Delinking of Water Rights Landholding Size in a Farmers' Managed Irrigation System: Question of Efficiency and Equity
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Date
2011
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Abstract
"Water rights in terms of allocation in most of the farmers managed irrigation system are
closely related and proportional to the landholding size of farmers. Unlike such common
cases, water allocation in Chherlung irrigation system in Palpa district in mid hill of
Nepal is based on the marketable water share which is proportional to the contribution
made during the construction of the canal. This ethnographic research, combining
historical and comparative approaches with spatial methods, investigated the efficiency
of irrigation system when water rights are delinked from the landholding size. The study
investigated how property rights system has evolved over the years in relation to social
changes taking place in the village. It was found that prior rights holders, in such
property right systems, have incentives to use water more efficiently and trade the
surplus water share, thus increasing the command area of the irrigation system. This
case study shows that this structure of water rights not only increases the efficiency of
the system but also enhances the equity among the farmers."
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Keywords
water resources, markets, land tenure and use, efficiency, equity