Role of Policies and Institutions for Water-saving on Rice Farming in Bohol Philippines

Water resource is becoming scarcer as the area of rice cultivation is expanded, in addition to increasing demand for water for domestic consumption as a result of increasing population. Furthermore, unstable climate and erratic rainfall in recent years urges farmers to use water more efficiently. One of the approaches to conserve irrigation water is to charge its use volumetrically. In contrast to the area-based water charges, volumetric pricing is quite complex and requires modern measuring instruments, infrastructure and physical rehabilitation. The Bohol Irrigation Systems II (BISII) makes it possible for IRRI to collaborate with NIA on experimental volumetric pricing because of the presence of measuring gages and water control structures at turn outs for every lateral within the entire system, The role of water users associations is crucial for a successful volumetric pricing system to assure efficient water delivery system. In BISII, the turnout service area groups (TSAg), as the water users organization, are relatively active and quite organized. Under such circumstances, NIA and IRRI introduced volumetric irrigation fee system to determine its impact on farmers water saving behavior. We did volumetric pricing experiments for five cropping seasons in its service area , Fig 1 shows the map of the project site.

Fig 1 Map showing the BIS II service area. Gage to measure water depth at turn out

Methodology
Volume is measured at TSA-level and payment in cash is given to TSA. The experiment was done in five cropping seasons, and the timing of the activities is shown in Fig 2. Season 0 was the pre-intervention period where in water volume was measured under farmers existing water management practices. From season 1 to 4, volumetric pricing was introduced to 74 TSAs and 74 TSAs being the control. Before implementation of the experiment, we trained farmers thru seminars to explain the system.
Base Season

Spindle gate to control water

Cropping Season

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No intervention Volumetric incentive to the half of TSAs randomly selected.

Fig 2 Design of randomized field experiments on volumetric pricing and AWD training

The volumetric pricing system we employed was a bonus system type. Volume of water saved (X) was computed as required volume based on NIAs estimate less actual volume (reading on the gage) used. The bonus or incentive was then computed based on a simple illustration below: If a TSA saves X% of water from the computed level, X% of ISF is paid back to the TSA up to maximum of 40% savings After each season, we set meetings with each TSA to distribute the incentives.

Delivering seminar on volumetric pricing

Results
1) The results that show under the volumetric incentive, the TSAs which do not have infrastructural problems of water control at turnout level have gradually reduced their water use but the reduction was not statistically significant (Fig 3a). The impact could have been significant if our pricing system provided not only a reward to water savings but also a penalty to overuse, or if we set the reward rate higher. 2) The AWD score is significantly higher for the volumetric TSAs in Seasons 3 (at 10% pvalue) and 4 (at 5% p-value), indicating the significant impact of volumetric pricing on AWD practice (Fig3b);. 3) Some volumetric groups saved too much water and suffered water stress at flowering stage (Fig 3c). 4) Average yield of TSA is always lower among the volumetric TSAs which is barely significant at 10% in the drought season (Fig 3d).
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Distributing incentives

Impact of volumetric pricing on water use (m3/ha)

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Impact of volumetric pricing on AWD score

Impact of volumetric pricing on water stress

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Impact of volumetric pricing on TSA average yield

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Fig 3a: TSA-level water use by pricing system over survey period

Fig 3b. TSA-level average AWD score by pricing system over survey period

Fig 3c. TSA-level water stress by pricing system over survey period

Fig 3d TSA-level average yield by pricing system over period

Conclusion
1) The volumetric incentive approach is only possible when price level is set at appropriate level and infrastructure allows volume measurement and inflow control at TSA-level; 2) To avoid the risk of yield penalty in case of extreme water saving, it is better to implement volumetric pricing with training on safe water saving;

Kei Kajisa1, Shigeki Yokoyama2, Pie Moya1, Lolit Garcia1 and Neil Paguirigan1 1Social Sciences Division, International Rice Research Institute, Los Baos, Philippines,2 JIRCAS, Japan