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Eyaluation ofIrrigation Management Transfer . Process and Performance t • Workshop held in Kathmandu, 5 - 6 October 1997
!- .- , i~ ,'>
.. ~. ~> :~",~:~".::. , ..>' Research and Technology Develol)ment Branch '·";.';,.";",,.j~1 , and International Irrigation Management Institute
With Financial Support from
The Ford Foundation
Edito.-s: I. Neupane and K. C. Prasad
November 1997 Contents Page Ac.·onyms ~. Foreword
\Vorkshop Introduction 1 !!
" / Opening Ceremony 3 , e Summary of Presentations 7
Summary of Discussions and Recommendations 22
Development of Participatory Managed Irrigation Systems: Lessons Learnt from ISP 35 D. S. Sharma and N Ansari
Analysis of Process and Impacts of Management Transfer in Khageri and Panchkanya Irrigation Project: The Lesson Learned 48 t P. R. Khanal Irrigation Management Transfer in the ILC Pilot Project 62 A. Af Singh and B. R. Adhikary
Review of Joint Management of 1 Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project 70 T. B. Budhathoki
I\ianagement of Turned-over Systems in Bhairahawa Lumbini , ~ Ground-water Project: Role of Farmers and Agency in System Management 87 !If. B. Gurung t v, Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for Evaluating l\1 anagement Transfer 113 I. Neupane ~: Study 011 H.ehabilit:ltioll and I\lallagemcnl Transf('" Phase I: Identification of Current Processes 119 K. C. Prasad
Institutional Framework to Suppo.'t 1\1anagcll1cllt Transfer 129 Air. /. Neupane and Dr. n. Neupane
ANNEXES
P.'ogram Schedule J List of Participants 2
j Acronynls '" ADDIN Agriculture Development Dank of Nepal '1 Association Organizerls ~'! AO/s ~ AP Action Plan APP Agriculture Perspective Plan AsDB Asian development Bank BLS Base Line survey B. S. Bikram Sambat BLGWP Bhairahawa Lwnbini Ground Water Project CIS/s Communal Irrigation System/s CMC Construction Management Conunittee ~ DADO District Agriculture Development OlTIce DOC/s District Development Conunittec/s Doo Deputy Director General 00 Director General DIO/s District Irrigation OlTIce/s DOA Department of Agriculture DOl Department of Irrigation D1W/s Deep Tube Well/s DWRC/s District Water Resource Committee/s EAY Expected average Yield
ESI Essential Structural Improvement 'i FIWUD Farm Irrigation and Water Utilization Division ..,f FMIS/s Fanner-Managed Irrigation System/s ha Hectarels ! HIS Handetar Irrigation System HMGIN His Majesty's Govenunent of Nepal luIs HourIs HIW Headwork IINGO/s IntemationallNon Govcnunental OrganizationJs IDA Intemational Development Association IIMI Intemational Irrigation Management Institute ILC Irrigation Line of Credit IMTP Irrigation Management Transfer Project TP Irrigation Policy ISF Irrigation Service Fees ISP Irrigation Sector Project JT/JTAs Junior TeclmicianlJunior Teclmical Assistantls KHIS KhageriIrrigation System KIS Kankai Irrigation System km Kilometerls kv Kilovolts • Us Liter per second . M&E Monitoring and Evaluation \ ~ mJmm meter/millimeters MISIU Management Infonuation SystemlUnit t, MITIs Mobile Irrigation Team/s MLIP Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project -; MOA Memorandum of Agreement MOU Memorandulll of l Jlldcrstanding MOWR Ministry of Wak! Resources MPLD Ministry of Panehayat and Local Development lilt Metric tOllS NEA Nepal Electricity Authority ;-t NI'C National Planning COlllmissioll 1 O&M Operation and Maintenance -..,. PCR Project Completion Report ~ PIS Panchkanya Irrigation System PJM Participatory Joint Management RACts Regional appraisal Conunittccls RAD Regional Agriculture Directorate RIDts Regional Irrigation Directorate/s
nn RUlming meters / Rs Rupees (Nepal) RIDB Research and T eclmology Developmcnt Jlranch SAR StaffAppraisal Report SISI' Sccond lITigation Sector Project 5MB System Management Branch SMC Sub project Management Commillec SMIP Sunsari Morang Irrigation Projcct UNCDF United Nations' Capital Developmcnt Fund USAID United States Agency for hltcmational Development VDC/s Village Development Committce/s WGIS West Gandak Irrigation System WHA Water Resource Act WRR Water Resource Regulation
~ WUAls Water Users' Association/s ,.. WUG/s Water Users' Group/s r
• FOI{E\Von.D
The Department of Irrigation (001) is fully engaged in transferring management from 001 to farmer organizations through its joint management and turnover program. There has been mllch progress in working with building the capability of local organizations to takeover management of systems; in providing assistance through rehabilitation; and in fCClching agreements for transferring management. Through various programs and projects, there is a wealth ofexperience related to management transfer in NepaL Some of these experiences have been positive, while others have not led to the desired results. It is extremely important for the success of future management transfer to learn from both these successes and failures.
The Research and Technology Development Branch (RTDB) and the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) are jointly involved in a research project to assist HMG/Nepal's Irrigation Management Transfer activities. The Ford Foundation sponsors this research. The research activity titled, Process and Performance of Irrigation Management Transfer in Nepal is designed to evaluate the impact of irrigation management transfer and to understand the processes that lead to successful management transfer. This research effort relies on the experiences from the many actors involved in the transfer programs including fanners, fanner leaders, Department of Irrigation, and other support institutions. . This workshop was designed to capture the experiences of the many local leaders and . professionals involved in management transfer. This was an opportunity to get many involved to discuss key issues around management transfer and to obtain a wide field of views - from farmers, to Department of Irrigation, to policy makers. The workshop included paper , presentation and ample discussions. The discussion sessions were frank, highlighting successes and problems. Many recommendations were obtained both for immediate action, and for further research. The results of the workshop are instrumental in guiding the RTDBIIIMI joint research program.
It is hoped that the results of the workshop will be beneficial for policy makers, implementers, and farmers. Thanks to all those that participated both through writing and discussion. We are grateful to the support of the Ford Foundation for making this possible. 1,
Khem Raj Sharma David 1. Molden • RTDB Chief IIMI
t \Vorl (0 His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMG/N) pursues a policy of gradual turnover of ;CIl irrigation systems to farmers through their organizations. Pursuant to HMGIN broad ,'cr policy, management transfer efforts have been initiated at different levels by different ng' projects under Department of Irrigation (DOl). Under policy guidelines, diverse fOfl)lS of ; a transfer initiatives and actions exist. I\'C r'Io he Irrigation management transfer is occurring worldwide. In different parts of the \vorld, Intemational Irrigation Management Institute (IIMl) is conducting research to understand impact of management transfcr to assist concerned governments and the organizations to implement irrigation management transfer and refine policies and processes therein. It is now recognized that important to the long-term Sllccess of transferred irrigation systems are evaluation of management transfer process and performance, The Research and Technology Development Branch (RTDB) and IIMI are collaborating to study processes and perfonl1ances of irrigation management transfer initiatives and actions. This joint initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation, In conjunction to this, RTDB and IIMI have started conducting research studies in Nepal and availing feedback ld :d to DOL 011 Tn this context, RTDB and IIMI jointly organized a two-day workshop on "Evaluation of Irrigation Management Transfer Process and Performance". It was the first of a lr series of workshops that RTDB and IIMI jointly organized. The key policy makers, 11 planners, teclmicians and farmers represcnting the irrigation projects currcntly under transfer attended the workshop, The program schedule and the list of participants arc gi ven in the almcxes, The broad objective of the Ford Foundation funded RTDBI IIMI activity in Nepal is to improve the process of management transfer to lead to high and sustainable impacts. To do this, findings of these studies are to be disseminated and discussed by arranging workshops, • - The specific objectives of this first workshop were as follows. .. • Provide a forum for discussing processes, arrangements, and impacts of irrig:.1tion management transfer in Nepal • Present findings to date of RTDBI IIMI studies • Present means and accomplislunents of various programs and projects involved in irrigation management transfer and • Identify areas for further RTDBI IIMI research and assistance through this project ./ • 2 Opening Cerelnony III liS Mr. R. P. Satyal, Coordinator of Irrigation Management Transfer Project (IMTP), fomlally started the workshop with welcome speech. Welcoming the participanfs, Mr. Satyal urged that the workshops jointly participated by the farmers and experts would be more effective, ifthey are conducted in Nepali language. Mr. Satyal perceived that 001 has been endeavoring for over a decade to realize the essence of participatory management by gradually handing over the irrigation projects developed and managed by HMGIN presently. TIle process of gradual handing over has started in projects of all sizes. HMGIN has adopted policies of full or partial transfer of irrigation projects by fostering the institution of new or strengthening existing water user organizations. To the eA1ent possible, these efforts attempt to involve, or at least to inform the process of management transfer all farmers within the command area of the selected projects for transfer. All these processes follow a logical step and are in compliance to .. Irrigation Policy, Water Resources Act and Water Resources Regulations . The IMTP is a ~eliberate effort of HMGIN in this direction. IMTP has recently entered its third year of operation. However, it is believed that it is still in a learning stage. This holds equally true with similar other efforts in irrigation management transfer in the country. It is quite evident from the experiences that 001 call1lot implement any blanket approach for irrigation management transfer in the country, but it is essential that rigorous researches and sustained and logical efforts must be put in place to develop concrete action plans and implementation modalities. TIlere should be an exchange of ideas and experiences anlong different collaborators and stakeholders. In this context, IIMI's support to 001 has been very instrumental in establishing the process of dialogue, idea delivery, and exchanging information. The findings of the research supported by IIMI must lead to subsequent researches and there should be an in-built mechanism for dissemination ofgenerated information to a wider audience . • Formally opening the workshop, the Chief Guest, Mr. M. N. Aryal, Director General of 001, outlined that the Irrigation Policy has established concrete policies for operation, maintenance and transfer of irrigation projects. Such transfer can be full or partial. The policy was drafted in this line because DOl's effort was flawed in a number of ways and there was virtually none or very little participation of the real beneficiaries in different projects. There were no agenda or mandate to include farmers in any aspect of irrigation 3 - development from planning to operation and maintenance. It is because of this exclusion, the efforts never yielded the benefits that they were supposed to generate. This led to a paradox that the government had to keep on increasing the total investment in irrigation. This, in turn, further decreased the benefits to the fanners in real ternlS. Both construction and operation and maintenance (O&M) costs increased in geometrical proportion. It was not until very recently that the govenunent realized that the O&M costs of irrigation systems were escalating beyond the capacity of the government alone. Therefore, it was felt essential that these costs be shared with the users by their involvement in irrigation projects. This initiative was in conformity to various reviews in both in and outside the country that the farmers can manage and develop irrigation projects of big sizes on their own. Continuing his speech, the Chief Guest contended that HMG/N adopted a policy ofjoint management of big projects having structural complexity by the farnlers and the agency. Similarly, the projects of smaller scale and simpler structures would be completely transferred to the farmers. These two things were ingrained in the country's broad policy framework for irrigation development and management. With regard to management transfer, the Chief Guest pointed out that it is essential to review the process of irrigation development in retrospect. He also noted that although DOl had thought of involving users by creating fomlal WUAs in the programs nothing concrete was achieved. This could have been because of the reluctance of the professionals of DOl to forgo their prerogative of operation of systems or underestimation of users' capability. It is essential that the mistakes and experiences in the past must be considered as the main precursors in projects to be handed over to the fanners. Similarly, the broad water resource setup, its availability and distribution across the space must be duly considered. However, there are a few distinctly visible problems at hand. There is no policy package for integrated water resource development. Secondly, most of the projects are designed for single purpose of rice irrigation in monsoon season. Third is the lack of a sound information base in water resource, especially regarding dry season flows that affect water resource development in a number of ways. Finally, a concrete system for monitoring and evaluation systems in water resource is yet to be developed. Again, there exist some key considerations with regard to management transfer. First, what is the best process of irrigation management transfer that should be followed? TIle • second is, testing of the hypothesis that management transfer would make irrigation projects more efficient, the agricultural perfonnance would increase, the govenul1cnt's O&M cost would reduce and the system would be more sustainable. However, it is yet to see if these hypotheses are true and in that DOl has followed the best process for management transfer. TIlliS, it is essential that a continuous process be instituted to monitor the course that the projects under management transfer are taking. 4 lon, In this context, constant monitoring and evaluation of projects that have already been :0 Ff4 transferred and those currently being in the process of transfer are essential. This must :on. concentrate on the strcngths and constraints, both at wider orl and micro levcl. Thc Chief 10... Guest believed that the workshop would try to find definite answcrs to the bcst process .vas~ for successful management transfer and such discussions would also take into tion consideration of strengths and weaknesses of 001. He assured that the outcome of the '-'vas workshop will be timely and duly incorporatcd and internalized in DOl's attempt to ttion•. conceive better policy for irrigation managcment and development and successful the implementation of management transfer. / :heir ~ Introducing the RTDB/IIMI program in Nepal, Dr. David J. Molden expressed pleasure to be in Nepal to talk about irrigation management transfcr. He expected that the ~int workshop would be useful to provide infornlation to collaborating partners and lCy. stakeholders to better implement the program of management transfer in Nepal. tely hcy He raised two main questions concerning management transfer in Nepal. First, is management transfer a right thing for Nepal and is providing the expected impacts? Second, is management transfer being implemented right or are the practices being used I to are leading to expected impacts? He further hoped that the answers to these questions ugh .'. could be found through this workshop by sharing the experience of all the participants. llllg Looking at South and South East Asia, the management transfer in Nepal is the most the "* innovative and most far reaching. or the He expected that the participants would hold fruitful and output-oriented discussions and the share their experience in implementing management transfer programs. He added that this oss venue would be used effectively to disseminate the findings of RTDB/IIMI research ) at program. He hoped that, being the first workshop in the RTDB/UMI research program, it By, would help identify issues for further research and come up with some recommendations on. for better management transfer. Finally, he expressed his appreciation to the Ford if)' Foundation for providing financial assistance for the research program in Nepal. , a be The Chairperson of the opening program Mr. C. M. Tater, DOG of 001, stated that the irrigation management transfer in Nepal is progressing satisfactorily. He opined that the training programs delivered to the farmers have been useful for successful transfer. He observed that due to lack of knowledge on irrigation management and transfer policies, 001 has been facing many problems. He believed that this workshop would on .~ generate concrete infornlation through discussions to facilitate the process of management It's'" transfer in the country. to .. or Extending his vote of thanks, Dr. K. R. Sharma, Chief of RTDB, observed that the to irrigation project through management transfer is expected to benefit more beneficiaries, increase productivity and help promote the sustainability of the systems. He reiterated the 5 r need to review whether the process for management transfer is the right thing to do and the need to review and understand whether it is being pursued in the right way. In this context, he added that a consultative conunittee has been formed at the center under the chairmanship of DG of DOl to guide the research need and to review all progresses made. The activity of the research progranl now covers IMTP projects as well as others where management transfer efforts have been initiated. Mentioning the progress made by RTDB/IIMI research program in Nepal, Dr. Sharma pointed out about the completion of study on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in irrigation projects. A policy brief has already been published which is first in the series. Similarly, he mentioned about the researches on rehabilitation processes and institutional arrangement for supporting management transfer and time series information collection to analyze impacts and outcomes of transfer efforts. Concluding his speech, Dr. Shanna thanked all the participants, especially the VIPs and the farmers' representative, for participating in the program. .,.' 6 ··nd 'liS .. he =" ,Jc.3 Sumntary of Presentations -ma ::ms les. ma~ DOl'S EXPERIENCE IN IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT 1 to -111a The first day sessions consisted of paper presentations and discussions on DOl's for experience on irrigation management in different projects and efforts made for management transfer by the agency to the farmers. The papers focused on various processes followed in construction as well as management of irrigation systems involving farmers as emphasized by the new irrigation policies and water resource regulations of HMGIN. The papers also attempted to draw experiences of different projects in joint efforts in system construction, system O&M, and management transfer. Important issues raised after presentation were followed by discussions. . The title of the first paper presented in the session I was Development of Participatory Managed Irrigation Systems: Lessons Learnt from Irrigation Sector Project (ISP) by D. S. Sharma and N. Ansari. The authors argued that the ISP marked a new approach and strategy in the implementation of irrigation projects that laid emphasis on greater involvement of beneficiary farmers during planning, design, construction as well as on O&M of the systems. Unlike previous irrigation projects, ISP followed a demand driven approach and the District Irrigation Offices (DIOs) were made responsible for selection, sub-project preparation and their implementation. In implementing ISP, certain operational steps and procedures were set up. The process, besides others, encompassed several strategic elements. It was conceived as a demand driven approach; mobile irrigation teams (MIT) were fonned and attached at Regional Irrigation Directorates (RIDs) for effective implementation of the project; District Level Appraisal and Approval Committees were formed among the main district level line .. agencies, viz., agricultural office, Agriculture Development Bank of Nepal (ADBIN), 010; Water Users Associations (WUAs) formation was emphasized right from the • beginning of program initiation and their involvement was souglit from the start; Association Organizers (AOs) were deployed to bridge the gap between DOl and WUA; .. joint account was operated between 010 and WUA to make financial matters transparent and to effectively mobilize local resources; and extension services were mobilized to complement irrigation facility in the project area. 7 f• f I:, rhe ISP's implementation was reported to be of significance in terms of gaining several lessons that could be useful for consideration in future projects. Participation is effective 111 projects, where the demands are genuine in terms of the needs and aspiration of the users. Smaller projects, usually confined to one Village Development Conul1ittce (VDC). showed better resource mobilization performance. Information dissemination has to be made properly to the users about project's concept and principles in order to realize maximum participation; and understanding is important about the genuineness of the support requested by the users prior to making commitments by the project. ,/ Concluding the presentation, the authors expressed need to conduct studies on ISP's irrigation facilities. A major issue that was reported in ISP concerned with its structural durability. The authors estimated that about 60 percent of the projects are damaged and farmers have approached to DIOs (primarily in hills) reflecting the dependency of the users towards government for maintenance ofthe stntctures. The second paper presented in the first session was Analysis of Pl'ocess and Impacts of Management Transfer in Khageri and Panchkanya Irrigation Project: The Lessons Learnt by P. R. Khanal. In general, the transfer activities were reported to be going smoothly as planned. Action Plan (AP) was completed for management transfer as per the schedule and Memorandum of Understanding (MOD) was signed between project and -I WUAs enabling the project to proceed further for rehabilitation. The author agrees that the successful transfer of the systems require, among others, the legal authority to WUAs to act upon many issues that arise during system management. Lack of legal basis may affect adversely to WUAs restricting them to involve in conflict resolution, resource generation and mobilization within the command area. Common legal issues of concern are land encroaclunent by farmers in the canal area and also nonpayment of Irrigation Service Fees (ISF) by the users. In case of Khageri and Panchkanya irrigation systems (KHIS and PIS), present trends of resource generation and mobilization have not been up to the desired levels. The existing rates of ISF are far lower than the required amount for system O&M in both projects, which if not revised, might cause financial problems. There is still lack ofconfidence among users that the management by WUA would lead to better system performance and long term sus/ainability. The issue needs to be resolved through further training and awareness creation among users at the grassroots. Other issues observed relate to clear policies on commitment at higher level, water right issues and conflicts, physical status of the system that specifies ownership right and issues of the system as well as the machinery that are turned over and the responsibility of \VUAs for their maintenance :veral Some major recommendations made by the author were on training need at every level, ·ctlv"<.; identification of actual irrigated area through household survey, 'legally instituted roles .' the" and responsibility of WUA and DIOIDOI, provision of a resource generation plan and Dq. reduction of WUA contribution for rehabilitation from the present level. :0 be ~alizc The third paper presented in session I was Irrigation Management T.-ansfer in If the Irrigation Line of Credit (lLC) Pilot Project by A. M. Singh and B. R. Adhikary. The writers underlined the major factors that were considered important for implementing ILC pilot project in the country. They were, recognition of significance of farmer-managed ISP's irrigation systems (FMISs) in irrigation development in the country, potential for ·tuPaI development of small systems, especially those managed by farmers, reluctance of i and famlers for management of large systems, and basic needs program, especially in meeting f the growing demand for food in the country. ILC' followed a strategy to support construction of new irrigation systems (small and :ts of medium), rehabilitation of FMIS, rehabilitation of agency managed systems, and ;sons construction! rehabilitation of ground water projects. The ILC Pilot project encompassed ~OJl1g four objectives, viz. to launch the project on 'program approach', to make it demand ~r the driven, to develop effective processes and procedures for implementation of such program : and" in future and to increase farmers' involvement at different stages of project completion. The project followed several steps to achieve its objectives. Each of the steps was ,., logically linked with the succeeding and preceding steps. ;, the nent. Management transfer i.l1'tumover' scheme in ILC Project presents some issues. In general, 1flict the farmers were not responsive to take over the responsibility of O&M. The users legal generally had the feeling that HMG/N would totally stop support after turnover even if also the systems were damaged by major catastrophe making the repair of the system beyond and the capacity of famlers. Users, therefore, need to be assured about government support in ~ and case ofmajor rehabilitation need besides being convinced for regular O&M by themselves ; far under normal condition. ised, The writers expressed that in ILC, activities were focused more on construction or rehabilitation only. Follow up measures on training and capabilities building ojfarmers lead were lagging behind. Large systems in the hills are generally found to be beyond the J be management capacity offarmers even for regular O&M. This might call for agency's ool§. involvement to some extent. System design should be based on future mode of O&M and righ' capacity of farmers. Management transfer is considered to be effective only when WUAs aAd are fully capable and agency could guide them properly to set a system of fund collection, tyof.. resource mobilization, and operation and maintenance. llle first paper presented in Session II was Review of Joint Management of Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project (MLIP) by T. B. Budhathoki. Originally, HMG/N initiated the 9 r MLIP project with the assistance of the World Bank during late 1970s. Later, HMGIN requested United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) for assistance to undertake irrigation developments based on pumping from available surface water sources in Dano and Tinau Rivers. The Phase-I of the project was started in 1980 with a conunand area of 5600 ha. The Phase-II commanded lesser area of 2800 ha. Land acquisition was made up to tertiary level. Provision of involving WUAs actively was begun since the Phase-II of the project. The structure of WUA . formed in MLIP consists of three tiers viz. main committee, system level committees and block level CODUnittees. The project followed a strategy of supply driven when it was started but later laid more emphasis on demand of the users. In MLIP, the WUAs generate income from different sources and have maintained results of income and expenditure details. There is not yet a significant breakthrough in agricultural performances in the area. Fanning practices in MLIP are still traditional. Wheat and paddy are grown as major crops. Diversification to cash crops is being emphasized but has not been adopted in meaningful scale. The operation and maintenance of the system are done jointly by the agency and WUA. The WUA is involved in regular maintenance, and canal cleaning works for which schedules are prepared in advance. The project supports for reconstructing the damaged structures that require more technical and financial inputs. The author, keephlg in view the sustained operation and maintenance of the project, recommended the need for continuous technical backstopping, legal support to WUA in order to be able to collect revenues and taxes, launching of skill oriented training programs, and establishing a process ofcontinuous impact evaluation. { The second paper of this session was on Bhairahawa Lumbini Ground Water Project (BLGWP) presented by M. B. Gurung. BLGWP was started in 1977. Stage I development began as early as in 1977 that involved installation of 64 tube wells and development of basic infrastructures within the command area, namely, tube well installation, gravel road construction, development of power transmission line, and I agricultUral support services. The development of Stage-II began in 1983/84 with a conceptual change in technical aspect. But there was no change in the implementation approach although the involvement of water users in project activities was emphasized in the Staff Appraisal Report (SAR). Stage III of the project started in 1990/91 and • followed the technology adopted in stage II. There was, however, a rad!cal change in the concept of implementation emphasizing on participatory approach. Management transfer was also accorded additional importance and demand driven approach was encouraged. The project tried various efforts towards the transfer of operation and maintenance responsibility oftube wells to the famlers. In course of this, \vater charges were increased 10 liN in order to meet the O&M cost of the system. The project, finally, had two alternatives tooi left with regard to the sustainability. Onc was to raise the water charge collection at least teT to the extent of covering the O&M costs and stick on it. The second was to turnover the 13". systems including their management to the farnlers and to let them take the entire :ma responsibility. At the end, thc second option to turnover the system was considered more was practicable. The accomplishments of project ~fter turnover of stage-I tube wells have been reported tte ... :remarkable. Farmers' mobilization was encouraging and they were involved in carrying yof out works such as earth excavation, back filling and grass turfing in addition to about five ). In percent contribution against the construction cost as stated by the Irrigation Policy. s of Institutional development of Water Users Groups (WUGs) has been successful with the fornlation of formal and legal organizations with a marked improvement in project fanner relationship. Agricultural perfornmnce is reported to be improving over the years .rea. after turnover leaving certain exceptions. WUGs have increasingly shouldered more aJor responsibility towards system management and the project is relieved· from day to day j in management and increasing financial burden. the nmg The author presented certain issues. These included certain flaws and weaknesses in the for .. planning and design of project, especially during the stage-I development. Improper canal lining gave rise to high leakage with low conveyance efficiency. Other issues relate to lack of inlerdisciplinarycoordination among technicians and association organizers, . A lect, higher construction cost of project owing to the development of other infrastructures and, 4 in lack of adequate cash balance with WUGs for major repair works if so needed. The nmg frequently increasing electricity charges and lack ofa subSidy policy for lube wells also remain major issues. Cases of theft of spare parts and machines are also common that need to be resolved. Iject ;e I FARl\1ERS' OPINION ON TRANSFERRED SYSTEMS and The participating fanners' representatives were also given an opportunity to raise their well concerns regarding transfer attempts and progresses. A brief sununary of their and presentations is given below: tIt a Ltion :d in Panchkanya Irrigation System, Chitwan a8Cl l the.. Originally, this system was supported for construction under Chitwqn Lift Irrigation lsf~r Project but the quality remained poor, as beneficiaries were not involved at all. Gradually, 1 after taking over the system for turnover under IMTP, a full-fledged legal WUA has been fonned, training was provided on various aspects of institutional development and system lnce management. An agreement was also made between WUA and government and 1sed rehabilitation works began. II \! I r After rehabilitation, the headwork and gate structures have becn constructed In turn, water supply efficiency grew considerably, roughly by 80 percent. Because of more water supplies in the canal, the rotation came dO\m to 3 days from previous 12 days. Similarly. the WUA has started to record the land under each branch. Currently, some 500 bighas to .... 