Do water saving technologies save water? Empirical evidence from North China

This paper describes the extent of water saving technologies usage and evaluates their impacts on water use, water productivity, total irrigated sown area and crop mix in North China. A set of panel data collected at the househol.d and plot levels is used in empirical analysis. Water saving technologies are categorized into traditional technologies, house hold-based technologies and community-based technologies. By 2007, traditional technologies and household-based technologies are used in almost all sample villages. However, the shares of sown area on which water saving technologies are used are still fairly low. Econometric analysis using plot level fixed effects show that using water saving technologies can reduce crop water use and improve the productivity of water. The positive effects are generated mainly through the use of household-based or community based technologies. The use of water saving technologies does not have statistically significant impacts on total irrigated sown area and crop mix. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.