An agent-based simulation of cooperation in the use of irrigation systems

Introduction Large-scale irrigation systems are central to the socio-economic development in developing countries. The systems not only support the livelihood of farmers who rely on them to water their crops, but also determine the amount of resources that the agricultural sector can generate to fuel industrial development in urban areas (Small and Svendsen 1992). In the last few decades, due to substantial investments by governments and international donors, large-scale irrigation systems have become a major source of water for a large proportion of cultivated lands in China. The huge investments in largescale irrigation system, however, have not brought about satisfactory performance in many cases. Many of the systems have failed to generate a rate of return that is at least equal to the opportunity cost of capital, and hence are economically non-viable (Cernea 1987; Ostrom et al. 1993). Yet, a more important but often neglected problem is poor operation and maintenance (Carruthers 1981; Easter 1990; Ostrom 1992). On many systems in China, irrigation managers and famers have failed to arrange an effective working order to operate the systems and to mobilize adequate resources to maintain the irrigation facilities. An irrigation system consists of both hard infrastructure mainly including pumping stations and irrigation canals, and soft infrastructure mainly including incentive Abstract