Transfer of Irrigation Management: An Experiment and an Assessment

Abstract

"Availability of adequate irrigation water at the right time is a main constraint on both vertical and horizontal agriculture expansion in Egypt. To rlax that constraint, the Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources (MPWWR) have adopted four main approaches to: structural works, enforced rationing, cost recovery, and management transfer. The first is the most expensive. Considerable funds are being allocated by both the Egyptian government and foreign donors to rehabilitate and improve the system and its management. The Irrigation Management System (IMS) is a notable example of such efforts.

"In addition to the rehabilitation huge funds, the operation cost is in increase year after another; in 1974-76, it ranged from LE 45 to 54 million (Cuddihy, 1980). In 1990/91-1993/94, it increased from LE 254 to 807 million (MOF, n.d.). That burden has risen with the liberalization of the Egyptian economy. Irrigation water was used to be charged for implicitly through price and quantity controls of the agriculture sector. Currently, with the liberalization process controls have been lifted. Since then, water is truly provided free. Subsequently, the government financial burden has increased tremendously.

"Management transfer (MT; the main theme of this paper) and cost-recovery (CR) are two approaches to followed to reduce MPWWR financial burden. MT merits qualify it as a powerful solution to many of the irrigation-related issues. Nonetheless, those merits should not delude decision makers. Inadequate planning or deficient design could turn out destructive to the whole agriculture region. It is, thus, imperative, in the light of the absence of a well documented body of knowledge on the subject matter, that specialists exchange experiences.

"This paper analyses MT model that has been applied in an Egyptian region. Farmers attitudes towards the model are investigated and analyzed. Lessons are derived. Qualifications that minimize MT failure are proposed. The following two sections describe the study area and the applied model with farmers attitudes summarized in a text box. Based on farmers'attitudes and other literature. Section III introduces aspects to be considered in MT design."