The determinants of collective action in irrigation management systems: Evidence from rural communities in Japan

Abstract

We examine the characteristics of water user associations (WUAs) that affect the success of collective action for irrigation management. Using random-effects ordered probit models and a large panel dataset from 104,523 rural communities, the results of the econometric analysis verify the hypotheses in the existing empirical literature and confirm the robustness of the theory of collective action in the context of irrigation management. Our results show that collective action for irrigation management depends on the distance from the market, area of paddy field, share of non-farmers and elderly farmers, share of paddy field, and social capital. We also find that collective action has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the number of farm households and diversity in farmers’ landholdings, and a U-shaped relationship with the diversity of a community’s farmers. The results suggest that as the characteristics of irrigation systems and user groups can change little in the short run, policies aimed at suppressing deteriorating collective action for irrigation management need to enhance social ties in a community, thereby promoting community-level social capital.