Expanded Economic Analyses of Senegal River: Irrigation Pumping Alternatives
To make a 1984 cost-benefit analysis of irrigation pumping options in the Senegal River Valley accessible to a wider audience, this draft report expands the study's economic analysis section by including data on national costs and farmer and project benefits. The analysis, results of which are presented in a series of statistical tables, was based on a large number of variables, including differing sites, pumping options, crop choices, and both variable (fuel) and fixed (investment, depreciation, and operation and maintenance). Included is a Bakel area case study which, it is argued, demonstrates the possibility both of conducting a rigorous cost-benefit analysis even of small irrigation projects and of determining critical variables by rapid sensitivity analyses of various parameters. More needs to be done, however, before the cost-benefit analyses of the type here displayed can be used in making routine irrigation decisions.