In Italy, irrigation is responsible for the 50% of water withdrawals. Moreover, climate change and rising demand have increased water shortages during recent years’ and forecasts indicate a situation likely to deteriorate in the next future. In this context, the water resource will become increasingly important and irrigation will have to meet the needs of the agricultural sector with more and more efficient practices. Unfortunately, literature about Italian agricultural sector innovation and investment motives is very poor. The objective of this thesis is then to find the factors leading farmers toward water use efficiency. To reach this goal, a multiple case studies analysis is carried out, trying to understand farmers’ investment decision process and to assess the adoption of a water saving innovation by farmers. The active role of drainage and irrigation consortia in favouring these efficient practices is also considered, with the conviction that collective irrigation is the only one capable of allowing a more rational use of water. Results confirm several findings of the extant literature and bring new factors influencing the investment decision, which are: facilitate operations, new business operations and family issues. Farmers demonstrate also passive resistance to the innovation, caused by usage and tradition barriers. Finally, two determinants of water efficiency among farmers are identified: water availability and possibility to irrigate by gravity. The lack of one of these two elements lead to both system and operational efficiency, while their simultaneous presence causes inefficiencies at both levels. Moreover, it is found that subsidies are financially important for farmers but do not increase the overall efficiency and that a variable water tariff is able to spur operational efficiency but do not justify new irrigation systems investments.
In Italia, l’irrigazione è responsabile del 50% dei prelievi d’acqua. Inoltre, i cambiamenti climatici e la crescente domanda hanno incrementato i casi di carenza idrica e le previsioni indicano una situazione destinata a peggiorare nel prossimo futuro. In tale contesto, l’acqua diventerà sempre più importante e l’irrigazione dovrà rispondere alle esigenze del settore agricolo con pratiche sempre più efficienti. Purtroppo, la letteratura riguardante l’innovazione nel settore agricolo italiano ed i motivi degli investimenti è molto povera. L’obiettivo di questa tesi è quindi quello di trovare i fattori che portano gli agricoltori verso un uso efficiente della risorsa. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, dei casi di studio multipli sono stati effettuati, cercando di capire il processo decisionale verso gli investimenti ed esaminare l’adozione di un’innovazione atta a risparmiare acqua da parte degli agricoltori. Il ruolo dei consorzi di bonifica ed irrigazione nel favorire attivamente queste pratiche è altresì considerato, con la convinzione che l’irrigazione collettiva sia l’unica in grado di assicurare un uso efficiente dell’acqua. I risultati confermano varie conclusioni della letteratura esistente e portano nuovi fattori che influenzano la decisione di investire, che sono: facilitare le operazioni, nuove operazioni commerciali e problemi famigliari. Gli agricoltori dimostrano inoltre una resistenza passiva all’innovazione, causata da barriere di utilizzo e di tradizione. Infine, due determinanti dell’efficienza idrica tra gli agricoltori sono identificati: disponibilità d’acqua e possibilità di irrigare per gravità. La mancanza di uno di questi due elementi porta sia all’efficienza di sistema che a quella operativa, mentre la loro simultanea presenza cause inefficienze ad entrambi i livelli. Inoltre, è constatato che i sussidi sono finanziariamente importanti per gli agricoltori ma non incrementano l’efficienza complessiva e che una tariffa irrigua variabile è in grado di stimolare l’efficienza operativa ma non giustifica investimenti in nuovi impianti irrigui.
Water efficiency in the Italian agricultural sector : a multiple case study
XOMPERO, ROBERTO
2016/2017
Abstract
In Italy, irrigation is responsible for the 50% of water withdrawals. Moreover, climate change and rising demand have increased water shortages during recent years’ and forecasts indicate a situation likely to deteriorate in the next future. In this context, the water resource will become increasingly important and irrigation will have to meet the needs of the agricultural sector with more and more efficient practices. Unfortunately, literature about Italian agricultural sector innovation and investment motives is very poor. The objective of this thesis is then to find the factors leading farmers toward water use efficiency. To reach this goal, a multiple case studies analysis is carried out, trying to understand farmers’ investment decision process and to assess the adoption of a water saving innovation by farmers. The active role of drainage and irrigation consortia in favouring these efficient practices is also considered, with the conviction that collective irrigation is the only one capable of allowing a more rational use of water. Results confirm several findings of the extant literature and bring new factors influencing the investment decision, which are: facilitate operations, new business operations and family issues. Farmers demonstrate also passive resistance to the innovation, caused by usage and tradition barriers. Finally, two determinants of water efficiency among farmers are identified: water availability and possibility to irrigate by gravity. The lack of one of these two elements lead to both system and operational efficiency, while their simultaneous presence causes inefficiencies at both levels. Moreover, it is found that subsidies are financially important for farmers but do not increase the overall efficiency and that a variable water tariff is able to spur operational efficiency but do not justify new irrigation systems investments.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/137113