Performance of tubewell irrigation in Bangladesh

This paper reviews the performance of tubewell irrigation in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The results of a number of empirical investigations conducted during the last decade are synthesized into an overall picture. A variety of socioeconomic indicators such as capacity utilization of a tubewell, productivity, employment and wage rate, net return, price and subsidy, tubewell distribution and privatization policy, institutional arrangements, progress in the sale of equipment, distribution of rural income and choice of technology are examined. The author concludes that there is an urgent need to encourage and restructure the cooperative management of equipment for the efficient utilization of tubewells.