”

Type of

No. of farmers reporting

Settler

Youths Old colonists

22 10

Lund available (ha)

Land utilized (ha)

21.7 20.2

169 13.8

Cropping intensity (percent)

77 68

a Only 22 farmers had completed a full cropping year and hence intensity was calculated only for these farmers. As Block 5 farmers and some of the resettlers had only six months of cultivation they were omitted from the sample in calculating the intensity. The land available for the 22 farmers is greater than 17.6ha (at 0.8 ha each) due to renting land from non-residents.

absolute terms the intensities indicate further scopefor improvement of cropping intensity. The individual intensities indicate marked variability amongst the farmers. One of the main reasonsfor variation and lower cropping intensity is the inadequatewater supply. The delivery of water for four hours at fourday intervals is sufficient to irrigate 0.8 ha. Those who showed a higher cropping intensity had additional water from other sources.For example,

TABLE

5

Cost of Irrigation per Hour in Different Blocks” Block number

Number jhrmers

reporting

2 3 5 6 7 8

5 7 9 9 8 8

of

Total number of’hours irrigated

255 585 519 1008 1035 1370

cost oj fire1 and repairs VW)

Total costb of irrigation (Rs.1

cost of irrigation per hour (Rs.)

10.48 12.24 IO.10 9.93 8.84 IO.50

I 1904 14577 10075 16515 16672 21041

46.68 24.90 19.41 16.38 16.12 15.35

’ Calculated using 6 months data from January to June 1982. b Total cost = fuel + repairs + wages for operator and.watcher. Source: Water Resources Board, Sri Lanka.


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two farmers in Block 8 had intensities of 136 and 176 percent. These farmers had the opportunity to illegally tap water from the test bore holes.’ Regularity of water supply also affected cropping intensity. Frequent breakdowns of suction pumps resulted in a low pumping discharge rate and a limited area of cultivation. Block 3 farmers for example, showed lower cropping intensities due to breakdown of the suction pump. Cropping intensity is also affectedby the cost of irrigation. The cost of irrigation to a farmer consistsof chargeson fuel, lubricants, and wagesfor pump operator and watcher. The hourly costs of irrigation of different blocks given in Table 5 show that Blocks 2 and 3 had a higher cost than other blocks. The hourly cost of irrigation of these blocks (excluding operator and watcher cost) are Rs. 10.48 and Rs. 12.24 per hour, respectively. But the total hourly cost was Rs. 46.68 and Rs. 24.90, respectively. This is because of the constant fixed cost of the pump operator and watcher. In addition, the cost of repairs was also slightly higher in these blocks due to the bad performance of the pumpsets. The risk involved in the pumping technology in these blocks, and the consequent low participation of members, increased the individual farmer’s irrigation cost which affected cropping intensity. The capital availability of the farmer may also influence the intensity of land use. In the youth scheme, payment for water should be made in advance.Those farmers who do not have the capital to pay the advances on time are not able to get water for cultivation.

EFFECTS ON INCOME AND EFFICIENCY In this analysis several indices were used to examine the returns to the different factors in the Mulankavil scheme. Farm business income and farm net profit were used to measureprofitability. Expressedreturns to variable capital invested,systemindex and profit index wereusedto assess its efficiency. In working out these measures,two cost concepts usually used in farm management studies, namely cost A and cost B, were used (Table 6). These indices are defined as 1. Farm businessincome = Gross income minus cost A 2. Farm net profit = Gross income minus cost B

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H. M. G. Herath

3. Crop yield index

4. Intensity index

5. Profit index

= Measure of crop yields in relation to the averageof the area. Total farm expensesper unit area in a particular farm x 100 = Total farm expensesper unit area of all farms Average profit per unit area in a particular farm x 100 = Average profit per unit area of all farms

The results given in Table 6 indicate that the settlers on the 2 ha allotments earn an average farm business income and net profit of Rs. 21675 and Rs. 13581 respectively. The youths on the 0.8 ha farms earn an averageof Rs. 13527 as farm businessincome and a net profit of Rs. 9671 per annum. These figures indicate that the returns to a unit of land are higher on the 0.8 ha farms, Table 7 gives the ‘Expressed returns to variable cost’ of the different farms. The return to capital is Rs. 1.40and Rs. 1.55in the 2 ha and 0.8 ha farms respectively. The expressedreturns to other inputs also indicate TABLE

6

Annual Average Costs of Production of Crops and Measures of Income on Sample Farms, 1981/82 Item

Cost of production: Cost A” Cost B* Gross income (Rs.) Farm business income (Rs.) Farm net profit (Rs.)

2ha farms

0.8 ha farms

25645 33139 41320

13804 17660 21331

21615 13581

13527 9761

’ Cost A: Cost of cultivation excluding family labour. It covers items such as cost of hired labour, hired and owned bullock labour, seeds,manures, fertilizers, irrigation, crop protection expenditure, depreciation and hiring of implements and machinery etc. * Cost B: Cost A plus value of labour of the farmer and his family valued at the wage rate for hired labour.

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7

Returns to Variable Cost in the Youth Schemeand the Old Colonist Farms

Variable

cost

Returns to variable cost’ Net return to variable cost Return to unit cost of water Net return to unit cost of water Returns to unit cost of fertilizer Net return to unit cost of fertilizer

2ha fbrms

0.8 ha farms

1.40 0.40 6.30 2.10 1I .60 3.88

I.55 0.55 8.70 3.20 12.30 4.55

’ Returns to variable cost, water and fertilizer are computed by dividing the gross returns by the total cost of each of these items. The net return to variable cost, water and fertilizer are computed by dividing net return (net profit) by the total cost of the above items.

these returns to be comparatively higher in the 0.8 ha holdings, specially the returns to unit cost of water and fertilizer. The efficiency of these two groups of farming systems is measured in terms of efficiency indices, shown in Table 8. These indices show that the 0.8 ha farms had a higher intensity index while the 2 ha farms showed a higher profit index.