550 bighas land can be irrigated. There is also provision for canal cleaning twice a year. Each branch has its own record keeping system. The WUA main committee maintains records on share mcmbership, lSF, income and expenditures. Applications regarding water demand are registcred and processed by each branch committee and the related files are maintained. The farmers' representative strongly asserted that the system design and command area must be fixed only after thorough investigation o/maximum and minimum discharges. Piparpati Parsauni Irrigation System This irrigation system is part of the West Gandak Irrigation System (WGIS) and was handed over to the users some four years ago. It receives watcr from Indian Canal. Initially, there was problem to receive water from the canal as water supply in the canal \-vas regulated accordingly with the Indian system. Moreover, water supply in Nepal side was difficult, as the intake level was higher. All users became united to resolve the problem, collected donations from among themselves, obtained drilling machine and broke the structures that blocked water supply. Following this, water supply is much casier, which has a direct impact in raising paddy yield from I mtl kattha to 2.5 mt - 3 mtl kattha. Nonetheless, some problems still prevail in the system. Silt problem occurs frequently and so also the conflicts. The WUA collects ISF for the operation and maintenance of the system. A major proportion of ISF is used for renting machines for dcsilting ofthe canals. Thc WUA Office is run voluntarily by its members. Water distribution is based on rotational method. The WUA meets every month, usually on 16th. Office expenses are borne by the WUA itself. The WUA has some Rs 50,000 of cash balance and the system is functioning satisfactorily. \Vest Gandak Irrigation System Mr. Haider Ali, Chair of WUA, presented a brief history of the irrigation system in a chronological order of major events and interventions. In the early stage, a conUllon feeling prevailed among the famlers, considering the size of the project, whether or not the system could be managed if it is taken over from the government. The project, while being managed by the agency, was incurring heavy financial cost annually and irrigated only a small part of the command area. This was of great concern to the fanners while 12 '1 turn, takmg over the responsibility for its mallagem~nt However, aftcr taking over the 'w~er management rcsponsibility, the percentage of irrigated area has increased significantly. jlarly. The WUA is ready to takc over the management of main canal quite soon. The WUA .,ha~ to main committee is represented by different VDC officials and thc canal serves 16 VDCs . .. Cash support amounting Rs 500,000 is made available by the VDCs. The WUA of this system raises funds from different sources. The sources include road toll (on canal service record road), land tax from shopkccpcrs selling goods in haat bazaars within the conunand area. p, ISF, ISF is another major source of income to the WUA. It also plans to raise income by !d J and selling timberl twigs of the trees handed over by the project along the canal system. The armers' WUA, according to him, will be able to manage the systcm more efficiently than before. e fixed Khageri Irrigation System Mr. Tika Ram Dahal, Chairperson of KHIS, started his presentation with the concern that whether the WUA is to look after the conflicts or irrigation management as there Id was have been frequent and diverse cases of conflicts within the command area. He also CanaL mentioned about new problems that have been emerging after taking over the e canal responsibility of management by WUA. Inadequate waters in dry season make the lal sise management more complex. Alternative source for the augmentation of irrigation water Ive the has been considered from Baglullara stream. Ie and "i! ; much The process for transfer should take into account different considerations. Most important mt - 3 of aU are the nlles and regulations at the national level to facilitate the WUAs. occurs Concerned institutions should play meaningful role for institutional development of m and WUAs. The key institutions, besides others, include irrigation, agriculture, ADBIN, Land :les for Revenue Office, etc. He also showed concern onfitrther studies on the institutional arrangements of WUAs. sed on There are main and branch conullittees in this system. It has to be studied whether the :;es are conunittees are necessary at tertiary levels or not. Training and knowledge dissemination system seem to be limited to the members at main and branch committees and this stands as a major obstacle for widespread support for successful implementation of management transfer. The WUA members have offered voluntary services to irrigation management. Their contributions have to be evaluated and recognized by the govenunent. Competent .. members have to be selected and staff should be hired keeping in view of the duties to be perfomled. The system's conditions have to be assessed and studied tl~oroughly and water 111 iff a allocation and distribution should be based on equal proportions. He also opined on the munon need of publicity and infomlation dissemination about users' liability towards the ~ or Qot ~ management of the system. while " igatcd " ~ i while k ~ 13 t RTDB/IIMI RESEARCH . PROGRAl\1 AND RESEARCII .. FINDINGS The third session included presentations of RTDB/llMI research progrmn, research '1 findings in Nepal as well as experience of other countries on management transfer. l The session was started with the detailed introduction of RTDB/IIMI research program in Nepal that was presented by Dr. D. 1. Molden from IIMI. The research program goal has been to assist HMG/N in setting policies and developing implementation procedures that will lead to successful management transfer. The objectives of the research program were further grouped as follows. • Provide insights and recommendations on process and policies related irrigation management transfer I • Assist with M&E system of DO I and • Disseminate and discuss research findings I The program constitutes two research questions. • What are the impacts of management turnover and joint management in tenns of agricultural productivity, sustainability of the physical systems and reduced government O&M cost? • Which process for achieving management transfer and joint management is better to follow in future? The research program was stated to contain three major research hypotheses as followings. • Management transfer will lead to an increase in total production and net benefits to d'le fanners • Management transfer will lead to a decrease in government expenditure on operation and maintenance (O&M) cost • The total finances made available for O&M by farmers and govenunent will increase thereby leading to better O&M and sustainability of the systems It was observed that the project would support the following data collection and dissemination activities. ... • Use ofM&E data from various sources (SMB, MISU, NPC, Others) • Collect additional and specific data through RTDB • Presentation in reports and research papers • Presentations of findings by organizing workshops and seminars l-l 'II Future research sites were tentatively identified to be those representing various ...~ management transfcr systems in the country. Thcse may include mainly the Wcst Gandak ~ Irrigation System, Khageri Irrigation System, Panchkanya Irrigation System, Kamala and d~ Marchwar and othcr systems under transfcr provision. Selected tube wells of BLGWP ~ and selected hill systems would also be the appropriate sites for the future research works. reb ~ .rch i The research activities will include all those that will help DOl's current management ~ transfer efforts. Tbis would include but not limited to the assessment ling of completed works, M&E systems in irrigation sector, documentation of rehabilitation process, institutional fhe .. support for successful management transfer, and all other emerging issues conccming the transfer process. Detailed impact evaluation com.prising of rehabilitation and design Jon process was also considered essential. Dr. Molden, finally, concluded the presentation highlighting three important policy and implementation concems. • Sustainability of the systems require ISF collection and other resource raising to cover O&M costs. ; of4 • WUA management body to institutionalize a system of hiring paid competent staff and technicians for day to day operation and maintenance of the systems ced • The need to consider means of supporting WUAs after tumover. There is a need ') for a supportive institutional framework in which newly fomled WUAs can r to flourish. The first amongst the presentations of RTDB/IIMI research findings in Nepal was on as "The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Systems in Inoigation Sector in the Country". The presentation was based on the research findings of a study conducted by I. Neupane about six months ago. This covered various M&E systems practiced at 5 to different levels ofHMGIN and projects. 011 The author presented that the monitoring systems exist at different levels viz. NPC, DOA, 001, and project level. 1l1ere are wide variations in monitoring systems adopted at all will levels and only in very few projects. effective monitoring has been achieved. NPC monitoring is confined to physical and financial monitoring of the irrigation systems and :> covers two major indicators of projects namely physical area monitoring and financial ana. ts monitoring. The DOA compiles the aggregate data on irrigation area based on DOl's • .' ... , figures. Project to project data is not maintained and it is very hard to track the problems "' or issues about irrigation projects. 001 has devised systems to carry out more elaborate 4) monitoring of the irrigation projects through M&E unit and MISU. Monitoring of O&M It systems is a laudable effort but much remains to be improved. Monitoring indicators have ~ "f' t 15 ~ 5 I J been developed as questionnaires to be filled out by agency staff and are supposedly to be forwarded to the M&E unit of 001. The author also presented the monitoring indicators used by various organizations and projects. Obviously, these indicators vary across different agencies mainly depending upon the purpose of monitoring and infonnation availability. The key monitoring indicators being used commonly for monitoring by 001 and projects pertain to water discharge, irrigated area, institutional activities and agricultural perfonnances. 001 uses a lengthy checklist to solicit large number of data on indicators covering institutional, financial, system maintenance, water delivery and agricultural perfom~ance. The attempt, although, commendable has been more or less confirmed impracticable to come lip with sati!Jiactory outcome in the given condition. One difficulty is that infonnation is not readily transferred from the field to the center. Similarly, monitoring frequency varies from one agency to another. The NPC's monitoring, for instance, is based on progress reports that are made quarterly, half yearly and annually. The DOl's monitoring is obviously a more elaborate system trying to cover more indicators and activities. Similarly, some of the projects like MLIP and BLGWP seem to be doing in depth monitoring of key indicators. Data quality and authenticity used for monitoring purpose was another major area of findings presented. The data used by NPC are mostly secondary that are submitted by the ,;. 001. Monitoring data used by DOl are based on the reports provided by system managers. There is less clarity about the sources and data collection methods used by field staff. There is a need to develop a data base system right in the project offices so that monitoring data forwarded to the centers can be ver{fied. Similarly, the project as MLIP and BLGWP perfonn monitoring by undertaking regular surveys by trained field based staff. There is also variation with regard to the availability of infonnation used for monitoring at different levels. There is more infonnation used for monitoring at the projects that allow evaluation of system activities and perfommnce. The information collected by DOl, however, falls short of the minimum reqUirements and information gaps seem large owing to different technical and operational constraints. 111e infonnation makes it difficult to assert readily about the project performance and impact of systems U1~der transfer or participatory management. The existing M&E systems have failed to meet management's need. There is lack of clarity about required information on the part of management. For example, there is no clear understanding of what infonnation is needed by when and in what format. Also, bcking is the teclmical and operational c1arity, trained personnel and facilities. The mechanism of information flow is vague in terms of timing, process and contents. There 16 .. to b<.; IS no well-defined time frame within which information is to be supplied to different level of management hierarchy. The M&E systems, in general, are confusing and elabor~lte " with complex set of formats or questionnaires designed for seeking information. ;s~nd Some recommendations made during presentations were: improvement in M&E system at ~nding the center (both hardware and software), use of few but essential indicators for litoring monitoring purpose instead ofasking too much data from the field, encou rage information ) water flows from field levels to central level and feedback from central to field level and bring ::::n ~uses improvement in information reporting system with the help of special research studjes. utional, r!tempt, Mr. K. C. Prasad made the second presentation on RTDB/IIMI research findings on the upwilh Identification of Current Process for Rehabilitation and Management Transfer. The is not findings were presented on rehabilitation processes carried out in different projects viz, IMTP, Kankai Irrigation Project, BLGWP, MLlP, SMIP, HIS and ILC. NPC's The author presented the envisaged extent of management transfer that vanes f yearly significantly across systems. The rehabilitation works are also found varied within o cover different systems. The rationale for rehabilitation, the bases for project formulation and LGWP users' share in rehabilitation cost were presented comparatively for different projects. Comparative sunmlary of approaches adopted in different projects were also presented area of for different phases such as pl3lming, implementation, modes of payment, commissioning 1by tlhe and management tr3l1sfer. Each phase of rehabilitation activity consisted of several other system sub activities that show a great deal of variation across the projects. The findings also lsed by revealed some similarities. All the cases ha\'e a rehabilitation component, rehabilitation is 'flees so being done before management transfer, all systems involve fonnation of user groups and )ject as all of them have some form of cost sharing arrangements. There are also notable cd field differences in the basic approach followed by these projects while doing the rehabilitation. The idea of management transfer in govemmcnt managed irrigation schemes has also ilitoring been given due consideration while undertaking various irrigation development and .:ts that management tasks in different irrigation systems. These include scheme-strengthening ~ted by works, development of beneficiaries' organizations, joint management activities in the IS seem area of water management, canal operation and maintenance. Further, all projects are nakes it found guided by the policy to implement scheme-strengthening efforts with farmers' 5 under... paIticipation. In majority of the cases, scheme strengthening works and management transfer appeared to have been supported by external donors. It is only in Kankai Irrigation system where efforts towards management transfer are' made through the lack of regular O&M budget provided by HMGIN. re Ii no t. Also, The agency's support in scheme strengthening works or command area development ~s, The activities have been found as an incentive for the beneficiaries enabling higher TI1crc participation. Also, farmers' involvement in the management tasks is also thought to be 17 important in improving the perfonnance of irrigation schemes. Cost sharing arrangcmcnts are found varied across projects. Nevertheless, all projects have followed the guidelines to fulfill the cost sharing requirements as stipulated by the Irrigation Policy although there are still large variations in such contributions. The third paper in this session was on Institutional Framework to Support Management Transfer. The authors (I. Neupane and B. Neupane) presented that the irrigation development in the country is legally bound with the promulgatiop and enactment of the different legislation, acts and policies. Mainly, the National Code of Conduct, 1963 (Muluki Ain) is the basic code for exercising the right of the public to use water. Promulgated in 1992, the Water Resources Act (WRA) provides a basis for utilization and allocation of water on the basis of national preference and priorities. Water Resource Regulation, 1993 (WRR), as a legal elucidation ofWRA, provides the basis for effective implementation of the act. Similarly, Irrigation Policy, 1996 (lP) has been enacted to facilitate exploitation of technically, economically, socially and environmentally feasible irrigation schemes, recognizing the prime role of the fanners to increase managerial and operational efficiency of the schemes. ... The acts, legislation and policies have been instrumental in creating conducive environment and provide legal security toward the use of water. The right to use water can be obtained by acquiring a license from the government. Such licenses are both salable and transferable. However, the public awareness regarding water rights is very limited and confined only to the recent projects. It was also observed that the licensing procedure is silent on water sharing by volume from the source. There exists a legal provision for implementing turnover policy and WRA, WRR and IP provide legal basis for the establishment of WUAs. WUAs are fully authorized to fix ISF rates, collection and utilization. The ISF charges are presumed to meet the O&M costs of the irrigation systems, however, ISF collection, in general, is comparatively lower than the required minimum. Various mmlstries, departments, corporations have been created under the broad administrative framework of HMGIN to carryout different functions related to water use in the country; Various legislative bodies are also fonned at different levels, from central to local level, to regulate the functions related to irrigation and water supplies. Many NGOs are also involved, as partner of HMGIN or solely, in water resource development. DOl is the major government department involved in irrigation development of the country. 18 'll'IItS It is indicative that there arc various agcncics crcalcd at different levels that address the :s tfl. issucs of water resource utilization, howevcr, a converging institutional framework forillcd on thc basis of organizational consensus in irrigation development is lacking. Morc preciscly put, policies and institutions exist, but overall framework and stratcgy arc not properly developed. It is also indicativc of the fact that thc essence of irrigation in gencral and irrigation managemcnt transfer in particular is yet to bc properly incorporated )port in the policies and followed in actions. Similarly, although therc are various institutions Lt the created under the HMGIN to operate in water resource sector at different levels, there and does not exist a coordinated plan to provide effective supports to the farmers for efficient de of utilization of irrigation projects. The coordination problems are more critical at the o~e districts and at field levels. s for Most critical is the role of District Water Resource Committec (DWRC), which is limited Vater to issuing license to use watcr in the districts. Thcre cxist ample opportunities and needs IS for to make it more active, equipped with greater responsibility to rcgulate the provisions bcen given in various acts and legislation. Also, full-fledgcd govcrnment agcncy to look after and the problems of floods and their management and installation of early flood warning ~rs to system are essential. Maintenance of water quality in the canal systems is a critical issuc requiring immediate attention. A logical plan to improve and a separate agency to look after the river basin management were also fclt to be lacking . ... UClve Although DOl is prepared to provide certain level of supports to facilitate the transfer water program for the first few years, it has yet to bc seen to what extent these supports would botl' be adequate. In fact, DOl's role in providing future long-term supports will be inevitable verv and its liabilities may further increase in some areas. There is, therefore, an urgency to nsmg rethink DOl's role to facilitate support to the transferred systcms. Such supports mllst bc legal able to address major issues relating to effective monitoring, major technical, legal and basis organizational backstopping. Representation of WUAs and their federations is warranted xtion at the policy-making bodies within the setup of 001. .wtion juircd Ms. Charlotte dc Fraiturc from IIMl, Sri Lanka prcscnted thc experience of Samaca Irrigation project of Colombia where Irrigation management transfer took place in 1992. She also mcntioned the changes that took place in Samaca Irrigation Scheme including the shift in cropping pattern and abolishment ofvolumctric watcr fecs. broad ~r lise In her presentation, Ms. Fraiturc reflccted on some of the changes in thc standard gross ential value of production per unit of the command area and pcr unit of cultivated area in Man\' Samaca Irrigation Scheme together with the standard gross value of production per unit melfi. of irrigation water supplied and standard gross value of production per unit of water )f the consumed over the period bchvecn 1986 - 1996. The standard gross values of production were noticed higher per unit of command area and per unit of irrigation watcr supplied compared to thosc per unit ofcultivated arca alld pcr unit of watcr consumed. 19 - She also presented the O&M expenditure per unit of land with breakdown of O&M cost per unit of conunand area and O&M cost per unit of cultivated area both of which showed a general decline with lowest figure in 1993, the year after the turnover. The cost. - however, began to rise in the subsequent years. Similarly, with regard to total O&M cost ..... that included cost of administration, cost of maintenance and cost of operation, an interesting scenario was observed. It was presented that the administrative costs of the project were incurred only after the transfer of the management to fanners, while the cost of operation was curtailed than before. Interestingly, the maintenance costs of the system did not change much after the transfer. Financial self-sufficiency on Samaca Irrigation Project was presented to have improved quite significantly from the year when management transfer took place. Following the transfer, financial self-sufficiency has been achieved more or less at 100 percent except for the year 1994. Similarly, the fee collection rates in Samaca Irrigation Project do not show any significant changes between the periods before and after transfer. She also presented findings of some irrigation systems of Nepal that are currently at various stages of transfer process. Relating the Samaca experience to data gathered in some of these irrigation projects, Ms. Fraiture presented a means for impact evaluation requiring limited data. The minimum data required includes climatic data (monthly .. precipitation, daily temperatures, monthly wind speed, relative humidity, hours of sunshine), agricultural production data (total command area, cropping pattern, area per ., crop, crop yields, market price), irrigation data (total amount of irrigation water diverted per year and actual capacity of main canal), and financial data (total annual expenditure on O&M, annual income generated by WUA, government expenditure on O&M). The final session of the Workshop ended with group discussions and recommendations that were presented by respective group leaders. The discussions concentrated on three major themes of concurrent issues relating to successful irrigation management transfer. The topics for discussions were Monitoring and Evaluation System, Physical System Rehabilitation, and System turnover and Joint Management. Following reconunendations were made in relation to these topics. One of the major recommendations was to devise a monitoring system within the DOl setup for tracking the performance of the irrigation systems. The minimum set of data considered essential for monitoring were: gross value of agricultural output (yield, cropped area, fann gate price), O&M service fees generated, O&M ~osts, daily discharge and use of transferred physical facilities. It was also recommended that the responsibility of data collection for monitoring should be shared by the WUAs and agency and a practic~ ofjoint monitoring needs to evolve. 20 , \1 cost As regard to the flow of data for monitoring purposes, the group reconunended to follow wh'kh the tri-annual progress reporting system currently practiced. Thus, the data must be cost,'" generated and forwarded every four-month to the extent applicable. The reporting formats ·1 COst must be simple and short. .; .\n, an of the It was also considered essential to coHect data before and after turnover of the systems. he cost system ! Also. it was felt necessary to maintain monitoring systems at all levels of government hierarchy for which real data needs are to be identified for the levels concerned. ,proved Another recommendation made was on the need to decide on process of rehabilitation ing the rather than the volume or anlount of work. The crucial points to be covered during the except documentation of rehabilitation process are infonnation flows, agreement outlining the do not major works, institutional development training, uniform approach for joint walk-through, and the pre transfer rehabilitation need assessment. It was also recommended for grouping the works/activities on the basis of priority and needs. :ntly at ered in For joint management or full turnover of the irrigation systems, there is a need to define luation the role of agency and WUAs. Regarding transfer of the assets to WUAs, it was viewed 10ntltly that not all WUAs require all facilities throughout the year. It was, therefore, ,urs of recommended to set up an arrangement to make the facilities available to WUAs on a rea p~r rental basis. !iverted nditure Another recommendation was to set up an irrigation coordination committee to facilitate management transfer and provide further supports. Such a committee would also work as liaison between VDCs, DOCs and WUAs to channel government supports and resources clations effectively. n three ·ansfer. System dations 1e 001 I of data b-ield, ;ch~ge I siQ.ility and a o 21 ....- Summary of Discussions and I{ccol1lIucndations - This part of the proceeding deals with the issues and concerns raised by participants on the floor and in subsequent discussions. For the purpose of clarity, these have been grouped and presented for each session as follows. Session I: WlfA's Role in Conflict Management: One of the major issues raised concerned to the practicality for WUAs to look after conflicts and disputes. It is because, sllch problems arise frequently, particularly in larger irrigation systems and quite often the conflicts are of serious nature and require legal interventions at different levels. The question was how far WUAs can follow up such cases. The WUA of Khageri was noted to have the bitter experience of wasting time for conflict resolution at the cost of irrigation management and canal operation. Implementation of rules is also a major problem in transferred systems. 5)'stem Management: Management of larger irrigation systems covering several VDCs was one of the major points of discussion. For instance, KJlageri has 8 VDCs and West .. Gandak 16 VDCs. Larger the area of the project, more is the problem with people's participation and resource mobilization. To this effect, there is a need to develop an llndcrstanding between WUA and VDCs. The combined role of WUAs and VDCs with r;:g::ud to irrigation management should also be identified clearly as local NGO and local gO\'enunent, respectively and both mutually supporting each other. Jl'lJA Federation: WUAs' federations are needed at different levels. As an initiation, a district level association has been formed in Chitwan, Such federations at the district level could play meaningful role to protect the interest of WUAs and help constantly to rdormulate policies for effective implementation of management transfer and regulate the rules and norms of govcnunent for effective performance of the system, The case of Chitwan can be an example for all WUAs in the country. A centra) level federation of \ VUAs is also felt necessary that can operate to the interest of farmers served by irrigation projects. SlIpport for Tran.~ferred 5~vslems: In larger systems, partiCipation needs to be' encouraged, but major financing may be required from the government. Commissioning I .~..; provision has to be made and strictly followed. In hill systems, O&M is complex due to landslides and other environmental hazards and more government supports are required in (he management of turned over! transferred systems. 22 , j j DIO's Roles and Attitudes: It was another issue raised and discussed. It often appears that DIO is not vcry much interestcd with the participatory mode and the 010 engineers do not want to go to the grassroots level. There is a need to bring changes in the attitude and behavior of DIO's staff to support for participatory management. There might be need of further training and orientation to the staff to this effect. ; on been Work Packaging System: Work packaging was considered essential in the sense that WVA's and Agency's package should be clearly identified including the degree of .. interventions. There should neither be duplication nor gaps in such process. Ifwe need to I involve farmers, it should be clear about the degree, nature, type and module of ~ involvement of beneficiary farmers at different stages of project implementation. A clear , tfie work packaging system would allow both the agency and fanners in discharging their lems I responsibilities more effectively. ; are how Regional Variations in Turnover: The percentage of irrigation systems constructed under Jitter , ISP and handed over to users is higher in the Eastern Region than the Central Region. I\ and More problems had occurred in Saptari and Siraha regarding system hand over. Hand 1S. over is distinguished from tumover in the sense that hand over deals with activities in a FMIS whereas tumover is a process of transferring management from government to DCs farmers. The issue of lower rate of hand over in Central Region could imply a Nest"" traditionally higher dependency of users on govemment resources for the construction and pie's management of irrigation systems. Similarly, ignorance about govenullent policy and ,) ar16 mass poverty could be the reasons for less participation and support of people in some with projects. local Turnover Effort: Irrigation management transfer is a deliberate and plalUled effort to shift responsibility of irrigation system management and O&M from the govenunent to )n, a WUAs. In this context,· ISP's efforts in handing over the systems and management level transfer were limited and less encouraging. The project from the beginning lacked a ,y to concrete strategy on irrigation system hand over and management transfer, which Jed to c the sluggish performance. ;e of )Jl of ISF Rates and Collection: Another issue of much COllcern is related to ISF rates and its j by collection. In Khageri, for instance, only 61 percent offamlers are paying ISF. Moreover, the rate of ISF is quite low at Rs 60nla/crop per year. With this rate and collection achievement, it is improbabJe that the financial sustainability of the systems could be ) be achieved. It was discussed that various rates and collection practices are found in 1Il1l1S different projects. But in conunon, the rates and collection systems arc not very effective ,lc~tO in order to meet the O&M cost of the irrigation system. Measures to increase ISF rates edw and improved collection systems are to be introduced. 