Irrigation and rice production: evidence in Vietnam

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between irrigation and rice production in the case of Vietnam. Further analyses are conducted to figure out the differences in impact on rice yield among water sources and explore whether effect of using canal for irrigation varies across locations on commune canal system. The employed dataset is VARHS 2014, which contains information on rice production, inputs use at household level, characteristics of plot managers, quality and irrigation condition of plots, and commune data on infrastructure. The thesis uses a cross-section data model with cluster-specific fixed effect and cluster-robust standard error. Research results show that irrigation plays an important role in rice production. However effect of irrigation varies across water sources, and only effects of using water from canal and river or spring for irrigation are significant. Benefit of irrigation by canal to rice production is not higher than that of using water from river or spring. Moreover, there is inequality in water distribution of commune canal system.