IMPACT ON LABOUR USE AND EMPLOYMENT A study of labour use provided an insight into the employment effectsof the project. For this reason labour usewas studied in detail. The annual averagenumber of man days of labour usedfor the 0.8 ha and 2 ha farms are approximately 390 and 620 man days respectively (Table 9). Hired labour accounted for 51 and 49 percent of total labour in the 0.8 ha and 2 ha farms respectivelyand family labour constituted the rest. The averagelabour use per ha is 484 and 307 man days for the 0.8 ha and 2 ha farms respectively,which indicated a higher intensity of labour usein 0.8 ha farms. It is worth noting that the hired women labour was relatively high in both cases.It amounted to 64.5 and 49.9 percent of total hired labour in the 0.8 ha and 2 ha farms respectively.The greater useof women

Gross income Gross costs Profit System index Intensity index Profit index

Indices

27 331 17225 10 106 100 100 100

Average for the whole sample

TABLE

8

44 242 30 908 13334 162 179 132

Average for the 25 percent most profitable farms

0.8 ha farms

16750 11479 5271 61 66 19

Average for the 25 percent least profitable farms

47 320 31496 15 824 100 100 100

Average for the whole sample

Efficiency Indices of the Different Types of Farms

73 301 49414 23 882 154 157 150

Average for the 25 percent most profitable farms

2 ha .farms

26 777 18 505 8271 57 59 52

Average for the 25 percent least profitable farms

3 s=

5

is 9

.s

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labour is due to the sex-specificnature of some operations such aspicking of chillies, planting, weeding, and harvesting of onions. The labour utilization pattern in the different blocks also differs markedly. For example, the total labour used in Block 8 is about 3700 man days, while in the other blocks it is lessthan 2000man days. It is also observedthat the proportion of family labour in Blocks 2 and 3 is higher than hired labour. This is reversedin the other blocks. These differences TABLE

9

Total and Average Labour Use in 0.8 ha and 2 ha Farms (man days per ha) Type of labour Total labour: Family Hired Total Labour per ha Family Hired Total

0.8 ha jhrms

2 ha jhrms

173 (5.78) 217 (64.5) 390

259 (9.6) 361 (49.9) 620

215 269 484

129.5 179.0 307.5

’ Figures within parenthesesindicate percentage of female labour in the given category.

are due to the type of cropping system adopted. In Blocks 2 and 3, only chillies are grown in part of the land for about nine months and for the rest of the period even this land is left fallow. In the other blocks (except Blocks 2 and 3) in addition to chillies other crops, such as brinjals, cabbage, onions etc., are also grown, The land in these blocks is used more intensively which required a higher level of labour use. There are also crop-wise variations in labour use.Short-term crops, like onions and potatoes, utilize more hired labour than family labour. Hired labour is essentialhere due to the needto complete operations within a short time. A comparison of labour generatedby a deep and a hand-drilled tube well indicated that the former generatesabout 2000 man days of labour (Table 10).The hand drilled tube wells used by the old colonists generate only about 620 man days. Employment-wise, the tube well scheme has beenbeneficial and further increasesin land intensity can generateeven more demand for labour.

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10

Use of Labour by Type of Well Type of’ well

Labour Family

Tube well scheme (youth scheme) Open dug well (old colonist)

971 259

(man days) Hired

1017 361

Total

I 988 620

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The foregoing analysisprovides evidencethat the 0.8 ha farms established by the government under the youth scheme have out-performed the colonists in terms of cropping intensity, and the level of employment generation. More than 50 percent of the employment generatedrequired hired labour. Also the averagebusinessincome level is about Rs. 6760per ha in the youth scheme,which is very high in relation to averageincome levels in many occupations in Sri Lanka. The gainful employment objective could be considered to have been met, in the youth scheme. Theseobjectives are lesswell reachedin the colonist farms. Profitability is also higher in the youth farms. The profit index, which is higher in the colonist farms, needscareful interpretation. The profit index shows that the 25 percent of the best farms gets a considerable slice of the income. Thus a higher profit index indicates that the dispersion of income is more unequal. In this respectthe youth farms, which show a lower profit index, show a lower inequality, a desirable feature. It should, however, be emphasizedthat the full potential of the project does not appear to be realized and that there is scope for further improvement of the project in terms of land use intensity, incomes and efficiency. The major constraints identified in this study are the irregular delivery of water and lack of spare parts for the tube well system to effect immediate repairs in caseof a breakdown. Irregular delivery has severe disadvantages.Farmers lose confidencein spendingcash on crops due to the uncertainty involved and also the irregular supply increasesthe cost of delivery of water. Lack of spareparts affectstimely delivery and frequent breakdowns can again increase costs. Attention must be paid to improving the delivery of water, particularly to some blocks, by effecting timely repairs and providing spare parts readily.


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This study, however, is based on data collected from one project and only one year’s data were used. Several potential problems in tube well schemes, such as salinity, were not considered. However, the study suggeststhat with careful control of the performance of the project some development goals could be achieved. REFERENCES 1. Nagendran, A. Economics of tube well irrigation in Sri Lanka. M. Phil Thesis, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 1984. 2. Robertson, C. A. et al. Land water resources in the North West Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. Proposals for investigation and development. London, Overseas Development Administration, Land Resource Development Centre Project Report 59, (1978).