23 r.' ,))'stem Turnover Policy: APP plans for complete turnover of all AMISs into FMISs in 20 years. But in SISP, there is no adequate thrust for turnover and irrigation management transfer. It is therefore necessary to make it mandatory in aU projccts to stress on policies for system turnover and management transfer right from the beginning of the project. Flexible Cost Sharing Policy: Fixed rates regarding users' contribution and participation have constrained effective response from the beneficiaries. Large systems, particularly in hills, are costly and demand for larger investments. As such, it is often quite difficult for users to meet their share of contribution as stated in the irrigation policy. Besides major damages in hill systems are beyond the technical and financial capabilities of famlers for repair. In consequence, many systems are left in a state of perpetual damage. Therefore, cost sharing policies and post turnover support should be flexible to address these issues. Needless to say, the provision of conunissioning could help positively to take up tumed over system and their maintenance by fanners. There is a need to conduct a detailed study on cost sharing arrangements covering both geographical regions and sizes ofthe projects. Session II: Theft ofEquipment and Machine: In BLGWP, theft problem (stealing of transformers, spare parts. pumps, etc.) was stated to be a major issue needing inmlediate action. It was noted that the problem of theft is less in systems that are operational. Obviously, higher cases of theft have been observed in abandoned systems, where constant supervision is lacking by agency and the users. 111e problem is less in systems with higher participation of users and vice versa. The problem of theft has been difficu It to control by project staff and the WUAs as it involves risk of confrontation with local people. Even local police and administration are facing hardships to control it. Altemativeiy, it would be better to initiate actions against theft by the WUAs and users locally than by handling the problem by project staff. Backstopping: There were queries on the types and forms of backstopping for effective management of irrigation systems by WUAs. In this context, backstopping to farmers does not mean support on technical aspect alone. In MLIP. for instance, there have been good endeavors toward teclmical skill development of local people for the operation of systems. Since marginal and small famlers dominate the whole conunand area, there is limited scope to help them raise their income from agriculture. The option to this could be .. the initiation of other income generating programs from which such groups could reap benefits. Hand qverl Takeover Norms: One issue' pertained to the nonns of hand over and takeover or irrigation systems rehabilitated by the agency. It was pointed out that the existing norms to this effect are inadequate and insufficient. The DOl has had a bad experience 24 ..11Ss III with Handetar irrigation system - a case halldcJ over to the farmers long back but not gc:"\kllt functioning satisfactorily. Therefore if is e.'l·sel1tial that a research he conducted to lolicies develop minimum prerequisites and conditions/hr hand over and takeover. . :1.'" Resource Generation: Resource generation is an important factor for the sustainability of cipation transferred systems. Questions were raised with regard to ISF collection practices in big llarly in systems like West Gandak. The WUA Chairperson of the project defended that the icult for collection of ISF is improving gradually. Besides ISF, the WUA is seeking other sources .. J ~s major of income to supplement the fund for O&M. It was understood that the WUA is even !l1ers for considering enforcing rules to debar water from the ISF defaulters. The WUA plans for lercfore, canal operation through [SF collected in the area. There is also a plan to use other ~ Issues. incomes of WUA for the procurement of agricultural inputs such as seed and chemical ) turned fertilizer for use by the beneficiary farmers, thereby helping to raise agricultural detailed production. ;s ofthe Pumping Hours: Concerns were raised about the varied pumping hour figures in BLGWP and the ideal hours that are required for optimal use. According to the World Bank, the standard pumping hours should be around 1500 hours/year. On this ground, the actual figures of more than 900 hours and about 300 hours recorded in BLGWP are definitely formers, much lower than the requirement Interestingly, the pumping hours decreased significantly 1. It was after turnover of the system to the farmers. The decline was attributed partly to the " hi~ler efficient management of systems by farmers in an effort to save expensive electricity cost. {ISlon IS Also noticed was the fact that a rise in [SF rate to Rs 400/ha led to a decline in pumping cipation hours resulting in lower agricultural production in lowlands. ect staff II police System Sustainability: One of the concerns raised was about sustainability of the systems Jetter to that demand adoption of scientific cropping system and crop diversification. In MLIP, problem crop diversification was reported to be taking place and the project is committed to agricultural development. Farmers are provided with improved variety of paddy seeds. There has been a gradual rise in the percentage of farmers growing vegetables in the ;ffective command area. The project encourages the small fanners towards cash crop production. fanners However, more attention needs to be given 011 this rcspect. lve been ation of Marketing Arrangements: A serious issue in MLIP case was the problem of marketing there is cash crops, particularly the vegetables. Very often fanners in the project area have got :ould• be bitter experience of reduced prices whenever they produced and sold their vegetables . Jld ocap Lack of assured markets and good prices have thus been the major problems towards involving farmers in large scale farming of cash crops and vegetables. The affects of ... reduced prices are more seriolls among the marginal and small fanners . akeover existing Construction Cost: The construction cost of BLGWP was as high as about Rs 40,700 Jcnence per ha for Stage I accounting for all expenses. Particularly in BLGWP, there has been a 25 ". negative impression among beneficiaries towards project considering it very expensive. The cost, while compared to other systems, is definitely higher. One of the reasons that raised the cost in this project was the construction of other infrastructures such as gravel roads, electricity transmission lines and provisions of agricultural facilitics to the fanners. ... The author urged that the gravel roads constructed in the command area are cheaper than those constructed by the Departmcnt of Road. As a result of all these infrastructures and facilities created in the conmland area, famlers were reported to have been benefited in several ways. The project in this way was considered useful, helping people to improve their living conditions. Also noted was the fact that the BLGWP was rather carried out as a research project with several tests and modifications in the process of development. This could be one reason to inflate the cost of the project. There is lack of proper infomlation dissemination and publicity about the project's nature and activities to the public. Such an infomlation would elude misunderstanding and infonnation gaps among pcople and the project. Session HI: A1onitoring and Evaluation: A major question of the participants concemed with the possibility of developing a sound M&E system within the DOl setup. During discllssion, the participants appeared to hold concurrent views on the need to develop existing M&E .. systems of DOl, which arc performed by M&E and MIS Units. A clear view that emerged out of discussions was on the need to develop existing monitoring system and to make it projicient by limiting indicators to few and manageable levels, and 10 add new indicators only when it becomes evidently essential. Also, concems were raised regarding the extent of fam1ers and agency's involvement in monitoring of project activities. Possibility of involving fanners to keep certain types of infornlation was also discussed but this may be implemented only in the projects where WUAs are well developed and have an appreciable understanding of M&E system. In transferred systems, the WUAs may be asked to collect, maintain and furnish sllch infonnation to the 001. Data Adequacy: Presently, the adequacy of existing data in order to evaluate system perfornlance appears questionable as the information recorded is fragmented. Time series data on key perfom1ance indicators are essential that are not available in DOl's monitoring system. Besides, the authenticity of data also poses big question. A serious point to note is the lack of infom1ation colleetion and recording system for M&E purposes at the project level. Field level data collection and record~ng systems need to Q he established. Coordil'}ation: Coordination between MIS and M&E Units of 001 is also a major concern to make M&E system effective within 001 setup. MISU is comparatively more equipped than M&E Unit in terms of pcrsonnel and physical facilities. The need for bctter 26 r~ ~ .. lSlve. coordination between these two units secms uncontroversial. To begin with. both units, at tlJ~ the center, could benefit by sharing the available iI~/i:Jrma'ion and developing a :lvel computerized data base system. In order to make M&E system efficient and sustainable, lers. coordination becomes essential between WUAs and agency and their capacity has to be than"'" built so as to complement each other. ~ and ed in Simplifying Current M&E Procedure: 111cre was an unanimous vicw among thc Jrove participants that the present M&E system is not simple enough to follow and maintain by IUt~S the staff at different levels. The formats and questiOimaires used for M&E (developed and ment. used under ILC and O&M Unit) are complicated and elaborated asking too many roper questions at a time. If the questionnaires and formats are short and simple, the flow of o the information could be more efficient. There is, therefore. need to review, test and simplify nong the current formats and questionnaires used for monitoring. Use ofAvailable Data: It is believed that a lot of information exists on key indicators of system perfomlance for different projects. Obviously, the information lacks uniformity and may be obtained in various reports and documents. To start with, this in/ormation h the cou.ld be used in certain computerized database s}'stem that would provide some ;slon, indication about changes occurring in the respective projects. \1&E.. that Farmers' Concern over Monitoring Data: Unless fanners are not benefited from the data nd to they generate and provide, the system of infonnation recording by fanners cannot be 'new~ effective. As such, fanners of the WUAs need to be made aware of the usefulncss of the aised data. In other words, famlers need response from concerned agencies after they providc 'oject information requesting for certain supports or improvement in their systems. In absence also of quick response from the agencies concerned, farmers would not take it seriously to well record the infomlation only for the benefit of researches and studies. erred .0 the Hiring Trained Managers: One of the issues raised and discussed was about the possibility of hiring trained managers and teclmical personnel by WUAs. In large systems, like' West Gandak, it was expressed that the WUAs could take more benefits 'stem even if they were to pay higher salaries for trained personnel. In smaller systems, it is ienes usually not necessary to hire salaried staff except operators. In large systems, even if the )Ol's teclmical staffs were hired, the benefits from them would be substantial to justify the nous salary, as al110unt paid for salary would be shared among a large group of fanners. A.tt:E Understanding the Rehabilitation Process: One important point discussed was the need ?d '8 .. for understanding the process of rehabilitation of the system before management transfer . Only after a detailed understanding of the process, the rehabilitation might be najll implemented more effectively. ll1ere have been varied types of rehabilitation efforts in the more irrigation systems. It is generally derived that rehabilitation works carried out. after otter documentation of dctailed process show greater degrees of success. . 27 , . Post Turnover Assistance: There was no opinion divide among participants about the Ii post turnover assistance to the WUAs from 001 and other concerned institutions. The" question is how 001 can support the WUAs in legal, technical, financial and institutional .~ i issues and concerns after irrigation management responsibilities are transferred. .... Session IV: In the fourth and the last session of the workshop, the participants were divided in three groups and each was assigned one topic as well as related questions for discussion. The .. topics assigned for groups I, II and III were respectively, Monitoring and Evaluation of Irrigation Project, Rehabilitation of Irrigation Systems for Management Transfer, and Turnover/Joint management Irrigation Systems. The group discussions were followed by presentations ofthe conclusions drawn and issues raised in each group. GROUP 1. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 1. Minimum Data Requirement: The group had a consensus that the M&E system for both jointly managed and transferred systems should be led in a participatory way. There are some definite constraints and weaknesses in drawing a line for the type- and quantity of data needed for M&E. However, the group presented their consensus on monitoring of following minimum set of data: a. Gross value ofagricultural output a.I. Yield! productivity of all major and nunor crops grown 111 the command area a.2. Cropped area of all major and minor crops grown in the conmland area a.3. Farm gate prices of all major and minor crops gro\\ll in the command area b. O&M service fees generated by WUAs b.I. Total number of farnlers who are in the effective conunand area and should pay ISF b.2. Total ISF collected and total number of farnlers paying ISF at the time of monitoring in that year b3. Other revenues generated through various means c. O&M costs incurred or contributed by government at the time of monitoring 0 in that year d. Daily discharge at headwork e. Use of all transferred facilities and machines 1 I 28 II I , :)out th~ 2. Re.~ponsihilily (~lj)ata Collcction The group telt th::11 the responsibilIty to collect m:.oThe data should be equalty shared by both \VUA and agency in both jointly managed tutional and transferred systems. However, in the former, the agency mllst act as a partner in leading M&E. While in the latter, the agencies' role should be subtle to give fanners an increased sense of ownership of the transferred systems. Thus, DOl's role should be limited to that of a distant supervising advisor. . in three 3. Need to Measure Discharge: The group had an extended discussion on whether or '" .ion. The not the data such as discharge measurement is actually required for M&E. There lation of was a consensus later that discharges that are very essential for record keeping, water sharing, judicial distribution and management are to be collected on a regular ; fer, and basis, and especially during dry season when water scarcity is critical. Farmer's owed by representatives present in the group argued strongly in favor of keeping discharge data as this helped them to generate ISF and make water distribution schedules. 4. Flow of Data: TIle group felt that there should not be an altogether different mechanism to ensure the flow of M&E data from the field to the center, and back to 'stem for field. The tri-annual progress reporting, which is currently in place, must be utilized ory way. to ensure the flow of data from the field to the center. TIlliS, the M&E data must be the ~'Pe generated for every four month. Regarding what data to report, it was agreed that ted their all the relevant and available infornlation during that period must be sent to the center. The reporting fornmt must 110t be very complicated and should be of at the most two typewritten pages. There is, however, a research need 10 develojJ appropriate reporting format and establishing a mechanism jbr tran.~fer of data 1 III the from the field 10 the center, and then back to thejield. ;ommand 5. Feedback: To ensure that the feedback from the center to the field is provided in time, it was agreed that this should be an activity feedback and not an information :ommand feedback. The group expected that a simple computerized program would be established to quicken the process of activity feedback at the center. The infonmition going from and coming back to the field must be preparcd in triplicate, area and one copy going to or remaining with the WUA, the second going to supervising DIO and the third going to or remaining with the center. There also exists a need to ;F at the prepare a system specific record keeping at the center. • t" I 6. Collection ofDala Before and After Turnover: The group decided that before the turnover, all of the data including the assessment of teclmical capability of WUA oni~ring f I and the reasons for shortfall in ISF and other anticipated revenue collection must be reported to the center. After turnover all indicators listed must be monitored . .. 1 However, there is a need to study mechanisms to authenticate the reporting ofthe •I: key indicators and use the finding of that study to validate the indicators 10 he monitored. lr 29 7. Data Requirement at Variolls Levels: The group had a consensus that all agencies directly or indirectly involved in the process of turnover require some sort of data for monitoring. It was, however, felt that presently some of the organizations, such as NPC are being furnished with all sorts of irrelevant data. It was discussed in the group that NPC just required the target and achievement in terms of physical expansion of irrigated area and financial disbursement. The group felt that there is a research need to identifY, establish and authenticate the "real" data need ofall participating agencies. Obviously, irrelevant information explosion has been one ofthe major concerns in present M&E system. 8. Involving WUAs in Monitoring: Discussing on the issue of what should be the mechanism and how effectively the WUAs could be involved in M&E, the group contended that ~here is a need to establish an infonnal learning system by involving WUA in M&E inunediately. Also urged was the need of some specific training programs for raising mass awareness. The group felt that the present system docs not allow proper transfer of information given by DOl to the general users of the program and vice versa. The mass awareness program may solve this problem to a great extent. However, there exists a research need to find out the mass awareness approach and related training programs. .. GROUP 2: REHABILITATION I . Amount and type ofRehabilitation Work: The group had an extensive discussion of whether it is essential to decide the appropriate amount or type of rehabilitation works to be carried out before the systems are tumed over. It was unanimously agreed that it is more important to decide on the process than on the amount of rehabilitation. The following points should be considered in establishing a process for rehabilitation. 4. Information flow: It is essential that all fanners, line agencies and the district administrative bodies such as Chief District Office, DDC, VDC, District Court must have a fair knowledge about the management transfer program and rehabilitation works. Also, it is essential that the basic knowledge of Irrigation Policy, management transfer programs, the limitations in terms of total amount, etc. are known to all sectors. b. Agreement: It is essential that the main agreement; MOU, be prepared 9 outlining all major rehabilitation works. This MOU also must include details on management transfer arrangements. p 30: f gcncles c. Institutional Development Training: Before the rehabilitation \vork is ;}f @;lta actually implemented, it is essential that Institutional Development training " such is imparted to both executive as well as to the selected general members of in... the WUA. The training, besides strengthening the groups, will also enhance the ~lysical WUA's capability to understand, implement and/or supervise the I1'; here is rehabilitation works. 1o/all 'en one d. Joint Walk l1lfough: Establishing a more concrete and unifonll approach to ... t conduct walk-through is essentiaL Joint walk-through in itself is essel)tial as f it provides an opportunity to identify and prioritize rehabilitation works. . be the i" : group ~ e. Prioritization: It was observed that the rehabilitation process still lacks a volving i• definite process of prioritization. There exists a need to institute a concrete ra11l1l1g and objectively defined policy to prioritize the rehabilitation needs. III does ; of the f. Agreement for Rehabilitation: As the next step, a logically prepared ~m to a agreement is prepared. The famlers' representative in the group suggested lreness that the choiee of words while preparing the agreement for rehabilitation is made simple and easy to understand. g. Pre-transfer Rehabilitation: The group unanimously agreed that the rehabilitation work must be done before the actual turnover. If done after ~ i turnover, it was feared that it could linger the WUAs dependence over the cusslon ageney. It was felt that the decision drawn immediately after the joint walk litation I through should fonn a basis for rehabilitation agreement. The agreement Illously made after conduetingjoint walk-through should be made last and the final. ::mnt of process 3. Contractual Work by WUAs: The question, whether or not the WUAs should be given the contracts of rehabilitation works, remains an unanswered and debated. Farmers' representatives of some systems asserted that WUAs should not be district encouraged to work as contractors during rehabilitation. They viewed that such a District practiee might present WUAs' image as of a contractor thereby undermining their rogram role in irrigation management and quality control. ~dge of ~rms of 4. Work Prioritization: IMTP follows a process of integrating rehabilitation and • institutional development efforts, togcther. For bettcr rehabilitation performance, these activities can be grouped according to priority needs and implemented reprred aceordingly. : details ~ s. Further Expansion 0/the Approach: The group also had a eonsensus on the need to expand the physical area of coverage. The whole effort should be designed and implemented to make it result and output oriented. 31 GROUP 3. TURNOVER AND JOINT l\1ANAGI£MI£NT Joint Management and Full Turnover: Joint management and turnovcr arc different conditions of irrigation management. The differences pertain to the degree "" of involvement of government and WUAs in different activities concerning to irrigation system management. Joint management and turnover thus require to be looked in project specific perspective. .. 2. Defining Roles o/Government and WUAs: For the joint management and turnover of irrigation systems, possible roles of govenunent and WUAs have to be defined clearly. After the roles of both are clear, then a decision may be reached whether a particular system should go for joint management or full turnover. If the role of government were higher, it would definitely be appropriate to consider for joint management. On the other hand, if govenunent's role appears smaller in a particular system, it may be considered for full turnover. 3. WUAs' Capability o/Taking Over: The group felt that a WUA becomes capable of taking over a system if: i) the WUA is financially sound and has good system of ISF collection and can" meet the O&M costs on its o'wn. ii) the system is not complex and WUAs are teclmically capable to run thee system and iii) the government guarantees that farnIers would be provided minimum supports even after the systems are tumed over to thcm. 4. Asset's Hand over: Handing over the assets to WUAs may differ across systems depending upon the needs and features of the systems. It thus calUlOt be prescribed that the same facilities and equipment are to be handed over in all cases. Fanners may not always need all the equipment to own. They may just need it for certain time ofthe year. DOl can arrange of having its equipment and facilities at a certain site from where WUAs can use the same by paying necessary charges. 5. Irrigation Coordination Committee. Clearly, WUAs and VDCs are separate bodies and they do have separate roles and functions of their own. WUAs and Q I VDCs could set up an irrigation coordination conunittee to facilitate management ! 9 transfer and provide further supports. Specially, this is necessary in larger systems I that extend across more than a couple of VDCs. Another concern for setting up such coordination conunittee is to ensure that the supports from VDCs orQ govenunent are effectively channeled. VDCs themselves may not effectively act in chaImeling the supports. When there is a special committee, it could rather play an active role. 32 , f !' 6. Role olGovernmenl and WUAs: HMGIN policy should be clear about the roles of ~ DOl and WUAs. In general, they should be in line of the following. ,~ . vcr arc a) HMGIN Role: ,I.': ~grcc 'rning to i) Training and research lire to be ii) Service centers iii) Subsidies iv) Emergency support ... turnover v) Agricultural extension e defined vi) Equipment assistance vhether a I vii) Technical supports :e role of I viii) Development of infrastructures such as communication, road, etc. for joint I b) WUAs'Role: !ler 111 a i) Operation and Maintenance ., ii) Resource generation and mobilization apable of iii) Record keeping and office management iv) Crop plan I, v) Data base for M&E system vi) Conflict resolution 1 an~can vii) Development of bylaws to suit the local needs ) ru~ the FUTURE RESEARCH AREAS rninimum The workshop ended with elaborate discussions on each paper presented by the authors followed by group discussions on the ardent issues concerning to irrigation ,1lanagement ; systems transfer in the country. More details on future research needs, priorities and issues rescribed discussed in the workshop are already presented in session discussions above. Fanners )r certain The need of WVAs' federation at district, and if possible at central level, was considered a certain essential for long tenn success of transferred systems. It was evidently conspicuous that post turnover supports viz. teclmical, legal, extension, credit, marketing, etc. were conceived necessary for the transferred systems to function and sustain effectively, separate although the modes and scale of supports could vary according to size and geographical VAs and l~tion of the projects. nagement.. r syStems Equally pertinent issue warranting further research and analysis pcrtained to the ncedcd ettlng up change in DOl's orientation from construction/rehabilitation to management of systems !D~ or that are already developed. Emphasis should be placed on how the expectation and ly act in interest of fanners of transferred systems be protected to meet the overall objectives of play an increasing agricultural production and fann income. 33' There was a unanimous view that long term sustainability of transferred systems depends mainly on ISF collection and other sources of income. Therefore, further research would ~ be useful to look into the possibility of increasing ISF rates and modes ofcollections. It was also viewed that the cost sharing policy should be flexible for which there is a need < to conduct a detailed study on cost sharing arrangements covering both geographical regions and sizes of the projects. Hand over or take over processes needs to be implemented according to certgin norms. Such norn1S are to be updated gradually. There is a need to develop minimum prerequisites and conditions for hand over and takeover. A serious issue raised was the problem to market the cash crops, particularly the vegetables in the irrigated area. This issue deserves special attention for guarantee fanners the minimum floor price of the products. A clear view that emerged out of discussion \vas the need to develop existing monitoring system. The group came up with a set of minimum data requirements for monitoring. Possibility of involving farnlers to keep certain type of infonnation was also discussed but this may be implemented only in the projects where WUAs are well developed. Ficld level data collection and recording systems need to be established. There is also a need to" review, test and simpJify the current fonnats and questionnaires being used for monitoring purposes. ~ The rehabilitation work for management transfer has to be carried out with a greater focus on the process instead of amount. Contractual work by WUAs still remains a debatable topic. Work prioritization is necessary for effective implementation of management rehabilitation. There was also a common view on the need to implement the policy ofjoint management and full turnover of the systems. This would, however, depend on several factors to decide whether a system should be considered for joint management or full transfer. Roles of government and users are to be defined clearly for effective implementation of management transfer. .. 34 jepcnds I 'J>llld s' ; a.'lced raphical Development of Participatory Managed Irrigation Systems: Lessons Learnt from ISP I n~rms. J Ulllmum D. S. Sharma and N Ansari 1 lrly the INTRODUCTION .mrantee Historical Background mitoring After the establishment of a public sector agency called Canal Department in 1951 with llitoring. the portfolio of handling irrigation development in Nepal, construction of irrigation iscussed projects began in a planned way. Until then, all the irrigation systems, except three2 or ;d. Field four schemes, were operated and maintained by the users' community. Also these systems nee!to were built by the community itself based on felt-needs of irrigation for survival. As such, lnitoring., almost all the irrigation needs in the past were catered by these Communal Irrigation Systems (CISs) also called Farmers Managed Irrigation Schemes (FMISs). Even today, about 72% of irrigated land ofthe country are under the command ofthese CISs. greater mams a Irrigation Development during 1951-1987 ltion of By 1987, within a period of three and a half decades, quite many schemes, mostly medium and large ones, were constructed by the agency. Their operation and maintenance agement were also carried out by the departmental officials and staff on the prevalent mode of ctors to colonial administration. However, the users ofthe system were kept aloof during planning :r. Roles and construction phases and they were hardly involved in post construction phase too., 1tion of Rehabilitation and extension projects were also undertaken to become ultimately agency managed. In the large-scale schemes, because of high cost and technical complexity, financial assistance was sought from extemal agencies on project by project basis. D. S. Sharma is presently SISP CoordinaLor of DOl N. Ansari is Team Leader ISISP Implementation Consultants 2 The three schemes were; Chandra canal of Saptari district, Juddha Nahar (then R:mtahat) and Jagdishpur reservoir ofKapilvaslu and probably the Vijaypur canal in Kaski. All these systems commanded about 6,228 ha in all. . 35 Until 1980s, the needs of farmers' participation at different phases of irrigation development and their potential for involvement in system O&M were not clearly·s' envisaged in the projects I constructed by the agency. Such an unconcem gave rise to poor O&M and performance of the completed schemes. Only after 1981, under command ~ Area Development Project(s), the Department began to realize the vital need of farmers' participation in irrigation development by incorporating the users' committee and associations to be responsible for the O&M of the systems or part of the system together with agency staff. .. By 1986 the Department of Irrigation (DOl) completed about 210 schemes covering a total area of 339,000 ha. In spite of considerable investments in the infrastructure ~ development of these schemes, the overall performance remained far below the expectations. It was found that only about 50% of the area could be irrigated during wet season and only about 20% during dry season. Besides, crop yields were also below the targeted figures. The main reasons for unsatisfactory perfonnance were poor O&M along with the lack of fanners' involvement in the management of the schemes and inadequate agricultural extension support services. Felt Need for Rehabilitation ofCISs, FMISs • The centuries old Farmers Managed Irrigation Systems (FMISs) reportedly provide irrigation facility to about 650,000 ha. The systems developed by the support of ADBN, C MPLD, and FIWUD and concurrently brought under farmers' management cover about 101,000 ha. The FMISs for sure were claimed to have better perfonnanee compared to that of AMISs under DOl management. Besides, the old FMISs were conceived to have potentiality of increasing their performance as these systems were rudimentary, lacked permanent structures, were susceptible to damages during floods and silt problems, and had high water losses. In consequence, farmers required to contribute large amount of labor and resources annually for the O&M of these systems. Only after 1983 that the Govemment realized the importance of the FMISs that they had been playing in the irrigated agriculture of the country. There was also recognition of the scope for improving the systems through their rehabilitation and extension of irrigated area that was possible due to minimization of water losses and enhancement of management efficiency. Besides, the O&M requirements (labor and cash) could also be reduced to a manageable level. Source: MOWR working policies or Irrigation Development for Fulfillment of Basic Needs, August 1988. 