62) decentralised governance of irrigation water in cambodia - CDRI

Private sector involvement in irrigation development and management began in August
2010 and provides opportunity for dry-season rice crops to be cultivated to the west of Rolous
scheme. The privately owned infrastructure will ensure there is water in the main canals close
to Boeung Lies irrigation dam during the dry-season. The cost of water services provided by
this infrastructure is USD100 per ha per crop; farmers using the private canals must also pay the
operational cost for pumping water from the canal to the paddy fields which costs an additional
USD50-60 per ha per crop. Before the private company came to the area, some farmers would
spend around USD60-USD100 per ha per crop for pumping water from the river to the main
canal and from the main canal to their rice fields. The cost of this pumping differs from one
farmer to another, depending on how far his/her rice field is from the main canal.
Table 2: Summary Information on the Rolous Scheme
Description Rolous
Built
1969 (dam)
1975-1979 (canal systems)
Rehabilitated 2004
Size (command area in ha) 1,009
Wet season in ha 610
Dry season in ha 376
Physical layout Shallow bundled reservoir
Scheme type Gravity-fed system
Year FWUC was established 2004
Communes 3
Villages 7
Households 882
Both wet and dry-season rice are cultivated in Rolous; however dry-season rice can only
be cultivated in the northern and western areas of the scheme where irrigation infrastructure
and access to rivers facilitates it. Wet-season cultivation is dominant and covers approximately
610 ha compared with dry-season cultivation, which covers approximately 376 ha. Dry-season
rice farming is becoming increasingly popular as the yield is approximately two times that
of wet-season rice (which is only approximately 1.5-2.5 tonnes per ha). The increase in dryseason
farming has put a strain on water resources in the area, in particular towards the end of
the wet-season when the planting of dry-season rice begins. Even with the high yield that dryseason
crops can produce, the fluctuating market price of rice relative to the production costs
(e.g. use of pumps, fertilisers and privately owned canals) is still a key factor influencing the
willingness of farmers to grow a dry-season crop.
Rolous irrigation scheme had two FWUCs in 2004: one around Prek Sbov village and
the other around Rolous village. In 2007, however, on realising that they did not have the
capacity to manage the scheme well the Prek Sbov FWUC committee members asked the
Rolous FWUC leader to take charge and manage the whole area. This was arranged and the
two communes were integrated. The Rolous FWUC has four members: the leader, the deputy,
the financier and the accountant. There are four FWUGs, which are sub-units of the FWUC in
Rolous. The FWUGs are represented by four villages, namely O Kunthor Tbong, Prek Sbov,
Rolous and Kampong Samrong.
14 Decentralised Governance of Irrigation Water in Cambodia: Matching Principles to Local Realities