Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh

Rapid expansion of groundwater use for irrigation for dry season rice production in Bangladesh has led to overuse, deterioration of groundwater quality, increased cost of irrigation, and higher greenhouse gas emissions. The divergence between marginal private and social cost of irrigation due to mar...

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Main Authors: Pandey, Sushil, Yadav, Sudhir, Hellin, Jon, Balié, Jean, Bhandari, Humnath, Kumar, Arvind, Mondal, Manoranjan K.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: MDPI 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/164503
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author Pandey, Sushil
Yadav, Sudhir
Hellin, Jon
Balié, Jean
Bhandari, Humnath
Kumar, Arvind
Mondal, Manoranjan K.
author_browse Balié, Jean
Bhandari, Humnath
Hellin, Jon
Kumar, Arvind
Mondal, Manoranjan K.
Pandey, Sushil
Yadav, Sudhir
author_facet Pandey, Sushil
Yadav, Sudhir
Hellin, Jon
Balié, Jean
Bhandari, Humnath
Kumar, Arvind
Mondal, Manoranjan K.
author_sort Pandey, Sushil
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Rapid expansion of groundwater use for irrigation for dry season rice production in Bangladesh has led to overuse, deterioration of groundwater quality, increased cost of irrigation, and higher greenhouse gas emissions. The divergence between marginal private and social cost of irrigation due to market failures in the presence of these externalities, has resulted in excessive use of groundwater. A combination of policy reforms and improvements in irrigation practices are hence needed to reduce irrigation water use. The paper analyses why an improved irrigation practice, known as “alternate wetting and drying (AWD)” that can potentially reduce irrigation water use substantially, has failed to scale despite widespread testing and promotion in Bangladesh for over a decade. The main reason for this failure to scale is the lack of economic incentives to save water as pricing is based on per unit area irrigated, not on the amount of water used. This paper highlights the dynamics of the water market and pricing in Bangladesh, along with biophysical and social constraints to farmer adoption of AWD. It also proposes changes in policy incentives, new directions for crop and water management research, and institutional reforms for wider adoption of AWD and other water-saving practices.
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publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
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spelling CGSpace1645032025-02-19T14:25:16Z Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh Pandey, Sushil Yadav, Sudhir Hellin, Jon Balié, Jean Bhandari, Humnath Kumar, Arvind Mondal, Manoranjan K. aquatic science biochemistry geography planning and development water science and technology Rapid expansion of groundwater use for irrigation for dry season rice production in Bangladesh has led to overuse, deterioration of groundwater quality, increased cost of irrigation, and higher greenhouse gas emissions. The divergence between marginal private and social cost of irrigation due to market failures in the presence of these externalities, has resulted in excessive use of groundwater. A combination of policy reforms and improvements in irrigation practices are hence needed to reduce irrigation water use. The paper analyses why an improved irrigation practice, known as “alternate wetting and drying (AWD)” that can potentially reduce irrigation water use substantially, has failed to scale despite widespread testing and promotion in Bangladesh for over a decade. The main reason for this failure to scale is the lack of economic incentives to save water as pricing is based on per unit area irrigated, not on the amount of water used. This paper highlights the dynamics of the water market and pricing in Bangladesh, along with biophysical and social constraints to farmer adoption of AWD. It also proposes changes in policy incentives, new directions for crop and water management research, and institutional reforms for wider adoption of AWD and other water-saving practices. 2020-05-25 2024-12-19T12:53:59Z 2024-12-19T12:53:59Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/164503 en Open Access MDPI Pandey, Sushil; Yadav, Sudhir; Hellin, Jon; Balié, Jean; Bhandari, Humnath; Kumar, Arvind and Mondal, Manoranjan K. 2020. Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh. Water, Volume 12 no. 5 p. 1510
spellingShingle aquatic science biochemistry geography
planning and development water science and technology
Pandey, Sushil
Yadav, Sudhir
Hellin, Jon
Balié, Jean
Bhandari, Humnath
Kumar, Arvind
Mondal, Manoranjan K.
Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title_full Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title_fullStr Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title_short Why technologies often fail to scale: Policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in Bangladesh
title_sort why technologies often fail to scale policy and market failures behind limited scaling of alternate wetting and drying in rice in bangladesh
topic aquatic science biochemistry geography
planning and development water science and technology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/164503
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