Improving irrigation efficiency (IE) is conventionally perceived as a water-conserving practice in the agriculture sector. The common understanding is that increased on-farm IE leads to increased water availability at the basin scale. However, in the recent past, many instances have been reported where increasing on-farm IE failed to increase water availability at the basin scale. This phenomenon is commonly known as the `Irrigation Efficiency Paradox (IEP)'. The primary phenomenon that brings about the IE paradox can be attributed to irrigator behavior, known as the farmers' rent-seeking behavior. This thesis identifies the basin-wide (macro-level phenomena) impact of improvement in on-farm irrigation efficiency (micro-level phenomena) bearing the irrigating farmers' rent-seeking behavior using a dynamic socio-hydrological and the integrated assessment model (IAM). This thesis consists of three parts:
(1) A dynamic socio-hydrological model of on-farm irrigation that couples the farm's water flow dynamics with the irrigating farmers' rent-seeking behavior to capture the IE paradox.
(2) The integrated assessment model for understanding trade-offs and interaction between the water, energy, and land resources after implementation of on-farm IE program.
(3) Merge the dynamical system model with IAM to identify the basin-wide implication of the IE paradox on water, energy, and land resources.