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

Registration Act, 1860 in the erstwhile Malabar area or under the Travancore­
Cochin (Literacy, Scientific and Charitable) Societies Registration Act, 1955
(Joshi 2000).
However, in spite <strong>of</strong> the thrust given for the implementation <strong>of</strong> PIM in
irrigation projects, the BF As were found to be ineffective in terms <strong>of</strong> distribution
and management <strong>of</strong> irrigation in Kerala. It has been reported that most <strong>of</strong> the
farmer associations formed in Kerala by the CADA were not functioning even in
its initial years (Jacob, 1990). Besides, seven WUAs formed as part <strong>of</strong> the
Operational Research Project (ORP) (1979-88) <strong>of</strong> the Centre for Water
Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) in the command area <strong>of</strong>
Kuttiadi irrigation project were active in the initial years. However, these
associations became non-functional after the withdrawal <strong>of</strong> the ORP staff from
the area. Ananthakrishnan (1981) observes that beyond letting water into the
canals, branches and distributaries, or enforcing a turn system, no other
management activity worth mentioning is being done in the canal system in
Kerala. As a result, the field channels have become no man's property.
Madhavachandran (1999) has found that in Malampuzha project, physical
location <strong>of</strong> the BFA did not have any impact on farmer participation. This was
because, the tail e\1d BFA did not face water scarcity.
The above studies point to the ineffectiveness <strong>of</strong> the implementation <strong>of</strong>
BFAs in Kerala's irrigation projects. Moreover, whatever organisations have
been formed, they remained to be associations <strong>of</strong> academic importance on paper.
For instance, in the Peechi irrigation project, as per the CAD report, there were
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