Implications of a shift in irrigation technology on resource use efficiency: A Syrian case

The absence of adequate land leveling coupled with the ill designed traditional furrow irrigation systems
and the poor condition of drainage structures in most Syrian farms are leading to over-irrigation. A stochastic
production frontier and inefficiency model has been estimated to measure the farm level inefficiency
in irrigation water use. The results show that in Syria, the typical wheat farm is 28% less
efficient in irrigation water use than the best farmer. It is also found that on average, these farms can
achieve the current level of yield with 9% less irrigation water only by replacing the traditional surface
canal irrigation schemes with sprinklers. This shift however results in only 2% improvement in a measure
that combines both cost and technical efficiencies of irrigation water – a possible reason for 43% of the
farms to continue using the traditional system despite government support for the purchase of sprinklers.
Even among sprinkler users, there is 25% inefficiency in irrigation water use that needs to be curbed.
These results suggest that farmer education and the introduction of water user charges that will increase
the cost efficiency of sprinklers relative to the traditional methods may enhance water conservation
through wider adoption and more efficient use of sprinklers.