Fixed Conventional Sprinkler Irrigation System: Components of Cost and Economy of Scale

Abstract

The costs involved in the implementation and operation of irrigation systems are of paramount importance for the economic planning of irrigated agriculture. Therefore, the objective of this work was to determine the implantation, fixed and annual variables costs, and the occurrence of economies of scale for a fixed conventional sprinkler irrigation system for different area sizes and slope in the impulsion line. Thus, irrigation projects were developed for areas of 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 ha and slopes in the pumping pipe of 7 and 15%. Also, this work evaluated the implementation, annual fixed and variable costs and their components and the occurrence of economy of scale. The implementation, fixed and variable costs increased as the size of the area increased, but for the fixed and implementation costs, an increase was observed due to the exponential cost of the pipes and their greater participation in the total cost and the variable cost was because the maintenance follows the implementation cost. Therefore, the cost with the pipelines has greater participation in the implementation of the system. The cost of implementation and the total fixed and variable costs raised with the increases in the size of the irrigated area. The variable cost of energy is constant as area size is increased and the raise is by approximately 5.2%, as the slope increases from 7 to 15%. The increasing in the size of the irrigated area provides diseconomies of scale.