economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

were identified and corrective measures suggested. The studies available mostly
address to the organisational aspects and constraints in the implementation <strong>of</strong>
certain categories <strong>of</strong> physical improvements in the system (Vaidyanathan. 1999:
94).
The discussion so far on the performance <strong>of</strong> CAD programmes in Kerala
in terms <strong>of</strong> cost, productivity <strong>of</strong> crops and so on shows the limited scope with
which they were designed and operated. For instance, most <strong>of</strong> the activities were
confined to the engineering activities with emphasis on construction <strong>of</strong> field
channels upto 5-8 ha. block alone. The field channels have never been extended
to farmers' fields to enable effective utilization <strong>of</strong> water in the fields. The
farmers did not take initiative to construct field boothies on their own for
irrigating crops in their homesteads. Moreover. land leveling and shaping have
not been gi\cn adcquate attention in the CAD programmes in the state. The
subsidy disbursement programmes have been skewed in favour <strong>of</strong> medium and
large farmers and small and marginal farmers have been totally neglected in the
process. The OFD works undertaken under the CAD have, therefore, not been
effective in reducing the conveyance loss <strong>of</strong> water, improving distributional
efficiency with equity in almost all the projects.
A brief account <strong>of</strong> thc findings and observations on the implementation <strong>of</strong>
CAD programmes in irrigation projects in Kerala as highlighted by the reports <strong>of</strong>
the Comptroller and Auditor General <strong>of</strong> India (CAGI) for the pcriod 1991-92 to
1997-98 (CAGL 19