62) decentralised governance of irrigation water in cambodia - CDRI

gradually “wean” the farmers off external financial support year by year until the end of the
project. The FWUC estimated that USD15 (60 thousand riels) per ha per annum was required
from each farmer to cover O&M costs. Now that external aid has stopped, there is serious
concern over maintaining the budget for monthly O&M and administration costs. At the time
of study, the collected ISF only covered approximately 60-70 percent of O&M costs and a
number of farmers admitted they were already struggling to pay and would not be able to afford
a larger fee. Kompong Thom PDOWRAM stated that this was not a unique situation, and that
many FWUCs in Kampong Thom province had collapsed or malfunctioned due to the shortage
or cessation of financial and technical support from external agencies.
5.3 Participation
5.3.1 Farmer Contributions to ISF
The long term operation of FWUCs and irrigation infrastructure is dependent on a
number of financial sources, but primarily the ISF. While systems similar to ISF may have been
successful in other parts of the world, two main problems arise in the Cambodian context. First,
many farmers reported not being able to afford the ISF. Second, farmers from DAP claimed
that Cambodians have never had to pay for water to grow rice, and they believed that they
could get sufficient water from rainfall without having to pay the ISF. A common sentiment
was expressed across the three case-study schemes: farmers did not want to pay ISFs if they
did not benefit directly from the irrigation scheme. Farmers in each case-study scheme had had
a different experience with the ISF and proffered differing reasons for accepting or rejecting it.
None of the farmers within the DAP scheme and only 30 percent of those in the entire Rolous
scheme command area had paid the ISF, whereas close to 100 percent of the farmers within
Stung Chinit irrigation scheme had paid the fee to the FWUC.
Although none of the farmers at the DAP scheme had paid ISF at the time of study,
MOWRAM, in consultation with the farmers, arrived at a recommended amount of rice (140
kg per ha per year) to be paid by each farmer household in lieu of cash for the ISF. The
recommended amount is 100 kg rice per ha per crop for gravity-fed irrigation and a reduced fee
of 60 kg rice per ha per crop for pump-fed irrigation rice to account for the fuel costs incurred
(Chem et al. 2010). The FWUC committee of the DAP scheme reported that farmers may agree
to pay the ISF once the benefits of the irrigation system could be demonstrated. Therefore,
the committee believes that the irrigation system must be complete and properly functioning
before the scheme can be self-sufficient and independent of external financial aid.
In Rolous, most of the farmers who contribute ISF live around Boeung Lies and are
beneficiaries of the current irrigation infrastructure. These farmers have generally paid USD1.25
(five thousand riels) per ha per annum and some had paid as much as USD2.50 (10 thousand
riels) per ha per annum. A number of farmers here were even willing to pay a one-off USD100
(400 thousand riels) service fee to the FWUC to build a new canal between Stueng Sen and
Boeung Lies rather than pay the same amount plus the price of pump fuel each year to the
private company for use of the main canal. Many however had not been able to afford this for
the last couple of years, let alone the normal service fee of USD1.25 per ha per crop per year
due to bad harvests. Farmers from the area around Rolous village stressed that if they felt the
FWUC committee was working to ameliorate their situation, they would be willing to pay
the ISF. However, at the time of study little support had been given to this group of farmers.
Consequently, the collection of ISF in this region of Rolous scheme had been unsuccessful.
24 Decentralised Governance of Irrigation Water in Cambodia: Matching Principles to Local Realities