Alternative Interventions to Assist Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal

Abstract

"This paper examines the consequences of various types and levels of interventions in Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems (FMIS) in Nepal. Systematic and comparative analysis of 13 FMIS interventions by 13 different agencies in the hill districts of Nepal tries to answer the question of how and why some ways of helping FMIS have had positive results and others have had no or negative effects. The important variables include intervening agencies, their process to select particular system, assistance objectives of programs, cost sharing criteria, mode and basis of resource mobilization, and changes in agricultural performances due to intervention. Then the paper documents the process of intervention and examines performances of 19 irrigation systems in one hill district intervened by one of the intervening agency - Water and Energy Commission Secretariat/International Irrigation Management Institute-Nepal (WECS/IIMI). After the initial discussion of WECS/IIMI action research agenda, the paper discusses the methods of selection of systems for intervention, brief description of the selected Irrigation systems; and documentation of farmer-to- farmer training process during intervention. Finally, performance of these 19 systems are compared before and after Intervention based on the analysis of changes in technical efficiency, organizational structure, resource mobilization, rules, and agricultural productivity."