Beneficiary Participation in Irrigation Water Management: The Kerala

Our interest is neither in the Production Responsibility System (PRS) per se nor its variants,
but on the effects of PRS on irrigation water management. One cardinal effect was that, with
the advent of PRS, farmers enjoyed relatively more independence in the use of land and
labour 13 .
The paper narrated how some of the problems, which are almost characteristic of irrigation
projects all over the world, were encountered in China also. To indicate a few: destruction
of the regulating gates as a result of disputes over water, the silting and collapse of some
canals due to lack of timely maintenance, over-use of water in the upper reaches resulting in
the shortage of water in tail ends, encroachments on the canal banks, and use of the universal
flooding method in irrigation.
The paper also points out the absence of a strong legal framework. These problems emerged
because of the absence of an irrigation organisation with authority. The series of management
organs were busy with narrowly specialised tasks of expanding construction, maintenance
and repair; none had specific, effective authority over water use and management. Therefore,
it was necessary to define the duties and powers of each management organ both in the state
and in the mass organisations to strengthen their authority in water management by
promulgating water laws and management systems. The authors also indicated the need for
replacing the personnel then in position in water management with high level personnel in
order to raise the level of management through modern management methods. They called
for adoption of emerging irrigation techniques such as the use of furrows-buried pipes of
sprinklers. Sprinkler irrigation was to be tested first in cotton and peanut growing areas
where wind effect was relatively small and water availability from precipitation was relatively
poor.
The paper threw light on how the production responsibility system (PRS) brought about
some improvement in the water economy of China. Prior to the introduction of PRS, in well
irrigation, expenses used to be met from water fees levied by the collectives. In gravity flow,
irrigation from canals, water fees were charged on area basis rather than on the basis of
volume. The result was that farmers remained indifferent over the use of water. Under
production responsibility system, since water management departments began operating on
economic principles, water cess became the source of income; and the cess collection
methods they followed were based on the actual usage of water.
Obviously, beneficiary participation in irrigation in China, whether before or after PRS was
much greater than in Kerala or in India as a whole. Their schemes were also infested with
problems, conflicts, and malpractices, which are characteristic of the first generation of
projects in Third World countries. Their irrigation methods and practices were far from
modern or scientific.
A. M. H. Kanjyo (1982) reported that farm water management was altogether a new
technology introduced in Pakistan in the 1970s. He has given details of the Integrated
Programme that included formation of farmer-organisations, improvement of water courses,
training of farmers, extension services in water management, and fixation of the staff pattern 14
required to implement the programme. Formation of Water Users Association (WUA) was
16