Governance, Time Preference, and Collective Maintenance: The Case of Small-scale Irrigation in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Small-scale irrigation schemes in northern Ghana are managed by Water User Associations (WUAs). Maintenance of these schemes is a collective effort by WUA members. We argue that individual labour contributions to maintenance depend on perceptions of the prevailing WUA governance strategies and on time preferences of WUA members. We empirically estimate these relationships using data collected through a household survey and a field experiment held in 18 small-scale irrigation schemes. We find that governance perceptions of conflict management and equity and fairness positively associate with labour contributions, while the (negative) association of time preferences is not statistically significant.