Water Users Association and Irrigation Management - Institute for ...

everyone individually chooses to take a free ride to their short run advantage. Natural
drains have also disappeared due to siltation and the negligence of farmers. This has further
aggravated the problem of waterlogging and salinity in the village.
The performance of ('ADA or the agricultural department in imparting knowledge to
farmers concerning better water and soil management practises is not satisfactory.
Government programs executed both at the system level and farm level to directly or
indirectly prevent and reclaim the affected soils seems to be inadequate enough. They are
more involved in the physical reclamation of the atfected land than in empowering farmers
to undertake preventive and curative strategies to mitigate soil related problems. The
progress of on farm development works and drainage is slow and CADA is also not
successful in preventing unauthorized cultivation or a violation of the cropping pattern. Over
the past few years' agricultural extension has tended to focus mainly on the minimum
support price, production and distribution of seeds, promoting mineral fertilizers and
improved varieties of crops so that it has failed to address the problems of mismanagement
of water along with soil conservation measures.
I
148