Economic study of groundwater irrigation system in Lampung Province

The utilization of groundwater for irrigation purposes in Indonesia, known as Jaringan Irigasi Air Tanah (JIAT), has been developed since 1970 and nowadays they can be found in nearly all region in Indonesia. For example, in Lampung Province, there are 112 JIAT facilities under the authority of the Mesuji Sekampung River Basin Agency. One of the benefits of JIAT is its reliability as it warrants water availability all year long. On the other hand, JIAT operation is costly. Therefore, agricultural irrigation system such as JIAT is less attractive to most farmers unless there is some kind of government subsidy. This paper presents an economic study of JIAT by comparing the benefit for the farmers with the operation cost to determine the feasibility of a JIAT facility. This study is based on the inventory data of JIAT facilities in Lampung Province. The method used in this study is descriptive quantitative. The final result of this study is a recommendation for feasibility requirements for a JIAT facility as a whole, which can be used by River Basin Agencies (BWS/BBWS) in Indonesia as a guideline to determine the feasibility and sustainability of a JIAT facility.