36 , irrigation Government Policy on Irrigation )t .tlearly 'Ie rise to The Govenllnent agencies viz. DOl and others had been operating without any co-flmand.. appropriate and coherent policy until 1988. The discouraging performance of AMISs and f farmers' need of increasing irrigated agriculture to fulfill the basic food grains need of the growing littee and population prompted the Govenuuent to formulate new unified policies on irrigation 11 together development in 1988 to address the major issues identified. The policy stressed the inevitable need of fanners' participation in the identification, design, construction and O&M of irrigation schemes. ;ovenng a 'asfructure Participatory Irrigation Sector Program ,clow the luring wet In 1988, the Government laid more thrust in the development of small and medium scale below the irrigation schemes giving emphasis to more flexible funding policy. This led to a shift to &M along project to project funding approach. nadequate The Sector lending strategy was aimed at the following: • To make irrigation development more cost effective through adoption of appropriate teclmology using local materials, local irrigation know-how and y provide available resources; )f AtlBN, lver about • To implement speedily small and medium scale irritation schemes with outside support to increase productive irrigated agriculture (both, farmers and Government's); of AMISs • To enhance indigenous institutional capacity of both agcncy and farmers to carry ntiality of )ennanent out the responsibility of appropriate schemes selection, design and construction and had high their onwards sustainable O&M and utilization; labor and • To minimize recurrent costs on completed systems through increased users' )vemment participation that would share a part of capital cost and take over the full O&M irrigated responsibility. 'oving the [ ssible due I • To implement the above sector strategy two projects were taken up with the !s~es, the I ... , assistance of the multilateral donors; ~ I. In May 1988, World Bank approved an Irrigation Line of credit Pilot Project for t Western Region of Nepal. *' t ~ ~ds, August t 37 rF 2. In October 1988 the AsDB approved a full-fledged irrigation Sector Project for Central and Eastem Regions of Nepal, the details of which are given in the following Chapter. THE IRRIGATION SECTOR PROJECT (ISP) Background AsDB made the Project called ISP effective during March 1989. The original target was to provide irrigation facilities in 25,000 ha of cultivated land through rehabilitation of existing FMISs and construction of small and medium scale new irrigation systems in 22 districts of central and Eastem regions of Nepal. The targeted districts were of Terai and mid hills as they had relatively developed road infrastructure, good support services and high potential for productive irrigated agriculture. All these schemes were to be initiated by the actual user famlers who also needed to share capital cost of construction and resume the full O&M responsibility. The schemes were to be selected through a set of technical, social. economic and institutional criteria. Process Followed The District Irrigation Office (010) was responsible for selection, preparation of irrigation sub projects and their implementation using cost effective, appropriate and sustainable technology_ In order to accomplish the objective, adequate attention was provided for effective construction management and timely completion of the sub projects. DIOs were also responsible for selecting sustainable sub project that could yield higher rate of economic retum. The details of selection criteria as mentioned above are set-forth in the procedural manual including demand, identification, selection, prioritization, implementation, operation, and maintenance ofthe SUb-project. The 001 had to make certain institutional changes and in its working pattem in order to implement the ISP that is briefly given below. 'mplementation Procedure In order to ensure demand driven approach, with active famlers' participation in all phases of sub-project implementation, operation and maintenance of irrigation system, a thirteen step implementation procedure was prescribed to be adopted by the District Irrigation Offices of the Central and Eastem Regions. This was for the first time that an elaborate set of procedures was made mandatory for irrigation development. 38 ojcct for TIlC implementation procedures developed had adhered continual process followed by '} i~ the DIOs in strengthening the participatory approach in consideration to the appropriate ~ tecImical and institutional assistance needed in the preparation of feasibility study, fomlUlation ofWUA, as well as construction/supervision and O&M. Mobile Irrie.ation Team (MIT) A Mobile Irrigation Tealll from senior officials of RIDs was fonned. The MITs as "Back stopping" measures had to undertake field visits on continual basis for the verificatioIl.of-- lrget was designs and validation of data collected and surveys conducted, tatjon of MIT's combined effort with DIOs is found to be instrumental in eliciting farmers' interest fiS in 22 l'erai and and in mobilizing the fanner beneficiaries for participation to realize the sense of self iices and ownership of the sub-projects, This process ensured active participation of the fanners at initiated different stages starting from planning to the implementation of the sub-projects. ;tion and The MITs mainly provided the required assistance regarding the appraisal and approval . a set of of the sub-projects. MITs played important role by conducting useful training to DIOs staff and WUAs. They also effectively supervised construction activities and provided necessary guidance and assistance to DIOs during field visits to DIOs and sub projects . • Water Users Association (WUAs) Involvement ratiOJj of riate and DI0s and beneficiary fanners are actively involved In survey, planning and design .lion was activities of the selected sub-project development . the sub mId yield In order to fallliliarize with HMGIN administrative and financial rules and regulation, tbove are DIOs invited some WUA's representative in the tender opening of construction works selection, wherein 85 to 90% of HMGIN budget are spent for construction of structures like diversion weir or barrage. 1 order to In context to supervision of construction activities DI0s generally invited the WUA representatives to check and supervise contractors' works to maintain construction quality. The majority of WUAs construction supervision subcommittee mcmbers received on-the-job training on simple measurement of physical works and maintenance. du~ng the implementation of construction. a od in all Association Organizer (AO) SyS~I11, a ~ District DIO had to make provision of one Association Organizer (AO) in each district to liaison Ie tJlat an with fanners, to assist them mobilize their resources and in the organizational matter of the WUAs. AOs acted as intermediary between DI0s and the fanners. 39 ..,.,.... AOs were also involved in the collection of basic social profile of the proposed sub project, in the fonnation of construction sub-conunittee and facilitation in the formulation of constitution and bylaws of the WUAs. In addition, the AOs facilitated registration of WUAs with the District Water Resources Committee (DWRC) under Water Resources Regulation (2050 B. S.). In each Regional Directorate, fanners' organization section had to be established to coordinate AOs of all the districts. It was headed by a sociologist with the responsibility < for coordination, supervision and monitoring of AOs' tasks and fanners' orgarlization activities. ~1anagement Information System (MIS) TIle idea of turnover of the sub-projects to the users was to prolong the useful life of the facilities developed or handed over to the users. DIOs made some improvement regarding establislunent of the inventory of physical facilities and their final cost of construction after completion of sub-projects. This improvement in the establishment of inventory is to be continued for their perfornlance evaluation and further infomlation through MIS process. DIO-WUA Joint Account Joint accounts were opened and operated in the bank by WUA and DIO. Fanners deposited their share of cash towards the cost of sub-project. Usually, they needed to contribute in the range of 10 to 15 percent. This arrangement created a sense of fanners' ownership towards the sub-project. According to Irrigation Policy, the amount from the joint account had to be spent in the construction works as agreed by DIO and fanners. In order to make WUAs responsible for the operation and maintenance of the sub-project, the balance amounts from joint accounts were to be transferred to WUAs' account. Agriculture Extension Services For the provision of Agricultural Extension Services in the sub-project areas, the Regional Agricultural Directorate (RAD) of the Department of Agriculture (DOA) was made responsible. RAD was to mobilize District Agricultural Development Offices for this purpose..For better coordination, memorandum of understanding between the Department of Irrigation and the Department of Agriculture was signed to ensure Agriculture Extension Services in the completed sub-projects. Both the departments at central, regional and district levels were made responsible to carry out collaborative activities during all stages: project design, plaruling, preparation phase and post construction phase. This coordinated approach of DIO and DOA gained wider acceptance 40 f ,sed sub among the fanners in order to receive support services. Special efforts were needed to :l~tion ensure supplies of neccssary agricultural inputs in the sub-project areas. ,1tiol1 of The efficiency and effectiveness of these two departmental coordination would depcnd on ..:s~rces sequential and inter linkages of their activity towards the involvement of farmers for irrigated agriculture development. )lished to ol1~ibility Project Targets and Achievements ;anization IISP support to existing FMISs was aimed to extend assistance that was beyond the internal capacity of the fanners' group. These included the systems that were in problem and assistance would improve their perfornlance. The scope of work included major or minor rehabilitation of the systems. However, major maintenance ife of the works or deferred maintenance works were admitted in the name of rehabilitation regarding schemes. istruction Itory is to The type of FMISs based on their origins that were considered for ISP assistance ugh MIS were; ., I. Agency built but presently under farmers' management such as, schemes built under Minor Irrigation Project (001 & MPLD) DOA's FlWUD program, 001 district level program, etc . Fanners• needed to II. Schemes built under loan assistance of ADBN, other banks, or NOOs :'fanners' completed or remaining uncompleted due to various reasons. . from the Lrnlers. In 111. Real FMlSs that were built by fanners themselves on their cooperativc b-project, efforts. ;1t. 2 ISP supports for creation of new FMIS: New small and medium scale schemes were also to be jointly constructed on the assurances that the farnlers would be capable for O&M after its development. lreas, the 3 Demands: From 1989, the demands for rehabilitation and construction of new lOA) was schemes poured in DIOs and RIDs so much that the original 25,000 ha target had Iffiees for to be revised several times with districts increasing from 22 to all the 35. The wilen the AsDB Loan amount was reduced from US$ 36.30 Millions to 26.5 Millions and to ensure project period extended from 31 December 1996 to 31 March 1997. The number of tn!ents.. at sub-projects so demanded raised question on their eligibility under the set criteria laborative of ISP whether they were genuine for assistance. an 41 ,'if IK The physical achievements till 31 March 197 are given in the following table. .... Region! Rehab. New Total Numbers of (Districts) Sub-projects Sub-projects sub-projects Takcn ovcr No. Hcctarcs No. ectarcs No. ectarcs byWUAs ~ Central (19) 1.Completed 165 20,746 53 5,417 218 26,163 135 Eastern (16) .I I.Completed 112 25,625 46 5794 158 31,419 124 Total 277 46,371 99 11,211 376 57582 259 Besides the above 376 sub-projects (57,582 ha), 9 sub-projects (5,865 ha) could not be completed and had to be carried over to SISP for completion. This means, altogether 385 sub-projects with a designed capacity of 63,447 ha were taken up under ISP. By the end ofFY 1995196, a total Rs 1,063 Millions was spent under ISP. Performance Evaluation Performance Evaluation study was concluded by a team of Consultants led by Mr. S. K." Upadhyay during early months of 1997. The results are based on data collected from sub projects of 20 districts of both Terai and hills and have revealed the following . •:. The DIO technicians have well understood the 13 steps of implementation procedure of sub-projects . •:. The construction quality of several sub-projects is maintained due to the WUAs involvement in construction supervision and ultimate ownership ofthe structures . •: . Water allocation and distribution are still under the conmland of elite and influential farmers. The tail end farmers are facing problem in getting their due share ofwater due to overuse by upstream famlers. Only about 16% of the WUAs have been able to mobilize fund for O&M. • CI' The cropping intensity has increased to 208% in hills and to 169% in the Terai sub-projects. Yield of main paddy rose up to 3.4 mt in Terai and 3.3 mt in hills. 42 r ~ tahle. .:. As many as 48% or the WUAs were found passive. ~ ,01 1 .:. The constraint ill boosting agriculture pursuit is lack of extension services. input ,ken over I supply, price and their non-availability in time, \S~ t i .:. Actual irrigation coverage was between 70%-90% in monsoon whereas 42%-21 % during winter and spring. I LESSONS LEARNT To deal with the large number of small scale FMISs, a ncw "Sector Lending" approach was started. For this, a Procedural Guideline was prepared to follow strictly while selecting appropriate sub-projects. However, the guideline was not followed in its true sense and sometimes wrongly interpreted by the DIOs. j not be her 385 As a result, many more sub-projects were included in ISP thereby area coverage claimed to exceed the target by 300%. In some cases, this had effects on the overall quality of the sub-projects so included in the program. The lessons learned from ISP may be taken into consideration in the following manner. t l. Under the ISP, while construction and improvement of FMISs were a major r. S.·K. component, the focus was ,shifted to minor rehabilitation of small FMISs, and even )111 sub- I deferred maintenance was admitted. II. The institutional building aspect of WUAs, which was more critical for slIccessful entation t operation of irrigation schemes, was to be focused. But this could not be attained to the extent possible. WUAs III. The strengthening of WUA capacity to operate and maintain the irrigation system lures. has to he taken care of from the beginning. For this, beneficiaries will have to work closely with 001, share their due contributions and assume O&M ite and responsibility ofthe completed schemes. leir due IV. The lack of agricultural support service has been highlighted as a major cause for 0 not achieving the appropriate targeted crop productions. It is essential to think about establishment of "Irrigation Support and Training Centers" in different part 'II ofthe project area. . Ie ...Terai hills . .II 43 ISSUES Thc following issues are mostly related with the proper follow-up of Procedure Guidelines for the project implernentation. The issues are not inherent in principle of irrigation per se, but are often dogged with carelessness. Demand For Assistance J Sub-projects for which assistance was requested were either fully operational or partly operational or non-operational schemes. Some of the demands are for new schemes also. The command area mentioned in the demands were not accurate and also not matching the available water from the source. Majority of schemes was loaded by non-essential works and the assistance requests were to a large extent, motivated by opportunist local leaders and contractors. Most of the beneficiary farmers were unknown about the request and their share of cost to be provided. It was therefore difficult to judge whether it was motivated by real needs for system improvement or merely an opportunity sought by potential local contractor. The vital issue is to identify "Genuine Demand" for sub projects, otherwise scarce resources would be going to unproductive schemes. Project Preparation Once a demand was registered in DID, there was a great pressure for the inU11cdiate ~ implementation of the project. Hastily prepared designs and estimates were approved which resulted in frequent changes in designs and estimates. 111is also limited fanners' involvement in sub-project preparation. Not all criteria as outlined in the Project implementation procedures could be complied with during sub-project selection and its preparation. Farmers' Organizations Standard constitution and bylaws had been adopted. In general, the purpose of registration was not well understood by all. WUAs registered their associations with the DWRC under Water Resources Regulation 2050. The farmers and the executive committee members of WUA could not familiarize themselves with the content of the standard constitution and bylaws and the obligations mentioned therein. Many of the \VUAs are defunct after construction. They have not been renewed even. The peR revealed that 48% of the WUAs were defunct. Cost Sha.-ing )rocedure Farmers' contribution for irrigation development requestcd by them was determined as insltple of given in the working policy for irrigation developmcnt and consisted of partial cash contribution, and the rest contribution being labor or its equivalent value in cash. It was' experienced that farnlers' cost sharing was hardly fulfilled. In some cases, it was noted that WUA had given full responsibility for construction works acconullodating farmers' part also to the contractor of 001. The obligation of cash contribution was, in several l or partly instances, financed by one or two individual farnlers in view of contract work they would emes also . get. In general, the way in which fanners participated in the project was not encouraging. • trlatching n-essential Degree of Intervention unist local he request Effective and appropriate intervention in partiCipatory Irngation management that her it was increases the sustainability of the systems has been one of the most problematic issues. sought by To differentiate between essential and non-essential works proved to be difficult for the , for sub majority of engineers and teclmicians. In general, too much emphasis was given to construction of non-essential items such as canal lining and high levels of concrete and masonry uses in structural solution. It was further noted that the effect of environme~tal degradation on the sustainability of farmer-managed-irrigation systems, especially in the • hills, is of greater magnitude than originally assumed. Majority of the sub-projects still imntediate need further rehabilitation works because of heavy erosion at intake sites, all caused by : approved either excessive deforestation in catchment areas, and long canal alignments and poor d fanners' drainage streams. or by excessive excavation in canals' alignment. Awareness among he Project farmers about environmental problem and future consequences is still very limited. .on and its Turning Over In ISP, the sub-projects completed on users' demand and as per the scope of works agreed in the mutual MoA, should have been automatically taken-over once both partners have mrpose of fulfilled their obligations. After joint walk-through, many sub-projects have been taken ns with the over while several are not taken over by WUAs. They demanded for additional works or : executive major repair works to be completed by 010. tent of the .any of the The idea of turning over indicates as if the system was developed by 010 (Govt.) The peR unilaterally as has been done in the past. Joint verification of works carried out by each other is a good aspect but fornlal handing over has no meaning for a s~heme developed on their demand, cost sharing and construction works supervised jointly. ISP and SISP are providing assistance to farmers. 45 , , 1 II I II, I 1 : The increasing dependency on the part of users for repair works through 010 has appeared as a negative point. In SISP, there is no provision for handing over and taking over of the sub-projects. Environmental Degradation I : I, The Book ofgenesis tells the story most succinctly: The first tree plantation was irrigated by a river, which was divided into four,chanl1els. And man so lacking then as now in the knowledge of good and evil, was appointed custodian and entrusted with the protection of god's garden. Alas, greedy man SOOI1 abused the trust, succumbing to momentary temptation and becoming more a consumer (beyond his needs) than a preserver. He, and his descendants, must then a forth and forever suffer the consequences of this folly. Alan's active relationship to the environmental is illustrated therein. - Daniel Hillel-Advances in irrigation \101-1 Academic Press 1982. The above paragraph illustrates how man made disasters destroyed the nature in which he is living. In the context of irrigation, since its introduction has given short term gain in production followed by long term loss as water resources depletion and pollution as well as of soil erosion and degradation. The problem is generally left for future generation, which should not be allowed. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS As described earlier, the Government has gone through different irrigation development modules. Lessons were learned from the past and incorporated in ISP. As a result, the participatory approach in sub-project preparation, design and implementation have been established in DOI's district and regional offices under ISP. Objective-wise, the achiev~ments of ISP can be said satisfactory. The importance of farmers' involvement in irrigation development has been well demonstrated. The project Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation study shows that, despite limited success at increasing agricultural productivity, ISP has had a profound impact of capacity building of both DOL staff and WUAs. It has also laid foundation of participatory or joint efforts in irrigation development. However, some of the major areas for inmlediate attention and improvements are as follows: • . For the successful implementation of fanners' participation in Irrigation Managemcnt, therc is an urgent need to develop a more close and productive 46 DIO has working relationship between the executing agency staff and farmer groups both . ncYaking.. partners maintaining transparency to each other . ., • Develop a suitable mechanism for selection of right type of only needy Farmer ... Managed Irrigation Systems that arc in need ofassistance . • More attention should be given to mitigate the environmental degradation, which is possible, only by the active support of the users (men & women). ,. dwnne/s. appointed REFERENCES man soon I consumer HMGIN, Department of Irrigation & UNDP, Feb. 1990 "Master Plan for / forth and l. Irrigation Development in Nepal". rip to the 2. AsDB Oct 1988 "Appraisal of the Irrigation Sector Project in Nepal" Report No. '>ress J982. NEP: AP-52. 1 which he 3. UNDP May 1989 "Irrigation Sector Support Project" NEP/89/007/A/01l45. nll gam m DOl, Irrigation Sector Support Project/UNDP June 1992 "Nepal Irrigation Sector on ~ well 4. ~eneration, Pilot Program: Principles, Process and Perfonl1ance". 5. DOl, IrHgation Sector Project (AsDB loan No. 923 NEP (SF» April 1997 "Project Completion Report". 6. DOl, Irrigation Sector Projcct (AsDB loan No. 923 NEP (SF» April 1997 'velopment "Benefit and Monitoring and Evaluation Report". result, the have been -wise, the Ivement in to ring and gricultural [ staff and irrigation nts 1B.re as • Irrigation productive 47 l3L1~ & rStr fe,,,, ~\...,,<..~( \~(jw/..-. ~~v \c.~~-t\ S",sr-'~ Analysis of Process and Impacts of Management Transfer in Khageri and Panchkanya Irrigation Proj~ct: The Lesson learned Puspa Raj Khanall INTRODUCTION Khageri Irrigation System (KHIS) is one of the oldest agency managed irrigation systems located.in Chitwan District in Western Nepal. It provides irrigation to about 3,900 ha of land in the West Chitwan. The construction of the system was initiated in 2017 B. S. and completed in 2024 B. S. at the cost of Rs 7.6 million. 11le physical structures of the system include a diversion barrage, 23-km long main canal, 55 km of branch canals and • 100-km long tertiary canals. About 7 km of the main canal passes through the buffer zone of Royal Chitwan National Park, where many lakes have been fornloo due to regular canal flow. These lakes serve as water reservoirs and augment the water supply to the main canal besides regular supply obtained from Khageri River. Panchkanya Irrigation System (PIS), relatively a small system of 600 ha located in the upstream of the Khageri river, was initially constructed by local TI,arus more than 60 years ago. The system came under government control after Chitwan Irrigation Project constructed a permanent weir and lined the canal systems. The system is again going to be turned over to the farnlers in near future, after completing necessary improvement \vorks by the Irrigation Management Transfer Project (IMTP). TI,e layout pictures of both Khageri and Panchkanya System are shown in included figures. The responsibility of operation and maintenance of both Khageri and Panchkanya Systems was with Chitwan Irrigation Project. After the tennination of AsDB Loan to Chitwan Irrigation Project, the budgetary allocations for operation and maintenance of the systems were less than actually needed. Perfornlances of these systems were declining due to lack of proper maintenance and upkeep resulting to decline in productivity over the years. • 1 Mr. Khanal is the Chief or Chitw 49 president, vice president and general secretary and there were some changes in the positions of other functionaries. The first step in the process of IMTP was the preparation of Action Plan (AP). The action plan forms the basis for project implementation. It also clarified the roles and rcsponsibilities of 001 and WUA during and after the turnover to some extent. A detailed walk-through of the system was carried out in each branch and main canal to find out the types and nature of the rehabilitation works. The whole rehabilitation work was divided into five categories: (a) deferred maintenance (b) emergency work (c) catch up maintenance (d) structural improvement, and (e) farm to village roads. The rehabilitation work was finalized after detail discussions with respective WUAs (both Main and Branch Committees). The main features of the action plan have been as under: I. Turnover of Panchkanya irrigation system after completion of rehabilitation works. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the WUA main committee and 001 to this effect. 2. Turnover ofall systems except headwork and main canal in Khageri System. 3. A five-member sub-project management committee headed by sub-project manager to execute and supervise the construction works. 4. Resource mobilization equivalent to 26 percent of total cost of rehabilitation to be mobilized by WUA. 5. A budgetary allocation of Rs 52.5 million for Khageri and Rs 6.85 million for Panchkanya to execute the turnover program. After the finalizing the Action Plan (AP), a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the WUA main committee and the 001. Construction activities were started inunediately after the signing of memorandum ofunderstanding. Present Status As of now, major construction works have been completed in Panchkanya and the system has been decided to hand over to the WUA. More than 60 percent of construction works have been completed in Khageri and seven out of 13 branch canals have been turned over to WUAs. Three more branch canals are expected to be turned over by Jan. 1998 to the branch level committees. The proposed 26 percent participation in resource mobilization could not be achieved in both the systems. It is generally expected that in Khageri about 15 percent of the resources would be mobilized by the users while in Panchkanya, users' share in resource mobilization would be as high as 20 percent. 50 - <; 111 the TraJlllng, workshops and field visits, supported each phase of construction acllvltles. par.jtion They have been helpful in successful implementation of the project. The training of the it also users in share system developmcnt, organizational managcment, record keeping and ,over to quality con~rol has helped bringing positive changes in attitude, operation and i nGlt and management capabilities and organizational development. c whole lee (b) The chronologies of major events in Khageri and Panchkanya systems arc given 111 Tables farm to 1 and 2. i >1lS'-' with ~ le action IMPACTS AND ACHIEVEMENT It is too early to judge the impact and the achievement as the process of turnover has just 11 works. started. However, some noticeable changes have been observed in resource generation, >mmittee conflict resolution, water management and characteristics and perfommnce of agricultural system. They are discussed below. , n. Irrigation Management and Cropping Intensity Khageri and Panchkanya Irrigation System were initially designed to irrigate 3,900 ha manager and 600 ha, respectively. However, the areas under irrigation before IMTP intervention were only 2,400 ha in Khageri and 267 ha in Panchkanya. The main reasons for lower irrigated areas in these projects are: i on to be 41> • Reduction in the dependable water supply at the source due to environmental degradatiOli. • :lion for • Lack of proper maintenance of canal system • Inequitable water distribution. Poor on-faml water management practices. i )U) was • : es were The water loss in Panchkanya was considerably higher. As high as 40 percent of water loss had been observed in 2 km of canal length. It was realized that Panchkanya could deliver supply to its designed area if the heavy seepage could be controlled. However, in Khageri, water supply to whole area was not possible even with the best management . : system practice due to limitation ofavailable supply at the source itself. in works . led over After the IMTP intervention, Panchkanya is on the way of recovering its total command i 8 d> the area. By this year, about 402 ha is coming under irrigation and within a year or two, this , :liza4,ion could increase to 600 ha. The overall conveyance efficiency is expected to increase fr0111 i ri ;about 26 to 51 percent. Area under early paddy has also increased from 29 ha to 75 ha. 1, users' ~ The irrigation frequency has been changed to 3 days from earlier 12 days implementing new irrigation schedule and the stress period reduced to zero from earlier 7 days. Before 51 IMTP, deficit irrigation was being practiced which was one of the reasons for rcJucl:d production. It can be expected that the rice production would be increased by more than 23 percent. Prior to IMTP intervention, water distribution was inequitable and even as high as 30 IIslha in some outlets. Now, equitable water distribution of 3.16 I/s/ha exists throughout the command area. The magnitude of change that is observed in Panchkanya may not be expected in Khageri due deficit supply at the source. The available irrigation duty in Khageri is about 1.25 Vs per ha against the requirement of about 1.8 Vslha. It was~ therefore, decided to J augment the supply in Khageri from Chitwan lift Irrigation system by about 2.2 m3/s. But it could not be done due to financial and technical reasons of the pumping systems. Nevertheless, .. the irrigated areas upon management transfer have changed to 2,900 ha from existing 2,400 ha. The area under early paddy has increased from 350 to 600 ha. There is more equitable water distribution in head, middle and tail portions of the system. Water distribution is being practiced in a systematic way to make up the deficit in the canal system. However, the entire command area cannot be fully irrigated unless the supply at the source is increased. With improved management, a total of 3,400 ha could be brought under irrigation. The changes observed so far in cropping intensity and efficiency are shmm in Table 1. Resource Generation There has been a gradual increase in resource generation by the WUAs: Collection of Irrigation Service Fee (IS F) has been the main resource to WUA. Khageri started service fee collection from fanners three years back, whereas in Panchkanya, collection of irrigation service fee started since last year only. The rate of irrigation service fcc is Rs 90/ha per crop in Panchkanya and Rs 60 per ha per crop in Khageri. Panchkanya has already distributed 94 percent share certificates (based on existing area of 267 ha). 93 percent membership and the irrigation service fee collection has been about 84 percent. The WUA has about Rs 49,600 in its bank account. The WUA general assembly is plalUling to increase the service fee to Rs 150lha per crop from existing Rs 90lhalcrop. TIle WUA finally envisages collecting Rs 300lhalcrop within 2 years of time. This will provide WUA enough funds for annual operation and maintenance and adequate budgetary provisions for future rehabilitation. There are no other possible income sources except irrigation service fees in Panchkanya. Khageri has also achieved substantial progress in resource generation. Beside irrigation fcc, Khageri also generates revenue from: . i) land it has received from 001. Ii) fishing contracts in the canal. iii) working as a Cooperative, selling fertilizers and seeds. 