Land Consolidation Effects on Irrigation Water Use Efficiency, Management and Economic Performance in a Collective Irrigation Agency: A Case Study From Türkiye
Eray Harman, Belgin ÇakmakABSTRACT
Land consolidation projects (LCPs) are widely implemented in irrigation areas to support irrigation infrastructure development and improve on‐farm water management, yet evidence of their irrigation scheme‐scale effects under actual operating conditions remains limited. This study evaluates how the period associated with LCP completion relates to irrigation method adoption, irrigation water use efficiency, managerial performance and water economic productivity. Selected indicators were compared between the pre‐LCP period (2018–2020) and the post‐LCP period (2021–2024). In the post‐LCP period, drip irrigation became more prominent at the scheme scale, with the mean drip area share increasing from 9% to 20%. The water supply remained constrained throughout the study period (0.40–0.49). The delivered water per unit of irrigated area ranged from 3394 to 4310 m 3 ha −1 , while the highest observed economic water productivity values in the post‐LCP period reached US$0.59 m −3 for income per unit of irrigation water delivered into the network and US$0.26 m −3 for income per unit of crop water consumption. Overall, the findings indicate that the post‐LCP period was associated with a greater share of drip irrigation and higher economic water productivity in some years, while irrigation scheme performance remained strongly shaped by constrained water supply.