The economics of digital water management: a critical review

Abstract

The economic value of digital water-management technologies in agriculture is more often assumed than demonstrated: technical water-saving performance is treated as equivalent to farm-level economic benefit. This article presents a critical review of the literature on the chain linking digital technology adoption, farmer water-use decisions, water-use efficiency and farm economic performance. It examines five core empirical studies together with the broader irrigation-economics and rebound-effect literature. The analysis shows a fragmented evidence base: adoption determinants and the efficiency-to-performance link are studied separately, but no study traces the complete chain within a single causal design, and no verified study examines the rebound effect for a specifically digital technology. The contribution is to specify the evidence gap precisely and to justify a research agenda for Uzbekistan and comparable arid agricultural economies.