52 r r r...:duccu Ho\\,ever, its main source of n':VClllIC is service i\;e collection. The progress in irrigation lO~~ than service fee collection has been that about 65 percent of the members arc paying fce ~ even as regularly. The irrigation fee is Rs 60 per halcrop. The Khagcri WUA main committee has h" Farmers of Nepal have been harnessing available watcr resources for irrigation to the best of their abilities. Fanners' ability to run relatively large and technically complex system has been best demonstrated by Chattismauja and Budi Kulo Irrigation Schemes. iecti~l of However, when an agency managed scheme is turned over to the public, many issues and i :d service problems get evolved during the proccss of turnover. At large, irrigation is being , cctioll of considered a free conunodity and it is really difficult to change this attitude. With the , fee is Rs advent of democracy, people's expectation has increaseu where as IMTP's concept is to anya has decrease the government burden and make people more responsible for their systems. On~ ,,7 ha), 93 of the key concerns of the IMTP has been to ensure sustainability of the irrigation : l percent. schemes turned over. Merely handing over the projects to Water Users' Association does i ,embly is not lead to economic sustainability unless operation and maintenance costs are at least I/ha/crop. recovered on a sustainable basis. The target of full cost recovery including capital i This will investment in irrigation sector is far from imagination at present context. • adequate c sources TIleoretically, it is believed that the shifting of detachcd central management from DOl to decentralized local management by WUA is more efficient. In this context WUAs' .. capability in providing leadership to thc farmers for resource generation, efficient water , irrig~tion management, conflict resolution will play crucial role in the success of management transfer. A strong sustainable WUA is thus a major requirement for the success of !umover program. What are the factors that affect the sustainability of WUA? What are ll1centives to be provided? What is the legal basis of transfer? What are the factors required empowering the WUA? To what extent WUA can exercise its authority? These 53 are some of the outstanding issues that are to be addressed properly for the success of the turnover program. The following important issues and problems seem to be emerging iiI Khageri and Panchkanya Irrigation Systems. Legal Basis The new authority (the WUAs) which is going to takeover the management responsibility t'j'"",I,'" should have strong legal basis for the control over the system. Lack of legal recognition I ~ will affect a lot especially on conflict resolution and revenue generation. How the WUA .• I j can protect the properties (land, infrastructures, etc.) that it acquires from the government? What legal action can it take if the canal's right of way is encroached? If farnlers do not pay the ISF, what action could it take? Preventing selected customer from service is not possible in irrigation as in drinking water supply or electricity. These arc the common problems encountered by the WUAs. Written rules and regulation only will not solve these practical problems. In early period of turnover, district administrative office should be informed for quick action against land encroachment or property damage upon request from the concerned WUA. The problem of revenue generation could largely be solved if WUA is authorized to prohibit from taking loan from the bank or selling their land if he does not pay the water tax. Village Development Committees could also play crucial role in making farmers pay the irrigation fee. Policy and Commitment Clear policy and conmlitment from higher levels should support any program. The roles and responsibilities of each party involved (001 and WUA) in the process of management transfer should be clearly defined, otherwise conflicts over the authority will certainly arise especially on jointly managed schemes. Clear policy and guidelines will not only reduce the conflicts between WUA and farmer but also between the farnlers themselves. High level support (including political) is very important for the success of IMTP. It is likely that the turnover schemes may again turn to government for grants making use of political forces after few years of time. It would be against IMTP objective if such helps were provided which are not mentioned in the memorandum of understanding. If some schemes are unduly favored, it may damage the turnover process as a whole. I, , : ~ i Furthermore, government's policy should be unifornl for similar types of projects all over ; ; the country. In case ofjoint management schemes, government's roles should be limited to operation and maintenance of technically complex structures and this should be made clear to WUA before the completion of turnover program. 54 r f ,I; s or the Physical Status of the System gin. ill " When a system is to be turned over to the WUA, all the physical infrastructure of irrigation system should be in proper condition. What are the technical changes required in the system when it is tumed over to the WUA? Will the WUA be capable of handling the existing complex system? What are the modifications to be made in the system and at i :lsibility what cost? These are general questions that need to be answered before the turnover : ognition program is initiated. For example, both Panchkanya and Khageri changed their water eWUA distribution pattems when they started the canal operation. ll1eir policy was to increase · om the the flow volume in the outlets or branches but to decrcase the time allotment. This · :hed? If required construction of more cross regulators and to increased size ofoutlcts. i lerrrom lese arc : nly will Conflicts and Water Right Issues The problem of equitable water distribution is conunon in the agency managed irrigation schemes that remain the major source of conflicts. Water right problem may exist : Jr quick between two different schemes or between two different sectors within a system. This ! :neemed problem can be solved by evaluating the share of water that each unit or block within the · thorized command area receives from actual measurement on sites. pay the mak1bg Resource Generation Success of tumover program largely depends on the WUAs' ability to mobilize internal resources. However, existing level of resource generation and mobilization in all the he roles turnover schemes are not up to the desired level. Even for systems like Panchkanya and · agement Khageri, which are free from problems of silt, flood damages or slides and are very :ertainly simple to operate (such problems are very common in other irrigation schemes), the not only annual operation and maintenance cost is about Rs 400/ha for Panchkanya and Rs 500/ha ;clves. for Khageri. This figure may be higher than Rs 800/ha for other projects. Even if the WUAs are able to mobilize 25 percent of operation and maintenance cost by voluntary fP. It is labor contribution, then WUAs of Panchkanya and Khageri must collect Rs 300 and · g use of 375lha for the system to be economically sustainable. The existing collections of Rs ch helps 90tha per crop in Panchkanya and Rs 60/haJper crop in Khageri are far below than If some actually required to keep the system in proper condition. It is, therefore, very essential whole. that these WUAs increase their irrigation fees at least by two folds immediately. E;~tcm41 aM-over soUrces can also be mobilized especially in large projects. They may be as rentals, taxes or income from the sale ofgrass or trees ofthe canal area. However, such sources cannot ~ limited Z) be._made be guaranteed and the use of resources like community forest to subsidize the canal irrigation may also be questioned in future. If economic slistainability is to be achieved, the irrigation fee should meet the major portion of operation and maintenance cost. If the WUAs fail to increase the service fee rates, the system productivity will again decrease and the history will repeat again and the situation will be even worse than today. 55 r Farmers' Attitude Fanners' attitude is important for the success of IMTP. Common farmers now support the program but fear of anarchy after take over by the WUA. They have not yet developed full confidence on the new authority (WUA). Training and field visits at the local levels are found to be very helpful in eliminating such feelings. People will support the concept if they are assured that their income is increased after a new management system. Ownership Status The present policy of management transfer does not involve the ownership transfer, but only the utility transfer. In this context, the WUAs may be reluctant for further expansion of system with the fear that the properties will be back again to the govenunent. At the same time, if the properties transferred by the government are damaged or misused, who bears this cost? The govenunent should guarantee the return of WUA investment in the system if it takes over the system again and at the same time any damage done to the property should be borne by the WUA. From the above discussions, the issues can be ranked in the following order: 1. Resource generation and mobilization. 2. Legal basis. 3. Attitude. 4. Policieslhigher level commitment. 5. Water right issues and conflicts. 6. Physical status of the system. 7. Ownership status. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Fanners' ability to run even larger and technically complex systems have been successfully demonstrated by some fanner managed irrigation systems in Nepal and there are grounds to believe on this. However, fanners' attitude should be changed and their institutional capabilities need to be built up and sound procedures of generating and mobilizing the" resources should be developed. Government's funding support should be continued to those cases that are beyond the capacity of fanners. In a country like Nepal, where the agriculture sector is heavily subsidized and irrigation, ,) so far, is considered as free conullodity, it is really difficult to implement policies of management transfer. Are continuos funding on operation and maintenance of irrigation 56 system socially justified? Is it financially affordable'? Certainly not! Then what should be II our policy for the future? The management transfer will provide the best possible stJpport approach for system sustainability, as privatization in irrigation will be too optimistic not yet under present scenario. ·ts..\t the ; support There are still different issues and problems regarding resource generation and nagement mobilization such as legal basis of transfer, higher level conunitment, resources generation, etc. Type and nature of the problems· differ at different levels of project implementation. The type and nature of the problem may differ from place to place. No concrete method or policy can be prescribed as solution of these problems. Problems can never be avoided but can be minimized by adopting clear policies. lsfer, but ~xpanSlon The following recommendations may be useful with regard to IMTP Implementation in It. At the future. [sed, who ~nt in the 1. Training and field visit program, which are very crucial to change the attitude of ,ne to the fanner should be carried out at different levels (fanner's level, branch level, main ~s can be committee) ofWUA organization. In the past, such activities were confined mostly to main conunittee only. 2. The actually irrigated area and beneficiaries' list should be detemlined through household survey at the tertiary level (preparation of parcellary map) before construction starts. This will help evaluate the impact and to collect the service fees in the future. 3. Legal basis to control the system, status of ownership, roles and responsibilities of each party involved (001 and WUA) should be defined at earlier stages of project implementation. 4. WUA should submit a resource generation plan to 001 and this should fonn the basis of project selection under IMTP. i lve been : and there s. Percentage of WUA contribution in IMTP seems higher and should be reduced at i and their about 15 percent in general. : lting and · ,hould be On' going economic activities of open market policy and privatization strongly support the concept of management transfer. Running of canal systems by WUAs is invariably a COOperative venture and can be viewed as private sector involvement in the management . rri&,ation, of irrigation systems. Nothing is free in the world and irrigation can be no longer ;:,licies of considered as free commodity. The concept of "user pays" should be practiced in !,,, " . 'rngatlOn ~gat~on sector too. The government's responsibility of operation and maintenance of Irngatton system should be turned to the farmers and the concept of management transfer 57 provides a better way for it. Upon successful implementation of management transfer, the country will not only save millions of rupees annually, but will also improve system performance and productivity enhancing the economic sustainability. I' I, I,, ' I! I ! 58 t I fer, the 1: Chronology of Major Events in Panchkanya sy~el1l Events t~ ~. (1976) Intervention by Chitwan Irrigation Project to rehabilitate the existing fanner's system. .I (1978) Rehabilitation over, responsibility came to DOl 051 (May 1994) Fonnulation of constitution draft sub conmlittee (May 1994) Constitution finalized and WUA registered, (June 1994) First WUA election .. (Jan 1996) MOU between WUA & DOl signed (Jan 1996) Construction activity started (May 1996) Second WUA election (June 1997) Turnover ofHIW in first 2.5 km of main canal & four branches. (JuI1997) The whole system is turned over 054 (Sep 1997) Major construction activity completed 59 ~..-.-.. ------ Table ,2: Chronology ofMajor Events in Khageri ~ Date Events ..1 B. S. 2017 (1960) Construction of KHIS begins B. S 2024 (1967) Construction completed Kartik 049 (Oct. 1992) Fonnation of constitution draft sub committee .I Mansir049 (Nov. 1992) Finalization of constitution, WUA registered Magh049 (Feb 1993) First election ofWUA completed Falgun 049 (Mar 1993) Training on Share System to WUA Shrawan-Bhadra 050(Aug 1993) Training on Discharge Measurement Magh 051 (Feb 1995) Second WUA election completed Shrawan-Kartik 052(Aug-Nov.1995)Walk through activity Poush 052 (Jan 1996) Signing ofMOU on IMTP Magh 052 (Feb 1996) GA decided to participate in IMTP Magh052 (Feb 1996) Construction activity started Magh053 (Feb 1997) Third election ofWUA Falgun 053 (Mar 1997) Turnover of D), Do Falgun 053 (Mar 1997) MJ " " Falgun 053 (Mar 1997) 0 " " 7 Chaitra 053 (Apr 1997) O " " 2 Baishakh 054 (May 1997) 0 4 " " l:oio Baishakh 054 (May 1997) ., Os " • Bhadra054 (Aug 1997) .. Os " .. ,. 60 Table 3: Achievement in Irrigation Management S. N. Details Panchkanya Khagcri From To From To Area under summer rice (ha) 267 402 2400 2900 tee 1 :d ., 2 Area under early paddy (ha) 36 100 350 600 3 Overall efficiency (%) 26 51 30 36 4 Yield loss (%) 23 0 25 0 5 Irrigation tum (days) 12 3 11 11 6 Water share (l/s/ha) 5-30 3.16 3.0 1.25 Table 4: Achievement in Resource Generation S. N. . Details Panchkanya Khageri 1 ISF Collection 84% 61 % 2 Membership 93% 83 % 3 Share, Distribution 94% Just started .. .. 61 ~ .at .-.!t 't: /~ KHAGERI IRRIGATION SYSTEM SYSTEM LAYOUT FIGURE-2 ,U/1- tn It ...... oz ,» O It» 10 :::;.,1 to ltD I LEGEND lZi-Drain Collection -t--Superpassoge +Footpoth Bridge o Division Structur .-----..~Aquaduct +Check Structure () -.:F-Drop Structure -if- Culvert -t-Cross Drain TURN OVER AREA ~Spillway/wcsfe wo q .,. 't t: -...... PANCHAKANYA \ \ IR RIGATION PROJECT ~ Scatterf)d Spring \ Source \ ,, ' -', I I ) 0+ 754 Escape I 0+8000utlet-2 I I ,I \ I I I I I 1 :;: --CL" Boghmara LEGEND: __Road ---Other Road .. -Canal TURN OVER AREA ~~..,~ ~ '''''"'-~ ~'r \ -t\A.tnG\-<-J ~qJnJ. ~ n,...<>~~ Irrigation Management Transfer in the ILC Pilot Project A. M. Singh B. R. Adhikaryl INTRODUCTION The Irrigation Line of Credit Pilot Project (ILC) was initiated in the fiscal year 1988-89 with the loan assistance from International Development Association (IDA), World Bank. The Project was launched to implement a sector program in irrigation development in the western region on pilot basis, where beneficiaries were involved in all stages of project implementation. Later, the scope of the project was extended to all three western regions of the country. The project was designed to support following types of small and medium size sub-projects: a) Construction of new surface schemes (NEW) b) Rehabilitation of existing farmer managed surface schemes (REHAB) c) 'Turnover' rehabilitation of selected agency managed schemes to beneficiary farmers (TO). d) Construction and improvement of groundwater schemes to be managed by fanner groups (GW). . Management transfer was mainly adopted in new surface schemes (NEW), 'Tum Over' schemes (CO), and groundwater Schemes (GW). Transfer of teclmica1 knowledge was also expected to be imparted during the period of sub-project implementation, as beneficiary fanners were involved in all stages of sub-project implementation. ACCOMPLISHMENT UNDER THE ILC PROJECT Fourteen number of new surface schemes (4,730 hal, 260 nos. of rehabiiitation of fanner managed schemes (25,995 hal, 25 nos. of ,turnover' rehabilitation schemes (3,119 hal and ,. 219 nos. of new tube well construction (4,210 hal, covering an area of 35,054 ha. were 1 Mr. A. M. Singh is Consultant to NISP and Mr. B. R. Adhikary was Coordinator ofILC. 62 completed by the end of the ILC project period (15 July I <)<)7). An impact evaluation study of some completed sub-projccts (24) carried out towards the end of the project period revealed the following achievements made by the ILC pilot project: .i' • Expansion of irrigated areas both in the Hills and the Terai, • Improved water supplies in surface and groundwater sub-projects, lot • Forn1ation of legal Water Users' Associations, • Reduction in operation and maintenance inputs in farmer managed and tumoyer schemes (REHAB & TO), Considerable increase in the yield of paddy in almost all sub-projects, SW1gh • Adhikaryl • Increase in the cropping intensity in the project area from 149 to 178 percent and gross fann production by about 47% (about Rs 32,000 per ha) The overall impact of the ILC Pilot Project was found to be satisfactory with an overall r 1988-89 internal rate of return evaluated to be around 17%. Except a few large new irrigation sub xld Bank. projects in the Hills, all systems are operated and maintained by the beneficiary fanners .1ent in the themselves. Supports from the Dept. of Irrigation are still required in those larger hill of project surface schemes like Chapakot, Atrauliputtar, Rainastar and others, as the extents of rn regIOns maintenance works are beyond the capability of the beneficiary communities. Training • ld medium and other supports are required to enhance the management capabilities of the \VUAs of these types of systems in order to enable them to run their systems in an effective and sustainable manner. PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT TRANSFER )eneficiary The ILC Pilot Project had the following four main objectives: by fanner 1. to launch the project based on 'program approach', 11. to make the program as 'demand driven', fum Over' Ill. to develop effective processes and procedures for implementation of such program i ;ledge was in future, Itation, as IV. to increase fanners' involvement in the implementation process, including participation in the capital cost and commitment for takeover of full O&M of the systems. Thus, one of the major objectives of the project was to build up the beneficiaries' lo(farmer capability to ultimately undertake the responsibility for operation ad maintenance of their system. This would gradually reduce the heavy burden of budgetary requirements for i 19 ha) and 4 1m. were O&M of the agency managed irrigation schemes for the govemment. rILe. 63 " ; , '.' I, 'f,' , i n To achieve these objectives the project had a specified set of guidelines and criteria for ", 1 implementation. The steps adopted were as follows: •.. • Application i • Identification • Appraisal • Approval • Formation of legal ,WUA • Agreement on Work Breakdown • Joint s,:!pervision ofthe construction works • Commissioning after completion • Operation and maintenance • Agriculture support From the very first step of 'Application', the beneficiary farmers are encouraged to form a water users' association. Traditionally, farmer managed irrigation systems (FMIS) are operated and maintained by the beneficiaries themselves through a committee or a trust or a leader fanner usually known as 'Mukhiya'. The interventions of the ILC program in these cases formalize the water users' groups that already have most representatives from their old groups. In a few cases, it has also been observed that a separate WUA is registered and legalized for carrying out the rehabilitation works, but after completion of the works they become non-functional. Instead, the operation and maintenance works are executed through their well-established traditional system. The reason might be that as the farmers are more conscious towards the water right and distribution, they try to adhere to their traditional system. Hence, management transfer in the case of rehabilitation schemes of FMIS is not quite relevant. Accordingly the main concern of the Dept. of Irrigation on management transfer is focused towards: I. new construction schemes, II. turnover of agency managed schemes, and Ill. new groundwater schemes. In order to be acquainted with the findings of the management transfer in ILC schemes, it would be appropriate to understand in brief the activities in the implementation steps, which are as follows: • Application: The fanners or their group with a list of signatories of·at least 67% of all beneficiaries apply for assistance to District Irrigation Office through a prescribed 'Request Form'. • Identification: The District Irrigation Office (010) in consultation with the District Agriculture Development Office scrutinizes the applications and list of schemes to 64 ria for be included under idcnti ficatioll survey is prepared. Identification surveys are o carried out to select schemes for further studies (feasibility study, detailed survey). .. Approved program budget bv the National Planning Commission also contents the list of systems to be included for feasibility study or detail survey. o .. • Appraisal: Feasibility study is carried out in these systems to prepare an appraisal report for approval under ILC Program. District Irrigation Offices submit these Appraisal reports to Mobile Irrigation Team (MIT) of Regional Irrigation Directorates. After scrutiny by MIT, it is submitted to Regional Appraisal Committee (RAC) for recommendation. • Approval: With due recommendation from RAC the sub-project is approved for implementation by the Approval Coordination Committee formed under the chainllanship of the Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources. Sub-projects costing less than Rs 1.0 million are directly approved by the Director General, 001 on recommendations of MIT and the Regional Director. Fonnation of legal WUA: The farmers are required to fonn a Water Users' i form a • ~ IS) are Association and its members are elected or nominated by consensus through the mass meting of beneficiaries. The WUA is registered in the Distract Water ! .rust or ..ram 111 Resources Conullittee to make it a legal body. District Irrigation Office (010) plays the role of facilitator to foml the association from among the beneficiaries. i :s from rUA·is • Agreement on Work Breakdown: After WUA becoming a legal entity, a work tion of breakdown agreement is made between 010 and WUA to carry out the rks a,re rehabilitation works. Dialogues are carried out between WUA and 010 to execute , t as the the works smoothly and also to assure quality product :here to • Joint Supervision of the Construction Works: A supervision committee is formed chemes from WUA members, beneficiaries and overseers of District Irrigation Office. tion on They jointly supervise the construction works carried out by the WUAs as well as the contractors. • Conullissioning after completion: After completion of rehabilitation or construction works, the system is tested with water delivery to examine the reliability of the works. WUA and DIO members jointly inspect the completed works. A certificate of completion is enclosed to testify that works are completed satisfactorily as the specifications. Remarks are made in case of defective works and these are rectified ~mes, it accordingly. I steps, • Operation and maintenance: After the completion of the works, it is the responsibility of the WUAs and beneficiaries to operate and maintain thcir systems. DIOs will be responsible for providing training to the WUA members to enhance 67% of their capabilities for smooth operation and maintenance of their systems. :>ugh a • Agriculture Support: Agriculture extension supports are envisaged to be introduced in the completed ILC sub-projects. This is done by requesting District Agriculture ... District development Officc. Separate budget provisions are made to conduct these ~l1les to 65 activities. ILC program budgetary provision was made at DIO and it was executed by DADO through their field level offices. The implementation of the ILC Pilot Project was generally carried out by following the above procedures. ,i jl MANAGEMENT TRANSFER IN NEWLY CONSTRUCTED ! SCHEMES Conversion 9f the rain-fed lands into irrigated lands was the main objective for the construction ofnew schemes. There is a dramatic increase in the production levels of such lands after bringing them under irrigation facility. Hence, farmers are very keen on these types of irrigation development and are extremely cooperative in the implementation activities. However, some of the large hill schemes were not found to be economically viable, due primarily, to high cost as well as long period of construction. In general, the experiences from the ILC Pilot Project reveal that farolers take active part in the implementation of their sub-projects, with due share of their contribution. However, in larger schemes like Chapakot, Atrauliputtar, Rainastar, beneficiary" fanners seem to find difficulties in meeting their contribution, as their shares of contributions are also relatively high. In comparison to larger schemes, it has been observed that small and medium size schemes are easy to operate and maintain and mobilizations of resources are also easier for such schemes. The new small and medium schemes constructed under the ILC program particularly in the hills are satisfactorily operated and maintained by the farmers. On the other hand, larger schemes like Chapakot, Atrauli and Rainastar are expensive and difficult to maintain because they usually have long canal lengths (idle lengths) which have to traverse through unstable slide zones. Out of 14 sub-projects undertaken under the ILC program, 6 were completed by the end of project period (15 July 1997). Medium or small size schemes like Luang Ghalel, Lupe, and Bhakunde in Kaski and Lamjung districts are well managed by the farmers. On the other hand, the larger systems are faced with various problems. Management Transfer or Walk Over Newly constructed surface irrigation schemes in the Hills require special maintenance for at lest two to three years, primarily due to high probability of slide in unstable zones along the canal alignment. This period is specified as "the conuuissioning period" in the appraisal document and it is usually three years after construction. It is the responsibility of DIOengineers and overseers to monitor the functionality of the system during this period and do the needful. 66 xecuted In addition, the WUAs and beneficiaries ill such new schemes should be trained and •.0 oriented to tackle the maintenance works and in adopting the operational methodology as designed. However, it has been observed that, in practice no such activities are !11I the undertaken after the completion of construction works. The beneficiaries and WUAs takeover the operation and maintenance of the system by their own efforts and capabilities. Only in those cases where they are totally incapable to maintain their systems, they approach the District Irrigation Offices. Usually after construction, the support from the DIOs almost stops. Thus, instead of gradual transfer of manage1119nt to the WUAs by imparting them with necessary training on operation and maintenance of the completed schemes, the DIOs have a tendency to suddenly pull out their supports. fQf the of such Distribution Structures Should Renect the Operation )n these entation The designer of the irrigation structure should keep in mind that these systems are to be )mically operated and maintained by the farmers. The mode of operation and distribution ;ral, the methodology should be easily understandable and usable by the fanners. It has been : in the found that the most conmlon method of water distribution in the FMIS in the Hills, is the 'ever, 111 method of proportional distribution. It is however found that the structure designed to 1 to find distribute the canal water does not take into account such considerations. In such cases, lre also .. the fanners cannot quantify the flow and calmot distribute evenly and equitably in their command areas. This results in manipulations in water sharing practices. Considerations for the future mode of operation of the system based on the capability and experiences of , lun sIze". the beneficiary conununities should be given due priority at the design phase itself. o casler , .he ILC MANAGEMENT TRANSFER IN 'TURN OVER' SCHEMES i by the · star are Prior to the intervention of the ILC program, the agenc)'*managed systems were i :hs (idle , projects supported by HMGIN's direct budget for its maintenance that was generally inadequate. : dod (15 It would be appropriate to state here that such systems are generally in poor conditions · :unde in and function ,inefficiently due to lack of proper operation and maintenance. As one of the components of the ILC Program, such systems are rehabilitated and completely handed i and, the over to the beneficiary communities (WUAs) after rehabilitation. Rehabilitation works in such systems are carried out only when the WUAs of the systems agree to take over the system completely after rehabilitation. It has been generally found that farmers, at first ~tance, were not very responsive. Their tendency was to shy away from undertaking the entire responsibility of system operation and maintenance. On the other hand, they also · lllce" for \ understood the importance of the opportunity presented to them and came to an agreement ,e zones.. 1 ~ with the DIOs for the implementation of rehabilitation programs. The main concern of the ·I" in the beneficiaries in the case of turnover scheme was' related to needed support during ; I1silJility catastrophe. Fanners often expressed that the financial support from HMGIN would be i ing this stopped after 'tumover' and if major catastrophe occurred damaging the system beyond 67 the capacity of the beneficiaries, it would be difficult for thcm to receive the needed support. So, the 010 staffs need to assure that the water cess collccted from the users arc to be used for necessary O&M of the system, and in the event of major breakdown or catastrophe by the act of God, government would support in repairing the damages. If the fanners are convinced and are ready to takeover, the rehabilitation works could be carried out. Generally, the contract works of the DOl's part also are awarded to WUA. In such cases, savings from the contract works are kept in WUA's accounts for future O&M. Fonnatioll of Water Users' Association of the beneficiaries is the primary requirement prior to initiation of turnover. In many systems, WUA existed prior to the ILC intervention, which were active, involved in water allocation, and able to influence the agency for allocating maximum maintenance budget. In some instances, the 010 personnel also play vital roles in handing over of the system to users. In Gorkha, 010 was successful in handing over Chhepetar, Horen Kulo and Arutar systems to the WUAs. TIlI'nover Attitude ofWUAs and Beneficiaries after Rehabilitation Worl(s The work breakdown agreement made between the WUA and 010 generally specify that the system shall be considered as a 'turned over' system after completion of rehabilitation works and its commissioning. But cases have been observed where fanners are unwilling to takeover the system even after the completion of rehabilit~tion works. Either they would find another excuse for demanding more works or they would simply refuse to takeover. Handetar Irrigation System of Lanljung District has its long history of 'turnover' and 'takeover'. The Irrigation Management Project first started its pilot test on this scheme to make it a self-sustainable system and tried to hand over the system by fonning \Vater Users Association. It failed to materialize the objectives. Later on, the ILC also intervened in this system. Ranghatar and Bhorletar irrigation schemes have the same history. Thus, even after the completion of rehabilitation works WUAs and farmers may not be ready to takeover the system. Irrigation Policy has clearly specified that such systems in which the WUAs and beneficiaries are unwilling to takeover the responsibility of O&M, HMGIN shall stop further support for O&M. However, in practice, this clause of Irrigation Policy has been found to be waived in cases like Handetar. State of Systems 'Turned over' to WUA The systems are functioning satisfactorily. Chhepetar Irrigation System of Gorkha District was one of the systems studied for its perfornlance and impact evaluation. The findings reveal that the system is functioning satisfactorily without any serious problcms. Ii The WUA is still lagging behind in enforcing strict rules for water allocation, which could 68 I nl.:edcd furthcr influcncc their irrigation coverage. It is noticed that lraining in water managcmcnt ~rsOlrc and agriculturc cxtension support to WUA could be vcry effectivc for bcttcr performance wn\ or ofthis system. lfthc ;;atne.,. d SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1. Activities of WUA and DIO are focused mainly on the rchabilitation or 1 cases, construction works only. Follow up on activities of training and capacity building ! 