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

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that cattle do not damage the irrigation system. The scope for over-irrigation is curbed by
strict norms and close supervision by the Neerganty.
Farmers' opinion about water distribution
Quantitative data is not available on water distribution below the outlet level or water given
to the individual farmers by the WUA. Therefore, we collected data on farmer perceptions
about adequacy of water supplied to the farm, timeliness of water delivery and adequacy to
grow desired crop. WUA serves one village that consists of four camps, with a clearly
detined service area and it serves about 696 acres belonging to 172 farmers.
T bl 76 . . F 'R b w
a e . armers esponses a out ater Distribution in Gundur
Farmers response
(in percent)
Head Middle Tail Total
Adequate 83 84 86 84
Assured 89 90 92 90
Timely
-
77 94 91 87
Among the head reach sample farmers, 83 percent responded positively to an adequate
supply of water while 89 percent said that they get an assured quantity of water. Only 77
percent of the farmers said the supply of water is timely. Based on the information about
the date of releasing water from the dam, the WU A estimates the date when water is likely
to reach their distributary and informs all the farmers in advance. In the middle reach, 94
I
percent of the sample farmers received water on time and 90 percent said that the water
wa~ adequate to grow paddy. In the tail reach. nearly 86 percent of the sample farmers
responded positively about adequacy. while for 91 percent it was timely. Since the majority
of tail end farmers are large (see Table 4.10 ), they manage to get timely and adequate
supply, more or less on par with the head and middle reaches. Hence, the popular notion of
tail reach farmers not getting adequate or assured supply does not seem to exist in this
WUA. It is the assurance and timeliness of supply that has enabled the farmers to use
water according to the needs of the crop.
The data clearly shows that all the farmers, irrespective of location, are confident about an
adequate, timely and assured supply of water. This was mainly due to the formation of the
WUA. The literature available on IMT reconfinns the positive benefit in water distribution
by the community, because the local people know the conditions and are able to adapt to
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