2001 Volume 45 Issue 3 Pages 216-224
By setting up three development phases in irrigated agriculture in relation to the development of farmland, i.e., land opening, irrigation new construction and irrigation rehabilitation/modernization, and by using the data compiled for the last half century since independence in the Philippines, we conducted cost-benefit analyses and showed that the crop sector in the Philippines passed through the first two phases, and reached the last phase by 1990. It was observed that government irrigation investment, while restricted by the long-run needs of the sector, has been subjected to wide shortrun fluctuations. In the present phase, investment for the rehabilitation and maintenance of irrigation system, in particular, has been insufficient, in spite of the high rates of return to such investment. To achieve agricultural development in this phase, it is necessary to address these issues.
