Study on Economies of Scale in Irrigation Development

Structural factors affecting the economies of scale

Abstract

A notion that larger-scale irrigation development is more advantageous from the structural perspective is commonly accepted on the basis of experiences in practical works, however it has not been fully analyzed yet. This paper aims to identify factors affecting the “economies of scale” of irrigation development projects from structural aspects utilizing examples of projects planned by Japanese ODA.
Three factors affecting the economies of scale of irrigation development projects are identified as the one related to; 1) water resource development potential, 2) designing of irrigation facilities, 3) construction works. This paper showed that economies of scale can be applied to each factor. In addition, when the project sites do not have difference in natural conditions, the principle of the economies of scale can be valid among different irrigation schemes of different scale.