'm~tion ofWUA members for conducting proper O&M are lagging behind. ,rior to i , wJlich II. Larger hill schemes like Chapakot, Atrauliputtar, R.:'1inastar and Rampurphant may i ocating be beyond the capacity of the WUAs alone for taking over the responsibility of their full operation and maintenance and may need govcnunent support for some more years. ! system .lio and 111. The system design in the new schcmcs should be based 011 the consideration of the operation mode and capability of the operators. , )rl{s iv. Initialization and bargaining points for 'tumover' to \VUA in agency managcd I o irrigation scheme should be focused towards Water Cess Collection and awarding · ify that the contract of rehabilitation works to WUA. Adamant beneficiaries or WUA ! ilitation should be treated with the clause 2.2.2 (Gha) of Irrigation Policy to stop further .!'t l\villing support in O&M. · ier they · :fuse to v. Management transfer is considered to be effective only when the WUAs arc fully · lnlOVer' capable and agency could show a definite source of fund raising to maintain the on this system. In other words, revenue mobilization should be made clear to the · fonning beneficiaries or WUAs. :"'C also Ie same i!rs may :at such nsibility s clause Gorkha on.'!The oblcms. :h could 69 \ I,) 1,.'" '\A.'1r- "'1<'0/'/\0-- \ ~q" ~ ~ v .....""'~ . L:,. ~ \ .'i ."i!:" 'W~ ~ ~\,.}I~ \ \vV'~-&~ ~,.J-, NC,\"'" ~ M'...-('~c..J , , ; H ! . ·i I i I: d l! Review of Joint Management of Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project Tack Bahadur Budhathoki 1 INTRODUCTION l11e Project is located in Rupandehi District and it is southwest of Bhairahawa in Ltlmbini Zone of the western development region. The project area is surrounded by the Tinau (Kunhra) river to the West, the Danda River to the East and the Indian border to the South. The northern part of the project area is defined by the location of the pump station, Dano and Tinau rivers. TIle project area is linked with district headquarters Siddharthanagar by a 20 Km. gravel feeder road joining Bhairahawa Lumbini road. The estimated population of the project area, covering 14 village development committees of project (before it was 16 VDC), is 44,000 corresponding to about 6,300 families. Of this total, about 95% constitute the farming population. Some 71 % of the people are illiterate and the majority is extremely poor living at the margin between subsistence and starvation. TIle climate of the project area is sub-humid and sub-tropical with following three distinct seasons: • A humid rainy season from mid June through September, • A cool dry season from October through February, and j , • A hot per~monsoon season from March to mid June. The average rainfall is about 800 nUll. The Marchwar project area receives less rainfall and measured values vary from 1000 nUll to 1400 mm. 91 % of rainfall occurs between June to September. Monthly temperatures range from 140 Celsius in January to 400 I Project Manager, Marchwar Lin Irrigation Project, Rupandehi, Bhairahawa. 70 Celsius in May. Annual evapotranspiration totals 1,730 I11Ill with the maximum rate of D • 6.3 mm/day during April and May. ..... CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR INTERVENTIONS A scheme to command the Tcrai area to the South of Butwal was originally developed rt with Indian assistance in mid I960s, but failed shortly after construction due to outflanking of the river headwork structure. Although the main canal systems rcmained functional, the headwork was never reconstructed. The command area has, however, Uu"hokil continued to develop slowly through private initiatives based largely on temporary gravity diversions from the river. The area south of the Bhairahawa - Lumbini road around Marchwar remained underdeveloped because of its higher elevation with respect to the river . .hawa in During late 1970s, HMGIN, with World Bank assistance, initiated a major ground water ;d by the development in the area north of Bhairahawa - Lumbini highway. It appeared that ground Jorder to water resources were not available to the South of this area (Marchwar) and HMGIN he pump therefore requested UNCDF's assistance to undertake irrigation developments by pumping available surface water sources of Dano and Tinau rivers. ! 11. gravel l11e resultant Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project was initiated in 1980 on the basis of a pre investment identification report, which concluded that the project was feasible. , mmittees TIle project was to be implemented by DOl using local contractors and engineering ! !lilies. Of ! services were to be provided for the design of the pump station. Total cost was estimated , ~ople are at US $ 2.9 million and the project was financed by UNCDF, HMGIN and UNDP , rcnce and (UNCDF grant contribution ofUS$ 2 million). MLIP phase - I activities initiated in 1980 and were essentially restricted to the :e distinct construction of a pump station, partial completion of the main irrigation distribution system, and access road into the area. MLIP phase - II was felt required to complete the full development of the conulland area and other related institutional services and therefore, on 4 November 1991, an agreement between the donor agency UNCDFIUNDP and HMGIN was signed for the second phase of this project with a project period of five years. . ;s rainfall !) Between MLIP Phase - II activities completed in June 1997 which covered irrigation facility for :)' t., 40° 2800 ha by a lower level canal and 1000 ha by the upper level canal (MLIP Phase - I). 71 l ~ ; , , ! i.i INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT ! "I :f l';! j ,,: A pump station with its other essential components has been constructed. In the pump 01 I I'·1 l!., station, there are 10 pumps. Six pumps, each of765 lis capacity, are mainly for the lower II i: ,., level canal and four pumps, each of 575 I/s capacity, are for the upper as well as for the lower level canals. i I , P Recently, a new transmission line of about 3 km, which COIU1ects the National Grid from i, Bhairahawa - Lumbini sub station to pump station, has been constructed in order to avoid dependency on Indian power supply which is erratic in nature because of high power fluctuations. It has also ensured better safety of the pumps. A brief overview of the achievements is tabulated below: Table 1: Project Achievement S.N. Physical Output Unit Total Qty. Completed Remarks ction 55.86 Rest in 2 canal construction Km 3 3 3 lic structures No 337 391 4 No 5 6 5 Km 25 25.86 6 ha 88 78 TabJe 2: Command Area Development Particulars 1995/96 1996/97 170 ha 170 ha ems 302 ha 100 ha 73 ha 73 ha 2432 ha 2432 ha 2532 ha . ! 72 OJECT DIRECTION pUlnp r completion of irrigation development activities, a workshop was held in December lower., for setting up the future direction of the system and also, some O&M issues of rot~ the IP were agreed upon. TIlc workshop was participated by the members from main 'ttee and canal system committees ofWUA, representativcs from Ministry of Water rees, Ministry of Agriculture, Departmcnt of Irrigation and aU district level line d from ics. Because of the complexity of pump irrigation system and dircct cost ) a'\toid lvement in operation and maintenance, it became important to look for the future way power n the system and to get views of all the concerned agcncies. Altogether, twenty points o§the made in the workshop on the roles and responsibilities of all the concerned agencies . 001, UNCDF and WUA). VA/FORMATION OF GROUPS , emarl{s • WUA, to exist as a statutory association, has l'~gistcred its "Marchwar Lift galion, Water Users' Association!' constitution 2051 with the District Administrative -es-t-h-ld-i-sp-u-te"':lcc• Rupandehi. Different committees of the WUA and their relationships with canal ems could easily be comprehended by the flow diagrams below. ----...... General Asscmbly Canal Com littce Level Main Canal Main COl11Il1ittee** Project Level 4 mcmbcrs )96/97 1 velo ed Primary Canal System Committce* Canal System 8x5=40 Secondary Canal & Total Rs 8 Level mcmbers Tertiary Canal (above outlet) (Block Outlet) Block Committee Total On FarmlBlock 130x5=650 . Water Course and - (WUA) no. are 130 Level members Field Channels cpresentalion of Block Leaders I numbers of members: 650 + 40 + 4 = 694. Canal System Chaimlan is ex-office member of main committee. Main committee consists of 12 members. 73 TJP· , BlockIBlock Committees •.. The developed conunand area has been dividcd into 130 Blocks. Each block has a block cOl1unittee comprising of five members of which one is the block leader. The block r '" committee is responsible for its block. Operation and maintenance of tertiary canal and monitoring of the block using parcellary block map are the major tasks of the block cOl1unittee. Measuring water-head at the block outlets can easily monitor water flows into the block. Block outlets are designed on broad crested weir formula. Water stress suffered .. by a crop can be analyzed using parcellary map and the map facilitates the block committee in budgeting for agriculture inputs. Block committee also initiates and ,. supervises the construction of watercourse within the block. Block's development status in the system is presented below. Acti"ity Puclm2e Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 No of blocks 32 32 8 17 6 15 20 13 i No of block revised 32 28 8 17 6 14 20 12 Area Ha. (Dec. 96) 644 735 162 330 138 381 415 28~ Area revised (ha) 633 581 162 330 106 191 415 241 Parcenary map (outline) 32 32 8 17 6 15 20 n .. Parcellary map, "as built" 32 32 8 17 9 10 Boundary identification 32 32 8 17 20 U (': Outlet fixation 32 32 8 17 ll~6 8 20 l! . SurveylDesign 32 28 8 17 5 4 5 9 Construction (WUG) 32 28 8 15 5 4 5 9i ~ In-block structures completed 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 System Committee There are eight system committees namely: 1. Hardi System Committee (23 blocks) 2. Lower Main Secondary System Committee (8 blocks) 3. Lower Link Canal System Committee (10 blocks) 4. Ramnagar Primary System Committee (15 blocks) 5. Mahadai System Conmlittee (16 blocks) 6. Nagauliya Secondary System Committee (11 blocks) ... 7. Senna System COl1ullittee (16 blocks) X. Ramnagar Secondary System Committee (26 blocks) r· Each system committee has five members who respectively are system committee chairperson, system committee vice-chaimlan, secretary, treasurer and system conunittee 74 , . J ,IIIJIIlP'" mcmber. Block leaders within the syslcm are the ex-ollice mcmbers of lhe systcm 1. Canal operation and maintenance sub-committee, 2. Water allocation sub-conul1ittee, 3. Financial sub-conunittee, and 4. Canal trees preservation and protection sub-committee. They work on behalf of main committee on different aspects as stated above in order to mobilize system committees and block conunittees on their respective works. Upper Link Canal Sub-system Committee 'lit 'Co The conunand area of 2,800 ha under lower link canal has been developed in phase-II. a Conunand area of upper link canal has not been developed because of water scarcity in .. the source. Whatever infrastructures are developed in the phase-I, farmers are irrigating 1111nittee about 1,000 ha of land from them. In the future, it will appear as onc more system mmittce conunittee. For the time being, an adhoc sub-committee with four members (chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer) has been formed to take care of this sub-system. 75 " Main committee's general election takes place at every 3 year and so the system J conmlittees and block committees. • , ";d BENEFICIARY FARMERffRAINING , 0 "\' MLIP has involved beneficiary fanners and related support agencies in planning and a implementation of the program with a participatory approach. The training, workshop, cj farmer-to-farmer interaction, and tour outside the project area have been organized to e build up farmers' capabilities for increased agricultural production and improVed~t' irrigation system management skills. Under AIDP program, basically agriculture service c center (ASC) based training and village based training programs were provided to the ",\ beneficiary farmers at each Kharif and Rabi seasons through the years 1992/93 to 1995/96. Altogether, 147 ASC based training programs were organized to the male group ( and 20 to the female group whereas 303 village based training progranls were organized , to the mixed group and 10 to female group. ( PREVIEW OF MLIP MANAGEMENT Marchwar Lift Irrigation Office has been allocating operation and maintenance budget to run the system every year. The yearly budget more or less looks like as under: 4i Operation & Manaeement Budeet allocated in Rs Fiscal year 2053/54 Fiscal year 2054/55 i) Canal System 300,000.00 6,00,000.00 ii) Pumps & pumping station 250,000.00 - iii) Transmission line 250,000.00 75,000.00 iv) Gravel road 400,000.00 425,000.00 v) Electricity charge 25,00,000.00 25,00,000.00 Total 37,00,000.00 36,00,000.00 The budget on canal system head was spent mainly on operation of the canal. For water scheduling and to run the pumps, a computer progranl named OMIS (Operation Management in Irrigation System) has been installed in water operation center (WOC), Majhgaon. Weekly schedule is prepared followed by last week data input. Data input required are crop area, source discharge, rainfall, and water flow to each block. Five field operators were engaged (their wages are supported by UNCDF) and their main tasks are to monitor the head over the crest of each block outlet. Four AOs (Association Organizers) are also engaged (their wages are paid from canal operation budget provided .by HMGIN) and their main tasks are to provide the farmers agriculture services and to facilitate them in formation ofthe groups and in constructing the watercourse. Four to six "Dhalpas" are also engaged (their wages are bome out of canal operation budget of 16 ,stCI11 HMG/N) for the period of "Kharif" scason (6 months). In close collaboration of the WUA, they regularly inspect and check the main canal and primary canal conditions and do the maintenance as required by mobilizing the farmers in the system. Four pump operators, six gate operators and two Chaukidars arc engaged at the pump statiol} (their wages are bome out of operation and maintenance budget of HMGIN). Their main tasks ~ and are to receive pump operation schedule every week, to run the pumps accordingly, and to ;shop, do regular maintenance of the pumps (e.g. to replace the spare parts, oiling, grcasing ~ed to etc.). From HMGIN side, one electrical engineer and one electrical overseer are engaged ,roved to supervise the pump station. One electrical supcrvisor was engaged (paid from HMGfN ervlce operation and maintenance budget) in inspecting and maintaining the transmission line to~he which connects pumping station to the feeder point (about 11 K111). 93 to group Gravel roads of about 28 Km constructed within the system are to be maintained every mized year. Each year, about Rs 400,000 to 450,000 is allocated by HMGIN. Because of considerable traffic load on the section from Bangai to Semra canal tail end point, which is about 22 Km, needs maintenance each year. This road section can be considered as the main road that connects the district headquarters, Bhairahawa to sixteen village development committees of Marchwar. Last year, MLIP maintained the "Majhgaon to Bangai" section of about 1.2 Km gravel road satisfactorily which was in the worst 1get to condition. The Department of Road has also maintained "Bangai to Majhgaon section" of • about 6 Km gravel road, which was also in a very bad condition. Its management, on WUA's part, is acceptable but a pennanent means of generating resources needed for its ..., maintenance on a regular basis is to be work out. o i _ PREVIEW OF FARMER MANAGEl\1ENT o Office has never spent any money on maintenance of earthen canals. The "\VUA" has to o do it all by mobilizing their resources. For this purpose, a tractor has been provided to ,0 WUA and also a motorcycle for supervising the operation and maintenance of the canal o system. Some emergency budget (RsIOO,OOO to 200,000) has been kept apart from O&M budget in case there is a sudden breach in the canal and damage to the canal lining. (It is , water about 1 to 2 lakhs.) • ~ration NOe), i • For each of Kharif and Rabi seasons, WUA has the tasks of inspecting, cleaning, and '. l lllput maintaining the canals at each system level prior to nllming the pumps for irrigation , reJield water. Trees on the banks and some rodent holes are the main causes of leakage through , ;ks are the earthen banks and sometimes also of canal breaches. Farmers have to ·engage in this cialton task any time if they needed watcr for irrigation through pumps. If the canal is not well i 'o~idcd maintained, WUA Chairperson reduces the capacity of the pumps. In this way, WUA anel to spends Rs 150,000 to 200,000 on labor each year. A summary of income and i r to six expenditures are presented bclow: :iget of 77 Income and Expenditure ofWUA of the Year 2053/54 s. .. No. Income Rs 1. Fanners contribution 92044.50 2. Users' membership 11666.50 3. Water cess a) Hardi canal system 29361.00 .. b) LMS canal system 17401.40 c) Lower link 14780.10 d) Ramnagar primary 176.00 e) Ramnagar secondary 21299.00 f) Nagauliya 11164.00 g) Mahadai secondary 16127.70 I h) Semra 2626.50 Water cess remained for book entry 18008.20 4. Other incomes 20071.00 5. Nursery and Dealership 6658.50 6. Adult Literacy 34736.25 7. Bank Interest 14841.51 8. Fish Contract awarded 1900.00 9. Contract Work of WUA 191320.59 Total 504182.85 Expenditure l. Canal maintenance 198896.67 2. Stationery 2724.00 3. Contingency 18913.50 4. Adult Literacy 34646.25 5. Nursery development 28696.00 6. Advance payment 6000.00 Total 289876.42 Balance Money 214306.43 78 Target Assessment for Coming YC~lr 054/55 s. N. Income Rs l. Users' Membership 12,00.00 2. Water cess 5,00,000.00 3. Farmers contribution 1,500.00 4. AIC's Dealership 10,000.00 5. Bank Interest 10,000.00 6. Tractor Income 50,000.00 7. Trees Management 2,000.00 8. Others (contract + house rented) 5,000.00 Total 5,90,500.00 Expenditure Rs 1. Wages a) Pump house · Pump operators 7 No. · Chaukidar 2 No. b) WOC 492400.00 · Office management 1 no. · Irrigation manager 1 no. · System manager 8 no. - Sub-system tnanClger t no. 2. Canal Maintenance a) Earthen canal 278,300.00 b) . Structures 451,700.00 3. Pump House Electricity cost ~ t 0% 2,00,000.00 4. Stationery 3,500.00 5. Gravel road maintenance 2,00,000.00 6. Guest receiving 7,500.00 7. Others expenditure 50,000.00 Total target expenditure assessment 16,02,100.00 Balance expenditure amount ofRs 1,011,600.00 shall be met by WUA and different organization/corporationIDOI etc. After discussion, following resolutions were passed by Marchwar Assembly Kharif 2054. l. Regarding electricity cost payment to run the pumps, not more thal1 10% of the total cost can be borne by WUA. • 2. Regarding maintenance of the tractor, because it is needed to WUA, maintenance cost can be borne by WUA. 79 3 Water right for water operation shall be reserved to WUA. C>_.. 4. On the basis of irrigated area if any canal system committee docs not collect 70%, of water cess, the committee will be deprived of receiving maintenance money. If it • is 70% or more, the main C0I1U11ittee will render help of 25% maintenance money to such canal system committee on producing action plan for maintenance works. Bl Pc' 5. Necessary employees are to be appointed for thc management of WUA. 6. If canal system committee's secretary is fully involved in collecting water cess, he wiII be supported by some incentives. 7. Since upper link canal farmers are receiving water from the pumps, block committees within the upper link command area shall be formed and will be gi ven the constitutional rights. E. THE EXPECTATIONS, IMPACTS OR ACHIEVEMENTS b, F Agriculture (Paddy) " OL At the start of the Kharif season, some 2,100 ha was irrigable by the project As infrastructure. The fanners took however the risk to plant the total area, some 2,800 ha. Those areas that were not yet provided with an irrigation infrastructure were irrigated by R: traditional means, meaning pumps, over-flow of other areas, etc. In The nurseries were planted in the period between the last week of May and the first week of July. Transplanting started in early JUly. The harvesting of the paddy started in l\1 October and continued throughout the December. An interesting phenomenon is that in several places harvesting was done with combine - harvesters rented from India. Yields are, acc:)rding to crop cutting surveys, 3.85 tons paddy/ha; this is close to farmers' target. Pum The development of paddy yields over the years is given below. The yield in 1992 was determined on a limited area and is not necessarily representative. The project document expected a yield of 2.5 tons. There is a general consensus among the DADO and the f::lflners that an average yield would be around 3.5 tons/ha. The expected average yield (EAY) is a realistic estimate for areas that can make use of supplementary irrigation. The 11 planted area increases over the years. The resulting gross income per ha based on a price ..,.m of 8 Rs/kg (1996 price), is given in the table below. In the same table, the expected ar average incremental yield without the project and incremental benefits are given. ar ~ Area Planted and G.'oss Income Generated ill Kharir Season, t 992 - 1996 , Year Area YidJ Tolal Yield Income Total illcome.: I) - I ha. tonfha. tons I Rsfha. I R::; x IDU ( i~ - yfo Base Yield and Projected Yield DLS 850 1.5 4207 I 12000 33656 Project Doc. 2805 2.5 7012 I 20000 56100 i ~ Actual Yield (Crop Cutting SUI'vey) le 250 4.4 1100 35200 8800 ... 1992 1993 616 3.2 1971 25600 15770 1994 1351 2.4 3242 19200 ! 25939 1995 2000 3.4 6800 27200 54400 en 1996 2800 3.85 10780 30800 86240 Expected Average Yield and Incremental Yield/Benefits EAY 2805 3.5 9817 28000 78400 blcremental Yield 0 2 5610 16000 44800 (FAY-BLS) ilLS: Base Line Survey; EAY= Expected Average Yield. )jcct As it can be seen, an incremental benefit of some 16,000 Rs/ha is projected now. I ha~ j by Rnbi Season 1995/96 In the Rabi season 1995/96, an area of approx. 1,770 ha was cultivated. \'eek d in Monthly Irdgation \Vater Supply, Rabi Season I. 995/96. 1t in ields Month Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mal'ch Total rget. Pump hours 33 290 393 58 774 was - Volume (1000m3) 81 693 926 - 135 1835 nent Itr~tion mm. 4 39 52 7.5 102.5 i the - lUinrall mm. 68 7 66 70 211 ,'ield - The )flee~ The fact that 102 mm of irrigation was supplied (against the calculated requirement of 98 nun) indicates that there is, at this moment, a little discrepancy between the supply :ctoo w~ter and water requirement. Moreover, the fact that water could be delivered to 63% of the area instead of 40% of the area is significant. ... 81 Yields and Yield Developments The yield In 1992/93 was deternlined on a limited area and lS not necessarily representative. The average yield during the Rabi 1995/96 was 1.8 tons. Some palt of the area was water logged because of (i) the high residual moisture in the soil, (ii) seepage from the canals, and (iii) the fact that irrigation was given around the time of a heavy rainfall. The project document expected a yield of 2.5 tons. The average yield of approx. 2.5 tons/ha is a realistic estimate for areas that can make use of irrigation. The yield, incremental yield, and incomes from wheat grown during the Rabi season are given '. below. The unit price of wheat is 6 Rslkg. .. I Year Area in Yield Total Yield Income in Total income ha ton/ha in tons Rs/ha Rs x 100 Base Yield and Projected Yield BLS 850 1.5 1275 900 7650 Project Doc. 2630 2.5 6575 15000 39450 ~______-.___A~ct~u~arl~Y~ie~l~d~(~'C~ro~}~C~u~t~ti~ng~S~ur~~e~~Y~)____r-______~I~ 1992/93 1.8 35200 1993/94 2.3 25600 1994/95 2.6 19200 1995/96 1770 1.8 3186 10800 19116 EAY ** 1800 2.5 4500 15000 27000 Incremental Yield 950 1 3225 9000 19350 (EAY-BLS) BLS= Base Line Survey; EAY= Expected Average Yield; ··60% command area. The following phenomena have to be noted: The area cultivated in the Rabi season is 60 - 70% of the conU1land area. This is more than recommended 40% without any directly visible adverse effect. Slowly. a shift has started in the cropping pattern. The area under wheat is decreasing. The areas under other crops like kidney beans, pulses and mustered. seeds, are slowly expanding. These will have important financial consequences. The kidney beans' yield is also about 2.5 ton/ha but fetch a price of 50 Rs/Kg in the market. Gross income per ha would be some Rs 125,000.00. This is high compared with the gross income and .. 15,000.00 Rs/ha for wheat. 82 r ., Il11pact ... ssarily Production during Kharif ~tthe .!epage Yields during Kharifhave more than doubled compared to the base line survey. A yield of heavy approx. 3.5 tons/ha is rather consistent with yields measured earlier. Considering the data approx. of last four years, it can be provisionally concluded that paddy yields under irrigated c yield, conditions vary between 3.0 and 3.5 tons/ha, which arc at least double of the yiel,",s in e given" case of "without irrigation". The yield is 20 - 40% higher than the expectations expressed in the projeet document. The result is an incremental bendit of some 16,000.00 Rs/ha. ... This increase can most likely not be fully attributed to the provision of irrigation water, al income but also to the effect of the agricultural program, use of irnproved seeds, etc. s x 100 Production during Rabi 7650 The main crop during Rabi is still wheat although some shifts can be seen. Yields of 39450 wheat have increased since irrigation became available. At present, a yield of 2.5 tons/ha can be considered realistic with increased and timely usc of fertilizer and improved varieties. Yield of 2.5 tons/ha was projected in the project document from compared to an average ,.,. yield of 1.5 tonslha in "without irrigation" conditions. The base line survey recorded an I average yield of 1.5 tonslha. Consequently, the incremental yield is some 1.0 ton/ha 19116. • (66%) . 27000: 193501 System Output ... During Kharif crop in 1996, a survey was conducted in close consultation with \VUA to understand functionality of the infrastntctures built in the system. The total area developed under lower link canal was 2805 ha. So, it became important to verify whether this developed area fell under irrigation scheme or not. The result is presented below. s more eaeang. slowly deJd is per ha le ztnd 83 ~ Area not Delivered Water Package Command A B C D Total Delivered Not ...... Area in ha ha 0/0 delivered t% 1 644 68.1 69.3 - 137.4 78.66 21.34 2 735 134.5 47.4 - 181.9 75.25 24.75 3 162 - - - - . - 4 330 - 37.60 - 37.60 88.60 11.40 5 138 31.77 - - 31.77 76.97 23.03 6 381 190 - - 190.00 50.13 49,87 7 415 22.21 70 - - 92.21 77.78 22.22 Total 2805 446.58 70 154.3 - 670.88 76.08 23.92 The total water delivered area is 2134.12 ha, i.e. 76.08% of the eommand area. Expression A= Lack of eonstruction of canals/Aqueducts. B= Under eonstruction. C= Technical reasons. D= Social reasons. Keeping the above assessment in mind, a walk through survey by each canal system committee together with engineer was conducted in order to cover teclmically irrigable areas. Besides pre built infrastructures, additional structures such as canal lining to check seepage water (9I7m), hume pipes (360 rm.), block outlets (II no.), village road bridge (6 no.), foot bridge (8 no.), and cross drainage work (6 no.) were constructed in Kharif 1997. Pump Hours Pump hours are very important when we talk ofoperation cost. Total pump running hours over successive years covering Rabi as well as Kharif crops are given below. Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Pumps hours 3412 3726 6395 2687 3632 * 1190 Energy cost (Rs) 731900 719300 1371800 576400 779100 255300 * Pump hours dunng Rabl crop only. o .. 84 ISSUES RELATED TO PROGRAM SUST AINABILITY AND t'~~ . TRANSFER PROCESS :d % 4 pumpslPumping Station 75 Project office (MLIP) and WUA, both are exercising at handing over and taking over of 40 the system, respectively. This spirit still exists. WUA has replaced pump operators (10 03 87" no.) and watchmanlChaukidar (2 no.) who were employees of MLIPIDOI by their o)Vl1 22 employees as pump operators (8 no.) and WatchmanlChaukidar (3 no.) at pump station. .92 WUA is spending Rs 190,800.00 on its employees per year. Fourteen operators within the command area selected by WUA were given three months off-site training by BTl, Butwal. The program was sponsored by UNCDF. Operation and maintenance of pumps, as agreed in consensus workshop, have been handed over to Nepal Hydro Electric (NHE), Butwal for a period of 30 months subjected to mid term review. Newly appointed operators by WUA are working as job trainees under the supervision ofNHE. It is hoped that after completion of NHE management contract, they would work for WUA independently at the pump station pursuing the management left by NHE. Operation of Maintenance of the Canal System Since last 3-4 years, WUA is independently taking care of O&M of the canal system. Ie ...,. Leakage and seepage through the earthen canal banks are very frequent. It is more serious i ;heck when the pumps are run for the first watering of paddy and the canal is almost dry during dge very hot months of March, April and May. In addition, most of the main canal, primary i rif canals, secondary canals have been forested. Roots of the trees are now spreading into banks and facilitating the leakage and seepage through banks. Trees have to be removed from the banks where lining works are proposed. Now, lining works of 500 01 length in Ramnagar primary and 200 01 length in Senna primary are to be constructed for the purpose of saving maintenance labor cost of "WUA" and for increasing the irrigation efficiency ofthe canal. Water cess 97 i 1190 WUA has made decision to increase water cess from Rs 60/ha to Rs 120/ha from Kharif : 5300 1996. WUA is collecting water cess @ Rs 120/ha. Water cess collection target was of Rs 283,680.00 from lower canal system, but the collection was only Rs 81,916.00. Whereas, Rs 10,499.00 was received from upper main canal. Collection is going on. 'FuJl watcr ecss collection, as assessed, is difficult to achieve, unless canal system committees take .. initiatives to coHect water cess. At present, it is the main conunittee that is doing this job. Water cess is the major factor to drive the system toward what we call sustainability. For 85 sustainable operation arid maintenance of the pumps, water cess should have been in the range of Rs 500 to 600/ha. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I. Just transferring the project to WUA does not ensure sustainability. Hence, when the project, with its minimum infrastructures and capable WUA, is transferred to WUA, technical backstopping support should be continued to WUA for maintaining the project's return at the desirable level. 2. MLIP is unique when compared to other surface irrigation scheme because of the involvement of large electricity cost and technical know-how on operation and maintenance of the pumps. With the same view, local operators selected by WUA are being provided job-site training under the supervision of Nepal Hydro Electric, Butwal - a well-established local electro-mechanical finn situated at 30 Km distance from the project site. It is expected that after 30 months of supervision contract period ofNHE, local operators oftlWUA" will be capable to take care of O&M of the pumping station. 3. The last year's experience reveals that WUA would be good enough to be in charge of O&M of all the canal system. The project should not intervene into the tasks of WUA. 4. About 28 Km of gravel road constructed during project implementation will also need maintenance. WUA is willing to have the O\vnership and responsibility to maintain this road. To create a minimum road toll fund, WUA has to be facilitated by legal document and DOl has to take initiation upon WUA's request. 5. Water cess has to be doubled each year up to 3rd years by WUA to meet the minimum expenditure on operation and maintenance of the pumps. 6. Fanners of land holding size 0.1 to 1 ha are 43%. The majority is extremely poor living at the margin between subsistence and starvation. For this reason, WUA is facing problem on water cess collection. To overcome this, skill-orientated programs need to be launched in the project area to improve their economic condition. 