Analysis of willingness to pay of farmers on irrigation networks maintenance fees in the Gonggang reservoir, Magetan

Irrigation network maintenance is very important to ensure the function of irrigation run well. Therefore, maintenance fee is necessary to maintain the irrigation network. The problem is the maintenance cost of irrigation network is expensive, the second highest cost after rehabilitation costs. Thus, participation of farmers in irrigation network maintenance is essential. One of participation by farmers is in the form of regular fees. This study aims to determine the number of fees farmers are willing to pay to maintain irrigation networks through the willingness-to-pay approach. This study was conducted in the irrigation area of the Gonggang reservoir in Magetan District. The subject is farmers who use irrigation – the data collection technique used by observation, interview, questionnaire, and documentation. The data analysis technique used is the contingent valuation method with steps (1) determining the hypothetical market, (2) obtaining bids, (3) estimating average willingness to pay, (4) estimating bid curves, and (5) aggregating data. The result shows that the amount of farmers’ willingness to pay the maintenance fees for irrigation networks at Gonggang reservoir irrigation area in Magetan District by using the contingent valuation method is IDR 90,621 (USD 5.45) for each hectare for each planting period with total willingness to pay in the population of IDR 116,188,708 (USD 7,951.59) for each planting period.