The microeconomics of water demand under deficit irrigation: a case study in Southern Spain

Abstract

This contribution presents an exploratory analysis of the microeconomics of deficit irrigation (DI) as a technique with growing prevalence in water scarce areas, as it is the case of southern Spain. We analyze farmer decisions based upon their subjective beliefs about water production function that farmers could attribute to this technology. The dynamic nature of water policy means that these technologies, which can be labelled as water saving techniques, have a relevant impact on the farmers’ decision process about the applied water doses and the structure of the water demand.