7. The minimum charge of electricity against the pumps is to be -borne, even in nOI1 running condition, should be made free to relieve the burden on WUA. 8. Impact study of the project, even in turned over situation, has to be made in 2 to 3 year's period by being fully attached with WUA and by providing them suggestions for the betterment and continuity ofWUA's activities. 86 '11 in the ., • ~e, whcn ferred to "UA for Management of Turned-over Systems in Bhairaha\va Lumbini Groundwater Project: Role of Farmers alld Agency in System Management serofthe tion and - Mahendra B. Gurungl lyWUA I Hydro ed at 30 INTRODUCTION mths of ,pable to The Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project (BLGWP), Stage I, was initiated in 1977 after His Majesty's Government signed a loan agreement with IDA (World Bank) in November 1976. The objective of the project was to provide year round irrigation facility to be in in 7,600 ha of cultivated land using groundwater by developing deep tube wells (DTWs) into· the through electrically operated pumps and motors. TIle Project area, a terai Gangetic plain of Rupandehi District, some 300 Km west of Kathmandu, has been investigated to "'" contain groundwater reserve that could supply up to 180 million cubic meters of water .vill also per annum. bility to s to be Contrary to then popular approach of agency's intervention in selecting irrigation request. projects, the project was launched based on 'suppLy driven' approach. Design of the Project was carried out on the basis of teclmical feasibility and its implementation ncet the followed the parameters determined by the design and was solely carried out by the Project. Consequently, the role of famlers was almost nil or limited only to th<>se areas where some famlers took initiatives on their own. ely poor WUA is The Project was later expanded to more areas of the district through Stage II and the -ientated ongoing Stage III. In course of time, the basic approach of undertaking the Project has cononllc changed giving more emphasis on the role of beneficiary farmers. On these backgrounds, this paper focuses on the activities of Stage I tube well systems, which are already in operation and have passed through the stage of tumover. 1 in'«oll 1 Mr, Gurung is a senior divisional engineer in Department of Irrigation, now assigned as Chief .., of Engineering Division of Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project, Siddharthnagar. The ! in 2 to author would like to express his sin!=ere gratitude to the Project Manager Mr. p, S. Tater for his 'g them guidance and high appreciation to the Local Consultant Mr. P.N. Tiwari who helped him in many ways in preparing this paper. 87 STAGE I DEVELOPMENT .. The project under Stage I has developed 64 deep tube well units, electrically operated, for some 6,500 beneficiary families. It has built 254 Km of open chalmel irrigation canals and 32 km of new or rehabilitated existing drainage. Each tube well unit draws water of about 450 m3lhour and covers a conUlland area of around 120 ha. The project has built a network of 94 Km of village gravel roads and has erected 96 km of 11 kv power transmission lines. In addition, the Project has built 33 agriculture-related buildings such • as agriculture sub centers, store houses, and JT/JTA quarters. Out of total 64 system units, 37 lie in Manpakadi area, west of Tinau river, monitored by Manpakadi Agriculture sub center and 27 in Bhalwari area, east of the river, monitored by Bhalwari Agriculture sub center. Other infrastructures are distributed accordingly. All the infrastructures targeted for stage I, however, could not be completed within its scheduled period up to 1982/83, partly due to delay in procurement of electro-mechanical equipment and partly because the Project's electrical network could not be connected to the national power grid within the period. Consequently, all the Stage I tube wells were commissioned only in 1985/86, under Stage II, and came into operation. Beneficia!)' farmers or water users in Stage I Project were identified and grouped (WUG) 1 on adhoc basis. They were treated as helpful more for transmitting agriculture extension activity programs, another aspect of the Project, rather than for their participation in planning, design and implementation. STAGE II AND STAGE III INTERVENTION Since the year the Stage I tube wells came into operation, the Project paid for the electricity bills, pump operation, and the general maintenance costs. In return, the beneficiary farmers paid an irrigation fee at the flat rate of Rs 200 per hectare to the Project. This continued to the end of the Stage II, i.e., 1989/90. Intervention of Stage II in 1983/84 brought a conceptual change in teclmical aspect. In that, 'the open channel irrigation system working under gravity for Stage I was changed to buried UPVC (Unplasticised Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe system that works under pressure head. But there was practically no change or . improvement in the concept of implementatio{l although a provision for emphasizing the role of water users was made in the Staff Appraisal Report (SAR). Started in 1990/91, Stage III of the Project continues to follow the technical aspect adopted under Stage II but has brought a radical change in the implementation concept I The tenn WUG stands for Water Users Group formed of the beneficiary fanners to interact wilh Agency, i.e., the Project. 88 through what is known as pal1icipatory approach, To stal~ briefly, the year 1990N I proved to be a threshold year, in addition to itself b~ing a starting year for Stage III, I," , tor bringing a turning point and making a break through for management transfer of the nals Stage I tube wells. Similarly, 1994/95 became :yet another year to reckon with in the ;;1''..,of sense that the program strategy for system turnover as well as real farmers' participation Jilt a received a boost in this year. In other words, the role of farnlers in organized and active ower manners has been distinguished, defined, and emphasized under this Stage which have such made management transfer of Stage I tube well systems units possible. stem lkadi TURNOVER OF STAGE I TUBE WELL SYSTEM lwari It has been stated above that after conunissioning ofthe Stage I tube wells in 1985/86, the water users were asked to pay irrigation fee at a flat rate of Rs 200 pcr hectare and in nits return, all other expcnditurcs were borne by the Projcct. Thc Project record showed that !lieal each tube well was running at an average of 1,000 hrs per year that gave the Project a ~d to feeling that famlers were making a very good usc oftubc wcll waters. (Please see table-I) were Clary In 1990/91, the water charge rate was raised to Rs 400/ha per year as a step toward dhoc reaching up to Rs 1000/ha in order to meet the O&M costs and recover the capital cost, if tivit, possible. This step was, however, met with strong resistance from the fanners, which nll1g, went up to refusal of taking any water from the tube wells. The result was the sharp drop in water charge col1ection. The Project carried out an in-house study to find the actual trend of pumping hours, areas being irrigated, water charge to be and being collected, and the electricity bills the Project was paying. It was found that up to 1989/90, the water charge collection was in the range r the ofRs 600,000, around 60 percent of total receivable, whereas the electricity bills payable , the to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) amounted in the range of Rs 3 million, about 5 ;) the times the water charge collected. In other words, water charge collection was only at the range of 20 percent of electricity bills. In 1990/91, when the water charge rate was doubled, the collectible amount increased but the actual collection declined considerably ;1. In to only 3 percent. (Please see table 2) ,ed to ssure [n fact, the Project and the World Bank were aware of the imbalance between the total It of revenue collection and electricity bills and were applying 'wait and see' principle, de in e expecting an improvement. The study made both the parties alert and serious to think over the sustaillability of the systems built. This became vcry important Qecause whatever trend was allowed to set up for Stage I would be carried over to the Stage II and Stage III tube wells as well. ::l 89 Thus, on the background of system sustainability, there were only two alternatives left: 1. Raise the water charge collection at least to cover the O&M costs and stick to it 110 matter what resistance from the farmers comes; or 2. Turnover the system management to the organized water users called WUGs or WUAs and let them exercise the whole responsibility gradually. The first option did not' prove appropriate as the water users 1 had already opposed the rise in water charge rate and also due to the fact that it would allow the systems to rest on the Governn'lent responsibility forever. The second option to turnover the system to the .. concerned WUGs was therefore determined feasible because the WUGs under this option will have full responsibility as well as the rights to make the best use of the tube well waters. Also, this process will be consistent with the turnover policy for Stage II and Stage III tube well syst~ms. This option has been included in the preparation of Stage III Project appraisal, which has stated "Several modifications ojStage I DTWs are necessary Jor Jarmers to take over DTW management and pay Jull O&M costs, which are key objectives ojthe Project. Unlike later stages, the 64 DTWs in Stage I have open channel distribution systems and only about 35 percent oj the total channel length oj each DTW is lined. .... To enable Jarmers to take over direct responsibility Jor DTW operation and pay the Jull costs oj O&M, the Project would include provision Jor selective lining oj an additional watercourse length totaling about J40 Km. NEA has agreed to base the fixed portion oj the power charge on measured peak power use under the reduced water delivery, rather than on the transJormer rating. thus reducing power costs. Participation would be based on Jarmers demand, the Jormation Jor a registered WUA by the DTW Jarmers . groups and commitment by the WUA to provide. an agreed cash and/or labor contribution to channel lining construction and takeover responsibility to pay Jull O&M costs. It ~ (SAR, May 7,1990 paragraph 3.6 for Stage - 111)2 Thus in Stage Ill, the causes of problem faced in Stage I tube wells were identified and i . recorded and a process of turnover was developed and applied. The process incorporated 1 The terms, 'beneficiary fanners', 'farmers' or 'water users' used in this paper have identical meaning referring to the farmers who receive water from the Project tube wells for irrigation purpose. ? 2 The teon SAR stands for Staff Appraisal Report prepared by IDAIWorid Bank before reaching an agreement with HMGIN. " 90 '~I··,. I ft: the principles of sector approach tested for Irrigation Line of Credit Pilot Project which -:. was gaining maturity since Mahakali II Project implementation, leading to formulation of ~ it no Irrigation Policy 1992. Turnover Process Gs or The turnover process for Stage I of the Project consisted of following steps: ;!d ~the 1. The WUGs of DTW unit serious for the turnover program must have clear account est on with NEA, specifically for paying all arrears of electricity bills. This record would to'lhe be checked and verified by Fanners Organization Division (FOD) of the Project. Jption ~ well 2. An agreement is signed between the Project and WUG which would express written ;1 and commitment from both the parties on compliance of Irrigation Policy in tenns of fanners' participation, canal lining, and fonnal turnover. ~h has 3. The Project would carry out canal lining (system rehabilitation) of the unit. This work would be completed by Maintenance Division or Engineering Division of the Project in consultation and close coordination with FOD. The Division would 'DTW establish its 0\\11 procedure to carryout canal lining works. Unlike don!>' 3.1 A joint walk- through is made by Project staff and members of WUG to identify enable and make inventory of the problem spots and necessary canal lining on fields. This osls of will result into design, estimate and provisions of resource mobilization. Wonal >ortion 3.2 WUGs will mobilize farnlers for participation either through cash and/or voluntary livery, would labor contribution as detennined in the (around 5% of) estimate whereas the 7rmers Project will arrange for contractor to carry out the DOl's part of works. In this labor whole process, WUG will also fulfill its supervisory role as well as a role of a ly full motiva~or to see that fanners' obligations are also duly fulfilled on time, to ensure that the inventory lists are not overlooked and to negotiate with the Project for any additional genuine demand from the farnlers, ifany. - III)2 4. Until the canal lining works are completed, the Project would continue to provide :d and subsidy in the demand charge of electricity cost to the WUG for the unit in or8ed proportionate of earthen channel over the total channel length. :al". 5. From the begilming of the first Nepalese fiscal year and after completion of the on canal lining, the subsidy is stopped and pump operator from the office is replaced by the one appointed by WUO itself. 91 6. The Project continues to provide maintenance cost for a period of twelve consecutive months after the completion of canal lining. This is the period of training the operator and WUG for water management, record keeping and the general know-how about electro-mechanical parts of the pumping equipment installed in the pump houses. After this period, i.e. as of the first month after the o 12-month period and onwards, the WUG becomes fully responsible for the system's operation and maintenance. In other word, the process of turnover becomes complete (Please see flow diagram). THE PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS The Project accomplislunents for and after turnover of the systems' management for Stage I may be regarded as remarkable. This becanle possible due to various farmers' friendly strategies and due to special emphasis the Project put forward in the fiscal year 1994/95. The systems were provided with limited rehabilitation on sporadic demand basis before the turnover program was conceptualized. The Program approach was initiated in 1992/93 for the first 5 tube wells units followed by 9 tube well units in 1993/94 and took a giant leap in 1994/95 by considering for 17 tube well units in an increasing order in later years. By the end of 1996/97, total of 60 tube wells were brought under turnover program completing the canal lining works for 138 krn. The remaining 4 tube wells had technical problems and were of least interest for farmers to participate resulting into removal of pumping equipment (Please see table 3). The Project accomplislmlents may be described as follows: Fanner Mobilization As described elsewhere, the system construction was carried out in supply driven approach, which generated indifferent behaviors among the beneficiary farmcrs and \\as reflected in their dependency syndrome. Different meetings, dialogues and clear explana!ions made it possible to make the farmers familiar with the irrigation system and irrigation policy and to make them aware oftheir responsibility. Farnlers have carried out earth excavation, back filling and grass turfing in the newly lined area and have contributed about 5 percent of the total capital cost as required by the Irrigation Policy 1992. In fact, the increasing preparedness of fanners to excavate even new channels for lining reflected their intrinsic sense of participation to meet the need of irrigation facility for agricultural production. Giving due regards to their genuine demand, as it is a "demand driven approach", and incorporating them in the system implementation has earned two basic achievements: i. They have a realization that they must contribute their share in the process and ii. They, increasingly, do have a feeling that the irrigation " system built belongs to them, i.e., an "ownership feeling". 92 1 Institutional Development and FHnner - Agency R('latiollship f , '0.'" Fanners, during the conceptualization of the Stage 1 Project, wcre groupcd on adhoc basis and the groups were premature to take any institutional form that could institutionally .; :' cooperate with the Project. This could, perhaps, be attributed to existing tradition and s environment of any irrigation project concept. Therefore, even after the completion of the .;s systems, the farmers had a general expression that the systems were built by the Project and will continue to be the responsibility of the Project. This implied a weak binary relationship, which eventually grew up as the root cause of all the resistance against turnover steps taken by the Project. ". It was in Stage III that the project, backed up by Irrigation Policy and its committed staff, ~e, iy made a sincere effort to break through this backlog. Unifonnity in infonnation 5. dissemination, sincere implementation with quality assurance, adherence to the Agreement re and constant monitoring enhanced the confidence of beneficiary farmers over the project to a great deal and helped in making a break through. Canal lining was made flexible to III Jk cover additional rehabilitation of the system such as pump houses, outlets and other structures requiring repair and maintenance. All these steps contributed to improve the 111 cr system perfornlance, a key aspect of sustainability. ld 0 ,to In addition, working with a team spirit together with the farmers helped to establish a be relationship which turned out to be stronger, more active and more effective than before. ".. The special team work in 1994/95 to mobilize fanners' participation for Stage III tube wells construction in eastern sector of the Project area had a direct or indirect impact to make the farmers of Stage I area more responsive toward participatory approach. The Water User Groups have been registered, phase wise, in the District \Vater Resource en Conunittee receiving legal status of association called Water Users Association (WUA) as and are empowered with necessary rights and responsibilities. :ar lid Accomplishment Data Table - 3 shows the accomplislmlents of the Project as of 1996/97 regarding number of :Iy tube wen systems lined and turned over to the respective WUAs including the status of :hc their registration in the District Water Resources Committee, Rupandehi. 'en oj; At present, if the Project was paying for the whole O&M cost, the pumping hours would Id, ~ remain the same as before, i.e. 980 hrs average per alUmm. The demand charge, energy OIl cost and operator costs alone would have reached to Rs 8,684,200 without adding for :lte minor repairs. After take over by WUGs, the pumping hours have come dovm to 330 on~ hours on average per annum and the salaries for their operator are less resulting into the O&M cost of Rs 3,639,200. This shows not only the shift of burden from HMGIN but 93 also shows reduction in cost by around 58 percent. In addition, this has also saved about 1,652,000 KW-hrs of energy which, in other words, is an input to national power-grid to reduce stress 'on load shedding. System Performance Before the turnover process, the pumping hours per annum of the tube wells were quite high and the effect was reflected satisfactorily in agricultural activities such as cropping intensity, cropping patterns and yields. After the turnover, which required paying all electricity bills by WUGs directly to the NEA at the first place, the pumping hours dropped remarkably by more than 65 percent. It was feared. that this drop in pumping hours would adversely affect the existing agricultural performance. The records, however, completely negated the projection and showed steady at first and rise in the perfonnance in later years. Records from Agriculture Division up to 1995196 .show that the cropping intensity has reached to a level of 209.3 percent, remarkably more than SAR target of 186 percent. The productivity of high yielding variety of paddy has been recorded 4.5 mtiha, more than SAR target of 3.50 mtlha. 111ese notable features are observed in hot season crops which were not projected in SAR target but have been introduced in more than 17 percent of the Stage I area, increasingly adopted even after turnover. Kidney beans (Rajrna) as a new crop for vegetable and sunflower as a new crop for oilseeds are of particular significance, which are increasingly accepted by the farmers as cash crops. (Please see tables 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) The system performance reflected through agricultural activities itself speaks of its status. This has been possible due to the fact that the Agency, playing its role actively and effectively, has regarded the beneficiaries not only as water users but also as leader farnlers who can tum tube well waters into income generators through farming. System Management J ! Before turnover, when everything regarding operation and maintenance was borne by the Project, the WUGs enjoyed a luxurious life staying aloof from any system management aspect. The turnover process, however, taught them about the features and functions of the system, enriched them with the scope of their rights and responsibilities and, as a result, they understood the very significance of their roles. Consequently, although there ... was a transitory resistance at early stage, they gradually sided towards taking over the tube well systems. At present, the WUGs of turned over tube wells are regularly paying electricity bills to NEA. They have hired their own pump operators upon being trained by the Project. l11ey \. 94 I . \ ""l' f; • lout have started to pay for minor spare parts tila[ may be required for repair of pumping j equipment. They keep their annual income - expenditure record that is audited annually (IIt. by the Project. ." On the other hand, they collect from the beneficiaries, a fixed charge, as a security, at the rate of around Rs 200 per ha per year. They also collect energy charge for the pump }uite being run per hour with some additional levies to cover other expenses. 111ey sell water to ping the adjoining non-member famlers at higher rate than to the members. They have lcvi}:d a ~ all penalty of about 25 percent extra charge for those who do not pay the charges due on ours time. Also, in some areas, they seH the fodder grown at canal sides within the conunand piffg area, on contract, to raise funds in the WUG account. The records show that the WUOs' wer, savings in the bank accounts as of 1996/97 have the funds from as low as Rs 7,000.00 to ance as high as Rs 117,700.00 which obviously reflect the status of activeness and effectiveness of the respective WUGs. Overall, the income-expenditure record shows a comfortable balance (Please see table 5) . . has cent. Thus the fanners, in an organized manner, have realized their roles for the system than management and have started to take lead over the Project's. On July 10 and 11, 1996 ihich (26&27 Ashar, 2053), Bhalwari and Manpakadi Agriculture sub-centers, other related .f thOlo physical infrastructures (buildings, etc.) and the administration have been handed over to new the District Agriculture Office, Rupandehi which then onward will provide necessary lnce,.. assistance to the fanners within the Project's conllland area. In order to enable the WUOs ,4.2 to stand on their 0\Vl1, recently on 29 and 30, Bhadra 2054 (14& 15 Sept. 1997), the Project organized separate meetings for WUGs of 26 OTWs in Bhalwari area and of 34 D1Ws in Manpakadi area with local private (worksliop) companies named Shrestha atus. Engineering, Binay Trading, Lumbini Electrical and Sampada, all located at and Siddharthnagar to familiarize themselves. Now onwards, it is expected that should any :.ader repair works for electro-mechanical parts be required, the concerned WUGs would contact directly to any of these companies in the same way as they did to NEA for electricity bills. ISSUES y the ment There are issues ranging from platUling, design and implementation to the management of I1S of the tube wells. Issues encountered by the Project may be grouped as follows: afa the~ Planning and Design r the Hydro-geologists, engineers and assocIatIOn organizers must show their full professionalism, which must be reflected in planning, design and implementation. In !]s to Stage I of BLOWP there are many cases where it is felt that they should have given more rhey effort on this regard. At least four tube wells under the project have been abandoned 95 primarily because the tube wells are located in low lying arcas, since the distribution system follows gravity flow principle, most of the planned arcas do not receive water. This has caused poor interest from the farmers and the abandonmcnt as limited beneficiaries cannot afford the O&M costs. Tube wcll locations in at least two tube wells and their command area layouts have been found such that the conunand has a proximity to one tubule but has been included in for the other, the farther one. The canal alignments and positioning of outlets have also come under comments. Land acquisition problems caused delayed implementation. The planners and implcmenters must choose one of the two alternatives: either consult the beneficiaries or show the sincere professionalism. J - Lining of Canals As described by the SAR mentioned above, majority of chatUlel distribution system developed in Stage I of the Project had earthen chalUlels mostly constructed on raiscd carthen embankments. 111is obviously gave rise to high Icakage, vulnerability of thc system any time, anywhere and consequently led to a high loss of watcr in the conveyance system. The tail end fanners wcre, thcrefore, deprived of irrigation facility, which was rcflected in low water charge collection and created resistance during initial discussions. The Proposed or imposed increase in water charge rates victimized both the water recipients and those deprived of. This situation made fanners to react. This issue. strongly raised by the farmers, was resolved by lining the earthen channels and rehabilitating the breached and broken parts with their involvement. Affected by the traditional supply driven approach of the Project, the WUG members would not believe that their concern would be incorporatcd atld, so, there was a weak participation during inventory preparation. However, . when the implementation started al1d the Project Staff gave their voice due regards depending on genuineness, they started to cooperate opening the real path toward turnover. 111ere were social conflicts, political rivalry and mismanagement from existing WUGs which were all reflected in rotation irrigation and were solved amicably. In fact, this issue helped the Project in a way that, hod there been no requirement of canal rehabilitation, the project probably could not have gained a chance to mobilize fanners' participation and the turnover program would have faccd even more difficulties or evcn failed. Inter Disciplinary Coordination Point fixing for the tubc well location which is done jointly by ~ydro-gcologists, engineers, association organizer and the consultant has bcen found shifted in many cases by a driller when he goes for drilling. This has raised many problems rcgarding fixing of pump house boundary especially in Stage III arcas where certain farmcrs offer land frce of cost for pump house. This was not an issue for Stage I as the lands of pump houses wcre also acquired. But this act scems to have lcd the tube weIls to covcr comparatively 96 l 1 "I smaller areas in thc fields than planned on paper. The point of issuc is that once the tllbe well location is significantly shifted from originally fixed point, thc wholc layout has a . chance of being affected, leading to possible mismanagement of the whole system unit. Investment Cost :s 11S The Project tube wells are deep tube wells and the unit cost is about Rs 60,000-65,OOO/ha .he at present value. If the cost for transmission lines (I Krn) and for roads (I Km) is added, the unit cost will rise to Rs 80,000/ha. Whether this cost is high or less and whether this type of system should be continued or not is purely a matter of debate. However, with integrated approach, the Project has provided multifaceted facilities in addition to .. irrigation and agricultural extension in order to raise the living standard of its .!111 beneficiaries, an objective of poverty alleviation campaign, thus covering a broad led spectrum of development. the lce Resource Generation and O&M ,'as ns. WUGs have started to generate resources essential to meet O&M costs, which are around ter Rs 1000/ha per year. However, the resource generated does not seem to leave any ue, substantial savings in the WUG account whicl1 is also essential to meet the requirement .:.a tnd should there be any major break down either in the system or in the equipment. ll1is is important for WUGs, as they are to depend on their 0\\11 incomes in the years to come. ll1is issue calls for brainstonl1ing from all especially from those who have eamed specific ers knowledge, skill and experience in privatization. ;:ak ted Elech'icity Cost ted cal The water users have to pay two types of electricity charges to NEA. The first is tenned Jon fixed Demand Charge. ll1is is levied 011 the basis of motor rating and has to be paid per lat, month immat~rial of whether the pump is run or not. It used to be Rs 20/KW, now has :lVe been increased to Rs 25/KW since June 1996. ave The other part is energy charge that is levied per unit of the meter on the basis of pump operation. It used to be Rs 0.80 per unit up to 1992. Then, when tumover process was started, it was increased to Rs 0.95, then to Rs 2.20 in 1994 and then to Rs 3.05 per unit • since June 1996 to date. The latest increase was by about 39 percent. This has become a .sts, major issue among the beneficiary fanners and, if not given a serious tl~ollght, it may lsese question the very sustainability of these and similar schemes. ~ of frelit In India, the electricity charge to the farmers for irrigation purpose has been heavily ses subsidized. In addition, the irrigation purpose has been given special prefercnce for cly electricity supply. This may sound inconsistent for Nfpal where open market economy 97 , < , #-, ~; has been widely advocated. However, a reduced charge on the irrigation watcr would .' ,! ~ 1" ;!! encourage the farmers by many folds to adopt extcnsive cropping pattern and intensive w 'I .. • 1 farnling . I Cases of Theft Cases of theft are increasingly coming up as a new issue and concern for the Project as well as for the WUGs. So far, 12 of transformers (1110.4 kv) costing around Rs 60,000 per unit and 3 km of Rabbit conductor wires (II kv) costing around Rs 33,000 per Km have been stolen at different Stages of the Project. The Project or the WUG does not have any authority to punish the offenders even if they are caught red hands. Administration some times show their activities but soon slow down possibly because of protection of the I suspects by political parties. As a result, there seems no cease in the trend, which is rocking the institutional stand. Internal Command and External Demand The Stage I of the project was as a kind of imposition on the beneficiary famters. It cared neither for the internal command nor for external demand of the beneficiaries. The demand driven principle under the sector approach introduced during system rehabilitation in particular under Stage III had a chance of instigating eA1ernai demands. They would demand for lining of more and more channels. However, in course of time, as the turnover program was implemented without allowing the demands to inflate unnecessarily, the internal command of the beneficiaries has been promoted. The phase out process of turnover had, in essence, this objectiv~. It will be reflected more distinctly as the WUG management over the systems gains maturity in due course. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ',I I, BLGWP Stage I project has given many lessons not only in management transfer but also in the concept of system planning, implementation and management. This has opened up the pros and cons of supply driven approach and sector approach. Also, the very feature of integrated system of the project has been found to be very close to an ideal model that '~ I may be prescribed for replication where overall and speedy development is the prime : I objective. i., I .. ' Planners, Implementers and particularly managers should show their in-depth sincerity towards the ethics of profession, be it in the system design, implementation, procurement, or in interdisciplinary coordination. Time, cost and process must all be bound and guided by the highest degree of sincerity. -J; i . Ii 98 1 I ( k ,. , l~ ild 2. A deep or shallow sized tube well irrigation systems preferably of ILC type with vee similar approach of BLGWP Stage I may be a better option considering that the C"lt , smaller size will lead to better manageability, less cost and possible homogeneity of I' beneficiary fanners, which are the basic factors of a sustainable and effective ~ I 1"' irrigation system. [ as 3. In order to generate more resource from the tube well water, probably, the best 000 way may be for the WUA to enforce a regulation that no land under the comm.and KIfl is allowed to leave fallow. In other words, the farmers must adopt intensive ,ave fanning. This, if possible, may generate almost pennanent employment for some tion people of the area. The tube wells' use will be maximized. And, when there is a the booming crop production, the fanners may appear in better living standard and at \ IS the same time, WUA will enrich its account ensuring sustenance of the system. 