Organizational Change for Participatory Irrigation Management

Cases have been reported where cooperative societies effectively managing irrigation
systems. For example, in the Kakrapar Irrigation System in Gujarat State, India, the Mohini
Water Distribution Cooperative Society is successfully managing the water it purchases from
the Irrigation Department (Datye and Patil, 1987, cited in Vermillion, 1991). In Indonesia,
there exist legal basis for WUAs for managing tube-wells and small gravity irrigation systems.
Farmers participate in managing large-scale systems as well. There is a program for handing
over irrigation systems with command areas over 500 ha. Nepal has a long history of
communal irrigation. A great majority of irrigation systems are privately owned. The
government extends support, in terms of subsidies and loans etc. to WUAs to develop irrigation
facilities. Bangladesh, too, launched a program of privatizing irrigation facilities, mainly the
tube-wells. It should be noted that traditionally, there were community-based irrigation in
many countries in the region village tanks in Sri Lanka, Subaks in Bali, Indonesia, Banave
terraces and Zanjeras in the Philippines, water panchayats in South India are examples.
In 1984, the Government of Senegal initiated a policy of "disengagement" of the State
agency from Senegal River Basin Irrigated Agriculture (SAED). IAs have been established
and federated them upwards to take over the functions earlier handled by the State agency. In
Madagascar, a 15-year program, involving the creation of WUAs, and turning over the O&M
responsibilities to WUAs, was launched in 1986. Rehabilitation by the government was an
"incentive" for farmers to take over the systems (Vermilion, 1991).
It is important that the PIM/IMT process evolve effective mechanisms to ensure active
user participation (and WUA responsibility), not only in the day-to-day O&M of irrigation
systems, but also in the formulation and implementation of relevant policy, as well as in legal
and institutional arrangements indicated above. It is aimed at enhancing water use efficiencies
by improving the management of existing systems, increasing agricultural productivity and
production, and reducing governmentís expenditure on O&M of irrigation systems. Certain
basic conditions necessary for the institutionalization of PIM/IMT are examined in Section IV.
Subsequently, in Section V, it is argued that multi-functional business organizations would be
more appropriate to achieve sustainability.
REQUISITES FOR INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PIM/IMT 3
In general, the conditions necessary for successful PIM/IMT program include: strong
high-level political support, clear policy direction, legal basis for new managing entities,
economic benefits to farmers, well-defined water rights at system and farm levels and
functional irrigation facilities (FAO-IIMI, 1995).
An effective institutional arrangement is essential for the success of an IMT process.
The functions of institutions will include:
Deploying mechanisms to ensure active and productive participation of water users;
Planing and conducting O&M and Rehabilitation and Modernization (R&M);
3 This section has been adopted from Wijayaratna, 1992: "Institutionalization of Participatory
Management: Sustainability of Farmer Organizations", paper presented to the Second Asian
Farming Systems Symposium, 2-5 November 1992, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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