4. Something must be carefully thought and done in the energy charge aspect in order to encourage the fanners to make the best use of tube wells, which can deliver water just at a button-push anytime, any season. Cheaper irrigation can be a lred motivation on itself for greater production. fhe tern • 5. Encouragement to the beneficiary famlers, especially to their role, should also be lds. given through guaranteeing the reliable inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers , as ..... and insecticides in addition to irrigation and better market facilities. The long-term late effect ofa successful system management or system perfomlance will be resembled lase by emergence of new agriculture based industries and vice versa. ctly liso I up ture that ime.. ~pth.o!l ign, and. 99 '"'"/' ,I; Bhairahawa Lumbini Ground\vater Project Stage - I Accomplishment Table S. No. Description ofItems Unit Target Achievement Remarks .' , I Tubewells drilled No. 64 64 2 Tubewells system units No. 64 64 " 3 Distribution Chmllleis. Km 254 3.1 Earthen 9 3.2 Brick lined 245 4 Village Gravel Roads. Km 70 94 5 Pwnping Equipment No. 64 63 I 6 Power Transmission lines Km 75 96 7 Power Substation No. I I 8 Drainage Construction Kill 32 32 9 Buildings. 9.1 Agri. Suoccntre No. 2 2 9.2 Store House No. 8 8 9.3 ITI ITA Quarter No. 23 23 S. No. 10 System Tumover No. M 10. 1 Complete Tumover 58 10.2 Partial Tumover 2 10.3 pumping Equipment Removed 4 2 11 Irrigation Area lIa. 7680 7200 2 12 Beneficiary family No. 6580 3 13 Project Cost. (Rs '000) 17£,000 171638 4 S Notes: 6 I. Well no. W/41, Bhagalpur has a full-blown artesian flow ofaround 450 m3/hr and docs not 7 require pumping equipment. 2. Well no. W/34 W. Amuwa, W/52 W. Scmari, W/60 Bhagusnri, all 3 under Manpakadi subcenlrc and W/69 Pathardanda under Bhalwari suocentre have technical problems 1I1l<.1-the pUlllPing equipment has been removed from them. i " 100 :l '5, Bhairahawa Lumbini Groulld\vater jlroject ; 0 Stage I 0 Overall Average Pumping Hours -1!J. Table -1 ~s j S. Year Tubcwells under Manpakadi Tubcwells under Dhalwari Overall 't N. Subcentre 934 no. operating) Subcentre (24 no. operating) Average (IllS. ) . " ~ 1989/90 970 727 T 1990/91 1215 820 ., T 1991192 1152 1011 3 Years average 1113 853 983 1992/93 320 234 ~ ~ ~ 1993/94 500 189 ~ 1994/95 252 478 J.7 1995196 232 133 4 years average 401 258 330 Overall drop in pumping hrs. after tumover % 66% Table - 2 • Water Charge vs. Power Cost S. Fiscal Water Assessed Receivable Total % Electricity Bills, Bills, 1 No. Year Charge Irrigation Water Collected Collected Bill paid by Times of Times of RslHa Area Ha. Charge Rs. Rs. Project Rs. Receivable Collccted .. W. Charge W. Charge 1 1987/88 200 3,800 760,000 548,460 72 3,669,947 4.8 6.7 (2044/45) 2 1988/89 200 4,843 968,600 543,518 56 3,966,788 4.1 7.3 3 1989/90 200 4,843 968,600 615,696 64 2,610,781 2.7 4.2 4 1990/91 400 4,843 1,937,200 5] ,252 3 3,075,729 1.6 60 S 1991192 400 4,843 1,937,200 89 4,398,745 2.3 2.6 1,717,787 ~ 6 Avg. of last two years. 1,937,200 884,520 46 3,737,242 1.9 4.2 7 1992/93 ISystems of Water Charge collection stopped; Tumovcr Programme startcd. .. ~ & Sourte: Expcrience with Implemcntation of Fanner's participation concept, Tahal consulting Enginecrs 101 ~ ~ Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project s. Stage I ~ List of Turned-over Tubewells T3 Table-3 j'4 2054/6/6 (Sept. 22, 1997) 35 S. Tube Well No. And V.D.C. Ward Nwnberof Command Canal Hand-ovcr Remarks 36 N. Name No. Beneficiaries AreaHa. lined Date 37 Year 3$ 1 Will Karahiya Karahiya 7Kha 128 96 2049/50 2052 Seawan 39 2 WIl3 W. PahlUli Anandabal1 90a 145 113 2049/50 " " 40 3 W/63 Jamuhani Oangoliya 5 Ka 181 130 2049/50 " " ~ 4 W/66 Thatharihawa Oangoliya 9Ka 100 110 2049/50 Regd. " " 42 5 W/48 Ramgunj Dayanagar 5 Nga 200 129 2049/50 Regd. " " 43 6 W/9 Muriyari Oangoliya 1 Ka 110 100 2050/51 " " 44 7 W/12 Semara Karahiya 5 140 144 2050/51 " " 4S 8 W/4 E. Sakhuwani Madhwaliya 1 Ka 120 106 2050/51 " " 46 9 WIl7 Khairiya Tikuligadh 1 Ka 114 120 2050/51 " " 47 10 W/20 Tikuligadh Tikuiigadh 7Kha 123 135 2050/51 " " 48 II W/24 S. Pharsatikar S. Pharasatikar I Ka 160 140 2050/51 Regd. " " 49 12 Wi31 Puraini Manpakadi 7Ka 113 128 2050/51 Regd. " " 50 I3 W/51 Dayanagar Dayanagar 5Nga 159 104 2050/51 " " 51 14 W/55 Chapiya Dayanagar 1 Nga 137 126 2050/51 " " 52 15 WIt Pharsatikar S. Pharsatikar I Ka 164 108 2051152 2053 Srawan Regd. 53 16 W/14 Bankati Tikuligadh 2Kha 140 120 2051152 " " 54 17 WIl5 E. Pahul1i Anandban 8Kha 150 113 2051152 " " 55 18 WIl9 E. Semari Tikuligadh 7Kha 125 120 2051152 " " 56 19 W/21 Dubauliya Motipur 8Ka 98 98 2051152 Regd. " " S7 20 W/22 ·Betalu S. Pharsatikar 3Kha 90 98 2051/52 Regd. " " 21 W/23 Dogna s. Pharsatikar 2Ka 100 102 2051152 Regd. " " S8 22 W/40 Belahiya Manpakadi 3Ka 108 100 2051152 Regd. ro- " " P,I, 23 W/26 W. Kewalpur S. Pharsatikar 5Ka 108 120 2051152 Regd. " " ~ 24 W/30 N. GurauJiya Manpakadi 1 Ka 95 92 2051/52 Regd. " " 25 W/39 Sisawa Manpakadi 40ha 145 153 2051/52 Regd. " " 60 26 W/44 W. Sakhuwani S. Pharsatikar 30ha 215 110 2051/52 Regd. " " 27 W/47 Rehara Anluwa 2Kha 119 124 2051152 Rcgd. w. Khunpon " " - 28 W/49 Dayallugar 70ha 89 118 2051152 Regd. " " 29 W/50 E. Khungaon Mallpakadi 2 Kha 118 110 2051/52 Regd. " " 30 WI56 ~adanglUlj Anmwa 1 Ka 152 120 2051/52 " " Co 31 W/61 Baidauli Amuwa 20a 160 100 2051/52 " " 32 W/07 Karaujiya Tikuligadh 5Ka 150 133 2052/53 Seawall 2054 Regd. ;:. ~ I.> t02 III'" 11 -----,- ,--.-.~---.-~.--~~-- ---'-'- .--.. -s: Tube Well No. And V. D. C. Ward Number of Command Cunal I land-over Remarks :') N. Name No. Beneficiaries Area I1a. lined Dale (, Year S. Supauli Tikuligadh 8Ka 114 120 2052/53 Regd. 33 W/18 " " ;". W/25 Mohangunj S. Pharsatikar 2 Ka 171 lt4 2052/53 Rcgd. 34 " " W/33 Manpakadi Manpakadi 2 Ka 109 132 2052/53 Rcgd. 3S " " 1 W/35 W. Sitatpat Mallpakadi 5 Ka 129 120 2052/53 Regd. RemarkS 36 " " -. W/27 E. Kewalpur S. Pharsatikar I Ka 117 108 2052/53 Regd. 37 " " W/32 Rajhar Manpakadi 1 Ka 132 114 2052/53 38 " " W/34 S.Gurauliya Manpakadi 5Ka 92 84 2052/53 39 " " W/36 E. Sitalpat S. Pharsatikar 4Ka 102 124 2052/53 40 " " W/37 Kuwari Manpakadi I Ka 122 136 2052/53 tt 41 " " Regd. W/53 Balmta Manpakadi 5 Ka 124 128 2052/53 Read. 42 " " Regd. W/38 Madhubani Manpakadi 9Ka 96 118 2052/53 Regd. 43 " " W/41 Bhaglapur Manpakadi 8Ka 70 132 2052/53 Regd. 44 " " W/45 Kanari Amuwa 6Ka 157 132 2052/53 45 " " W/46 Sarjugunj Amuwa 2 Ka 134 110 2052/53 46 " " 47 W/59 S. Manpakadi 9Ka 72 126 2052/53 Rcgd. Madangunj " " 48 W/62 Bardahawa Amuwa 9Ka 255 170 2052/53 Rcgd. Regd. " " 49 W/16 N. Supauli Tiku1igadh 8Ka 155 120 2052/53 Rcgd. Regd. " " W/28 Bibuli Madhauliya 8Ka 155 120 2052/53 SO " " • 51 W/42 Kotihawa Tikuligadh 9Ka 140 126 2052/53 " " 52 W/57 Jura Madhauliya 7K 150 1I8 2052/53 Regd.. " " ~, 53 W/67 Barauliya Gangoliya 3Kh 114 128 2052/53 Regd. " " S4 W/3 Bhalwari Karahiya 3Kh 110 116 2052/53 Rcgd. " " 55 W129 Pakadihawa Gangoliya 3Kh 108 116 2052/53 Rcgd. " " 56 W/64 Byoratola Makrahar 3Kh 75 151 2052/53 Regd. " " 51 W/65 Chamkipur Madhauliya 8Ka 155 144 2052/53 Regd. Regd. " " (R) Regd. sa W/68 Gangoliya Gangoliya 4 Ka 90 80 2052/53 Regd. " " ~iaUy Hat,dedm'er Regd. 59 W/5 Parsawa) 2053/54 To be fully Rcgd. Regd. handed over Regd. &0 W/58 BharauJiya 2053/54 by Srawan Regd. 2055 Rcgd. Regd. Regd . • Reg~_ . " 103 < I ... Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project Stage I Year-wise Cropping lntensity Table 4.1 ·CCA: 7200 ba. = 100% (60DTWs) Crops Pre- SAR [Act~ll1"ilicyt:lIl1;lIl:;. % ofCCA " With the PiuJ<;",t" Cror Project Target 87 - 88 88 - 89 89 - 90 90 - 91 91 - 92 92 - 93 93 - 94 94 - 95 95 -~ IKHARIF (l\ IJ - Paddy 91.00 6.67 2.50 2.00 2.60 1.60 0.50 (Local) Paddy 3.00 89.00 95.20 95.40 94.50 95.90 95.60 (HYV) Sugarcane 2.00 1.33 (PeretUlial) Pulses 2.00 0.70 1.00 0.30 1.20 ::::;, tl :;:::: 0.70 1.40 Maize 0.10 0.10 O. to:::;::;;:::;:!:, ":;:: :::::: Vegetables 1.30 0.50 "I Pri:: 0,60 0.70 ,:::::: ":::::':;;' Groundnut 0.30 98.80 98.50 IRABl lninl !I"J }:;: :I~k ;: I::" :.:;:::. Wheat 15.00 73.00 29.90 46.80 42.10 37.50:;,:1 'I) I;;::, ',' 48.00 43.20 :,;:: i::,: 1::;:: " Maize 3.00 0.60 2.80 1.80 1.90:;;; ;~ I';::; : ' ~! ' 0.20 2.30 4~.1 ~.~ Oilseeds 2.00 4.00 17.20 11.00 19.70 19.60 a I:::;:::: ~(, 17.00 17.00 7.1 ~'A~A Pulses 3.00 6.00 10.50 11.90 14.30 15.60::: n~i, ii 'i;.::: :: ,•• ~~ , 16.30 17.50 17.l ~:! Potatoes 3.00 2.80 3.00 3.40 4.50 :"0::::;:: ~ . 4.60 6.10 Vegetables 5.50 6.00 5.80 5.10 ~:::~~ir .:, *;~ 4.90 6.50 6LJ" ~egetal Sugarcane 0.90 0.40 0.20 0.20 L.t.~~iVI)) i;I:'~~. 1.10..-- (Perennial):;,: :": ::,::,:. ' , ~ ~=:na1 _ 1.00 ' 9.20 5.60 2.80 :::/,:: It (:i: I';~;' : or:::.. 0.70 0.50 o.~ Icrops : I •. ~iSU~bto~tal~~20.. I001-8~9.00r6~8.40p91.!.:!.IT-0~92.. '90r8~7.. 2~0:::::~,~.:"tfi;mf:::'::''~r9~1:.7TO~94·~ •. 2(Tf ••~~'!.~ D..I~_~ ~ H()T <:'IH. <:'1 IN lUI;)!;:! IPa~dy 0.60 0.80 0.30 0.10 :;::::::~.'::::::;~~ i~ 0.10 0.20 Malze 1.80 2.80 4.60 2.50 Eo::: :~;:}n;::;M?:Y 3.30 5.60 Pulses 0.30 0.10 0.40 0.10 r;:::::::t:tr'rl};;;;(:::;::;~[!HniirO~ 1.00 2.50 (KidlleY~:::,:::::l!::; ,',;:,':!:.: beans),:::,;,;,::::;::: :::::: '::::':::::::: Vegetables 1.40 1.10 3.00 1.70:}:::';U rl';I:;:,~;! 2.80 2.80 i'~ sllnnower::>::i::~f::::::,~::i:::, 0.70 1.... c:. Others 0.10 0.20 0.10 0.50 ~. 1.30 1.30 2~ '" ISub total O.04.20 -~tOo 8.40 4.90 /:::, ~!iu.(:::;::::(i~ll 8.50 13.10 i1.:1l IGrand total 118.00 186.00 171.10 194.60 200.00 190.40 ia6;80tOO!133tl J99.00 205.80 2o~ If Note: Out of64 DTW systems built (7,680 ha.), 4 DTWs have been abandoned due to technical reasons causing reduction in command area by 480 ha. 104 1l Bhairahalva Lunlbini Groundwater ))roject ,,~ Stage I Year-wise Yields of Major CrollS :.., Table 4.2 . 7200 ha. = 100% 1997 Pre- SAR Project Target 87·88 88· -94 94-95 9S·96 1.10 2.70 3.00 2.60 2.70 2.60 2.40 2.00 2.80 1.80 3.50 4.60 4.40 4.50 3.50 4.50 4.30 4.50 25.00 50.00 iO 0.50 1.30 1.20 1.20 0.70 1.20 1.20 1.60 3.70 3.00 3.20 3.30 3.70 /0 ")0 22.20 17.60 24.00 21.40 22.90 1.60 1.90 2.00 1.90 0.80 3.00 2.90 2.60 2.70 2.80 3.20 3.30 3.03 2.00 3.70 3.80 4.00 3.20 3.70 3.50 2.89 20 30 0.40 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.80 0.70 ?O.4() 0.70 0.80 0.67 00 .. : ,::,;; ~ , .,", . 0.50 0.80 1.10 1.20 1.10 : ().9() 1.40 1.70 0.83 50 .. ;:;'.' :: .. 10 10.00 18.00 27.00 25.00 19.70 "22[16 24.10 24.20 22.00 50 21.00 20.00 22.10 23.30 24.50 19.76 10 50 4.00 2.90 2.80 2.80 3.00 3.50 3.80 3.20 3.30 3.00 2.89 1.00 1.30 1.10 0.80 1.10 1.33 .20 20.50 27.00 18.90 20.80 21.00 20.73 .60 .50 1.50 1.43 105 ~ Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundlvater Project Stage I to... Cronning IntensitY2 Yield and Production Table 4.3 ('0 Command Area: 7,200 Ha. F. Y. 1995/96 (2052/53) Crops Cropped Area (%) Yield (MTll-la.) Production (MT) T Before Appraisal With Before Appraisal With Before Appraisal Willi ~ Project Target Project Project Target Project Project Target Project 4 Monsoon Crolls 2 Local Paddy 91 6.67 0.80 1.10 2.70 2.80 7688 1383 161 ~ lIYVPaddy 3 89.00 94.30 1.80 3.S0 4.S0 41S 23923 30SS3 4 Sugarcane (Perennial) 2 1.33 1.30 2S.00 SO.OO 73.00 3840 S107 6833 5 (Maize) - 0.10 - 3.70 - 21 ioo-- Pulses 2 1.80 0.50 1.60 77 207 - - - Sour Vegetables - - 0.40 - - 22.90 - - 660 Groundnuts - - 0.40 - - 1.90 - - SS Others - - 0.20 - - - -- · Sub total 98 97 99.3 28.4 56.2 110.4 12020 30413 38496 Winter Crolls " W11eat 15 73.00 44.40 0.80 3.00 3.03 922 16819 9686 c. Maize - 3.00 0.20 - 2.00 2.89 - 461 42 Oil seeds 2 4.00 17.10 0.40 0.70 0.67 61 215 82S Pulses 3 6.00 17.30 0.50 0.80 0.83 115 369 1034 Potato - 3.00 6.10 - 10.00 22.00 - 2304 9662 Vegetables - - 6.80 - - 19.76 - - 9675 Others -- 0.90 - - - - - · Sub total 20 89 92.80 1098 20168 30924 Hot Season Crol!s i Paddy ------· Maize - - 6.40 - - 2.89 - - 1332 Pulses - - 2.80 - - 1.33 - - 268 Vegetables - - 4.60 - - 20.73 - - 6866 Yea Sunflower (Oil seeds) - - 1.40 - - 1.43 - - 144 Others - 2.00 - <.> - - - - - Yea; Sub total 0 0 17.2 0 0 8610 Grand total 118 186 209.3 13118 50581 780JO ~ 111e 'Before Project' & 'Appraisal' target have been taken from Staff Appraisal Report for Stage 1 of - DLGWP and the 'With Project' figures are from Agriculture Division of the Project. 106 '...... " -,,f. . Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project Stage I • WUG's Income Expenditure and Balance .n Table-5 S. N. Fiscal Year Income Rs. Expenditure Rs. Balance Rs. Balance, % of Income 1992/93 (2049150) 1,772,000 1,377,000 395,000 22 2 1993/94 1,867,000 1,376,000 514,000 28 3 1994/95 2,483,000 1,736,000 723,000 29 4 1995/96 2,421,000 1,218,000 1,203,000 50 5 1996/97 3,154,800 1,811,300 1,343,500 43 Source: Experience with Implementation ofFanller's participation concept, Taltal Consulting Engineers Ltd, BLGWP, April 1994. Flow Diagram of Turnover Process for Operating Stage - I Tubewells Year 1 Year 2 PROJECT + WUG WUG + PROJECT WUG WUG pays electricity bills; Training for Water Operation, Maintenance Canal Rehabilitation with Management, record and Management, total farmers participation; keeping and electro responsibili ty operator training mechanical maintenance. COMMISSIONING TURNOVER Year 1. a. Subsidy on Demand Charge is discontinued. b. Project's Operator is pulled out. Year 2. a. Project stops paying for maintenance cost. 107 BLGW P A v era g e P u m pin g H 0 u .. s Reg.' e s s ion o • Fiscal V..-ar • pakadi Area Hrs. -e-Bhalwari Area Hrs • 108 ! "j .·1. 1I U L (; \V p W ate r C h a r g e V s. POW e." Cos t ::; 5,000,000 i.... 4,500,000 .'t:: 4,000,000 .~ 3,500,000 i ,-.,. 3,000,000 - f 2,500,000 ~ ~ 2,000,000 ..c:" 1,500,000 U... 1,000,000 a 500,000 ~" 0 q, ~~ ~f? &,CC ~% " ,,~ Fiscal Year ec~ivable Weier Charge NR., ~ TOlal Collected NRs, • lectricity Bill paid by Project NR. 109 1.. BLGWP WUG's Income Vs. Expenditure 3SOOXXl f :::::.: .s mxro :.:::: .:.:::. rEA ~.::~:.. ':':;;j (. :.g 25OOXX) ::::. :::: l 'I.'; "'•. .:.~ .t; .: l t! mxxx> :;::.: i . Ii' loll Z lSOOXXl . ,~ o , \; lOOXXXl :1:1. .~~ J". ~ gSOOXXl ;';" ;::t.:;: ;::. y :::;:: I' ....= 0 i, (\.~q, ~q,o, ~flr;::, n.r;S.o,'- fir; rVo,'" ~o,t).. f!f; fJb ~q, ~~ ~~ ~-, ~o,rv ~o, ~o, ~o,tX ~o,'") i ! I Fiscal Year I--+- Incorre NRs. -:-m- Expendit~e NRs. I llO 0 B L G W P Croping Intensity -I'} Target V s. A thievem ent DO :::::: :;:;:: :;:::: ::::': :::;:; :::;:':: ;;:;:;;::::; ,;:(:::: :,:::: ::,::::;:::::;:;:: lit:-: :::i: :::::: :::::: ::::::: :;:; ::::;: ,::::::::. ::::;:: ,:::, ::::::: 100 {: *'" :::::': ::j:: it .,-:1m ::: "I I ::::::: :::::::::i: ;::; ?: :::,:" ::::):: ~ 150 ::::;:: ;:;:;: j ;;:; :::;::;:f ;::; :::;: :r ::: • .5 :,:::; :::::! ~:; ;:::; t ~ :;::::. ::: "!. 100 ~ ,:3:, ;:;::: I;J :;:;:::: '0 :::3j:;:::; ;;,:::: :::::: :;:;:; ;::::;:: ~:::: :;:;:; ::::;::: ))):[)1::)) ;:::j :::;:',::;:::;3 ~::: II ::::::::;: :::,,: ::,::, :::::::: Flacalyear ... III T, BLGWP Crop Production (F. Y. 1995/96) 90000 BT'TT7:T:T"7"'7'J""'T"007'7TI?J'TT007"'7"7F77'JmmT171 80000 -I;;,::';::::::;::;'::;:;:;:;:;;::;:;'::':;:;:;:::::;:;:;':':: -qJ a 70000 -F:;;::;,:;';:;:::;:;:;;::::,:;;;:;:;:;:;:;:::;:;:::::::,:::::;:::;:::::::;::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1:1 ~ 60000 ~:~m:NN~8m;~~:M\'~%;0~@~~;:}~~8:~:~,~;i;:::::i~~nikCi~;;i:;::;:;%::::,inv; .~ 50000 _I:;:::::::::::::::::;:::::::::::::::::;:::;:::;:;:::;:;:::;::::::::::;:::::;:::::;:::;:: )1 '; 40000 -E;:;i:;:=:::::;;:::;::::::;;;::;:;::;:::;;::;:;:;:::;::;;::::;:::::;;::::;::;:;::::::;:;:;:::::::;;:::":;;:;:;::;';':::: • Q .~ 3 0000 -1'::::;;::::,:;::::;:;;;;;;;':::::;,;~:}::::;:::::i:;::::;:;:;:;:;::::;:;:;;;::::,::}::;::::};;;,;;;:{;::::{ :s -,::I f 20000 ~ Pre Project SAR Target Achievement 112 M&E Systems for Evaluating l\ianagenlent Transfer) .. EVALUATING PROCESS AND PERFORMANCE Management transfer has been widely accepted as a means of improving irrigated agricultural perfomlance in Nepal. The Department of Irrigation through various progranls and projects is fully engaged in carrying out this policy of managcment transfcr. It is expected that the end results wil1 be increased agricultural productivity and a decrease in government expenditures on operation and maintenance. At this point in time, much time and effort are needed to complete management transfer. Yet there is sufficient experience to date, which can be reviewed. Two basic questions • anse: 1. Is management transfer the right thing to do? 2. Are we doing management transfer right? The first question relates to the policy of managemeot transfer. Is the policy of transferring management really leading to desired benefits? If the expected and desired impacts are realized, then no changes in policy directions are required. The second question relates to the process of management transfer. In Nepal, the management transfer process is young, and several approaches exist. Which of these leads to successful management transfer? Relating the various processes to impacts should help us to better understand which process leads to success. How are the answers to these questions obtained? Present data collection and monitoring activities do exist. Within the HMGIN there are several monitoring systems. The question • posed here is: Do existing M&E systems provide information to answer the above questions? 1 This paper is based on a research study conducted earlier by Mr. I. Ncup;wc, lIMI Consultant. Nepal 113 IVIONITORING AND EVALUATION RES.. When making an intervention such as management in irrigation, a change of events is alii visualized. A greatly simplified example follows: Resources are provided for crfon rehabilitation and modernization. Simultaneously, water users are organized and trained {are!1 to manage irrigation. Local and responsive local management combined with appropriate infrastructure is to result in better water delivery to farmers. Improved water delivery induces more investment in other agricultural inputs leading to increased crop production, or increased value of proouction from higher value crops. This in turn leads to increased financial benefits to farmers. Farmers invest in local management to maintain the irrigation system in order to maintain increased returns. From a farnler point of view, more income is realized. From a national perspective, Nepal receives better returns to its 2. land and water resources, and scarce resources can be diverted from operation and maintenance to other sectors. 3. The inputs into the process are financial resources, the rehabilitated canals, the new areas 4. opcn to irrigation, the training to water users. TIle outcomes and impacts are increase 5. management capacity, better water delivery, better maintenance, non-deterioration of infrastructure, increased productivity and value of production, and a decrease in government expenditures on irrigation management. All nfthese inputs, outcomes, and impacts could potentially be monitored. If results in the chain are not happening as foreseen, adjustments could be made. At this stage in 6. management transfer, we are experimenting. We hypothesize that a certain combination of inputs, training, developing a certain type of WUA, turning over after rehabilitation, and other interventions will lead to the impacts desired. Until we complete the research, and relate these processes to impact, the research is not complete, and reconunendations to repeat at other systems cannot be made on firm ground. Thus, the importance of M&E is combined with other studies during implementation. Re M&E systems could be present at several levels. In an irrigation system, details of Oc implementation could be monitored and evaluated. At district, regional, and central levels, AI key information could be gathered and evaluated, with less detail but of more irrigation by systems at each higher level. At the central government level, such as the planning commission, certain key implementation variables could be monitored to allow for better SI~ inl decisions. A pyramid of infonnation can be envisaged, with more details kept at the field .. Icvel, and less detailed infonnation, but infornlation from more systems-, kept at higher levels. Il4 "! RESENT M&E SYSTEMS Vbat kinds of M&E systems exist in Nepal that are relevant for evaluating process and ...rfonnance of management transfer? A joint IIMIIRTDB study was carried out in ~~rch and April of 1997 and results are sununarized in the table below. Key Information Monitored by Different Agencies/Projects .. Indicators NPC MOA DOl ADBINI BLGWP MLIP SISpt M&E MIS IMTP t. Climate and River ./ ./ Discharge 2. O&MBudget ./ ./ ./ ./ Monitoring 3. Developed Irrigation ./ ./ ./ • ./ ./ ./ ./ Area 4. Canal Discharge • ./ ./ ./ Monitorit~ s. Institutional Infonnation - WUA's status ./ ./ ./ ./ - WUA's ./ ./ ./ • membership - Water cess ./ ./ ./ ./ ., collection 6. Agriculture Performance , - Cropped area & * ./ ./ ./ intensity - Crop yields • ./ ./ ./ - Crop returns • ./ ./ ./ (income) Regularly Monitored infonnation. Occasionally monitored but often not available. ADBIN infonnation all limited to no. of systems (tube wells + surface irrigation) developed each year by district. TIley also include partial information on irrigated area. SISP virtually has no performance monitoring system at the center. Possibly there might be some ... infomlatioll at the district and regional offices. . .. ~s Unit of DOl was designed and set up to work fully for maintaining all the . tion required for the management, including regular. monitoring of system ~nnance. Unfortunately, its activities are limited just in keeping fragmentary records lITigation projects, hence, not serving the purpose of performance monitoring. 115 Since last year, IMTP has started monitoring of irrigation projects. The monitoring system uses limited crucial indicators covering mainly the. operational and performance parts. The summary table indicates that the data collected and used by IMTP for monitoring are quite adequate and reliable. But there is still need to keep on refining the l' data collection, handling. and management methods for the M&E system to become 7 sustainable and efficient. What about quality of d~ta? Considering the spectrum of monitoring information from monetary inputs to impacts, it is generally easier to measure inputs. It is easier to track investments in irrigation development, than net benefits to farmers. In general, the quality of infonnation follows the same trend with better quality data on irrigation investments, o and decreasing quality of infomlation on production related data. Where is the best infomlation? The best infonnation is kept at the project level. Particular projects with active donor involvement keep more complete records and have better quality data. Bhairahawa Lumbini Groundwater Project, SUl1sari Morang, and Marchwar Lift have a wealth of information. Even at Kankai, which is entirely DOl funded, data is available, although not as complete or as well organized as in the donor supported projects. At higher levels, within 5MB or MISU, both quality and quantity of infonllation are insufficient, and campaigns to collect infonnation are sporadic. • Where are the strengths? The strength to build on is the fact that there is much data being I, collected. These are available at project sites, and through many specialized commissioned studies. Much data exists. There is also a desire to get this information at various levels, and recognition of weaknesses by DOl ofl!cials. Where are the gaps? At least three main gaps can be identified. The first is the lack of data related to outputs. The second is a poor information flow from field to higher levels, making comparative analysis for policy decisions difficult. The third is a total lack of information on how the water resource is used due to unavailability of information on water discharge. Oulput Data. Let us focus here on productivity, area served, cropping intensity and overall production. At the Project level, time series data can readily be obtained in a few cases. While the M&E section of 5MB has made occasional efforts, several gaps exist both in time series and from several irrigation systems. For the National Planning Conmlission, area brought under irrigation is a key focus. But, the actual area irrigated season by season, or production does not fonn a main part of its monitoring system. Given this status, it is difficult to answer the first question mentioned in the begllUling. In/ormation Flow. For MISU and the 5MB's M&E section to receive infonnation, they have to actively pursue for the infonnation, rather than to rely on a regular flow of 116 information from the fidd. This makes it extremely difficult to maintain a time s~ries of illfonnation. Evidcntly there is 110 great motivation for sending the data, nor can serious actions be taken if the data is not provided. Water Flow Information. Where watcr is plentiful, information on water flows may not be critical. But, especially for the dry season, watcr is in short supply to meet demands. Without water discharge information, effectiveness of water distribution of water cannot be established, a water balance cannot be generated to know how water rcsourccs arc .. being used, and finally, productivity of water camlOt be determined . Can existing M&E Systems be used to evaluate process and impact? The answer at present is clearly no. Adequate information provided by M&E systems is not readily available. Certainly, M&E systems could be upgraded to help provide the answers. How to Proceed To strengthen present M&E systems, some recommendations can be made: A demand for output and impact information needs to come from key decision-makers. When there is little demand for this type of information, there is little motivation to maintain a system to keep it. Presently, key decision makers focus on provision of inputs • and expenditures of budget. More focus is required on the retums from those inputs . • Encourage information flows from field level to central level, andfeedbackfrolJ1 central level to fields. Collection and reporting of information, as well as development and dissemination of reports from the center can become part of the regular program of the concerned units to ensure that it gets done. Assist local management organizations to develop their own M&E systems. In transferred systems, capacity for M&E through record keeping should be built lip. As part of transfer programs, users' associations should be required to track key variables through their record keeping and submit reports. This will build their capacity to monitor perfonnance of their system, and will become a part of DOl's monitoring efforts. Streamline reporting requirements. The art of M&E lies in identifying the minimum required infonnation. The usual practice is to ask for too much infonnation, creating an umlecessary burden on all involved. The approach suggested here is to start with very little information, then add more information when it becomes evident th:)..t they are required. For outputs, it is recollullended that MISU and 5MB's M&E focus on O&M budget expenditures by government and farmers, area irrigated, yields of major crops, and inflow into the irrigated area. 117 Supplement Monitoring Information wilh Special Research Studies. To answer the second question posed in this paper, it will be nccessary to develop special studies to • detemline the links betwecn process and impacts. Monitoring information should provide • clues, then research hypotheses be developed and tested to find answers. l I F . . I . I 118 ~\r-",,,,,.;~t-~ \ VV\.~'cr--' ~ \ w--o,.Jl~ ~ 63\:':' l"N~ '-d ~, Study on Rehabilitation and Management Transfer Phase I: Identification of Current Processes Krishna Chandra Prasad GOAL OF THE STUDY-SERIES The goal of the study~series on rehabilitation is to identify the rehabilitation and modernization processes that lead to successful management transfer. This initial study at phase-I is a review of stated processes of irrigation system rehabilitation that are in place in Nepal for management transfer. Further studies will document the actual field practices and evaluate the process based on the evaluation of impacts of the management transfer • process at individual systems . OBJECTIVE The main objective of this initial study was to document arrangements for rehabilitation in different irrigation systems in Nepal whcre management is transferred to farn1ers through a joint management or tumover program. SCOPE OF WORK This initial study has mainly considered processes ofrehabilitation carried out by: • Irrigation Management Transfer Project (IMTP) • DOl-funded O&M projects like Kankai Irrigation System (KIS) • Bhairahawa Lumbini Ground Water Project (BLGWP) • Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project (MLlP) • Sunsari Morang Irrigation Project (SMIP) • Handctar Irrigation System (HIS), and • Irrigation Line of Credit (ILC). 119 TI1C study has focused on the following aspects: * Needs assessment procedures * WUA and DOl's roles in planning and implementation * Arrangements for cost sharing * Contracting mechanisms, in particular to WUA * Quality control procedures BU APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY The approach and methodology of the study had the focus on stated and envisioned processes and strategies for undertaking rehabilitation works in relation to management transfer programs. Major sources of data involved: (a) Literature and secondary sources, (b) Field visits, and © Semi-structured questiOimairc. ML Overview of ProjectlProgram Fonnulation Bases Project! Envisaged Scope of Rehabilitationl Rational.: for Ground for Users' shar.:: Program Extent of Modernization Works Rehabilitation' Proje...'l ofcost Manag.::ment Modernization IProgram Transfer Werks Fonuulation Full t\lrnover in - EIlI~rg.::ncy maintenance - Restor.:: .::~uitab1~ - Irrigation About 26% . 4 sub-projects and repair and rdiabl.:: water Policy ofthe total and partial in 7 - Ess.:ntial structural supply - Agency's construct ion HvlTP sub-projects maintenance - IllIprov.:: timdy, assessll1.::nt cost plus the - Catch-up maintenanc.:: equitabl.::, and land - Sch.::me improvements reliilbl~ wat.::r - Sch.::me calibration and flow supply measuring facilities - Drainage and Hood • Service roads and fanu-to protection market roads • hnprow canal servic.:: and fann to market road networks - Environmental support Partial turnover, - As d.::manded by fanners - Improve physical - Irrigation About 12% KIS gradually status ofthe Policy ofth.:: total irrigation sdleme - Fanners' construction • Effective use of d.::mand cost plus th.: O&Mbudget land • Inc.::ntiv.:: or leventge for turnover 120 Projectl Envisaged Scope of Rehabilit'ltionl Rationale for Ground for USl!ns' share ~rogram EKtentof Modemization Works Rehahilitalionl Project or cost Management Modl!mizalion IProgram Transfer Works Fonnulation Full tumover of - Distribution network - Improve clTiciency - Irrigation Aboul SO/o all the improvement indusi ve of and serviceability Policy oftolal developed tube lining and repair ofUPVC - Incenti ve or - Fanlll!rs' constmction BLGWP wells including pipes leverage for demand cost related the pump house - Repair ofwater controll ing tumover to and regulating structures strenglhenin ., - Relocation oftunloul'l at g activities appropriate places -Upgrading ofdrainage system - Construction ofaccessory structures, e.g., foot bridge All the - Upgrading ofinspection and • Correctional • Previous - Labor for irrigation service roads measures agreement on-fann MLIP infrastmcture • Drainage improvement - Improve physica I withUNCDF level works except the pump works stat liS ofthe - Irrigation -10% station • Relocation of inelTieient irrigation and Policy deducted off outlets drainage scheme - Fanners' WUO - Repair ofwater controlling - Reduce burdens of demand conlnlet and regulating stnlcturcs maintenance to alllount - Strengthening and lining of fanllers after canal sections managcment ~ • Adjustments in tertiary canal transfer alignments HIS Full turnover - Regular maintenance work... • Upgrade tJle • Experiment the -not based - Essential structural system's physical participatory on any fixed improvement works covering status suited to PJM irrigation percent a ge repair ofheadwork. canal leading to filII management -as reshaping, repair of water tumover proces.~ mutually controlling stntctures, etc. - Maximize fanner agreed, participation in bas..:d on system maintenance work type activities .. 121 -·~"';"".K"'-H·"',~r,;lil· Comparative Summary of Aplu'Oaches Adopted in Different Cases .... c- IMTP lOS BLOWP MUP HIS Seed ...... ficwiGa BySMC ...... JoiIa _Ik-dwouglJ rollcMini JoiIIl waIk.-dnup following JoiIIl waIk.-«brouP Joialwalk.... famwn'dorJ...t flInncn' do!nwId I'rioriIizMiGa ....--. Joint dec:iIioD By..-Y By agency Joial doecisioo P!.Dnc ~far~ ~.... CollI stIarinc JoiIIl dec:iIioD III8king DocidecI by" ...-=Y JoinlIy decided lImbitiouI ...... c...... Availabilily~ COIIIDria& [)eapworks Byapcy Bya..-:y ByapICY Byageocy By apnc."Y sa.dildillg M prjoiIUy prcpInId lIP AI per joiudy pRpIftd lIP ..-AI joinlIy dcaded duriac Joimly .IodIy ComnIcI Pro€. ~by IIfCD:Y' and SMC By agency Byapn:y By agency By apnc."Y JwvdIO c- WUA ~__-u.. R~""'-u_.wwdecI So works _ contracIIIId 10 WUG Rdlliwly eaia' works are R.dab\.ety casi« works ate ...... IoWUA IoWUA awvded 10 WUG ,....'Itdod 10 WUA ~ -.an ~~-1s1on BySMC ByCMC By a joint !IUpIlMIioa ~ By ~ and IccacY appoirRd By ~~ by \lrCA _Itant QuaJ~ Conuol By SMC. ProJo.:t ~or, and Bya..-:y U1dagency ~ • By ,."..:y for works 10 boo done By agency ~ QOt1IU.bant By ag 122 '"' . p- '. , ., tJ II i 'f ,t 1 , Key Differences in Adopted Approaches Activities lMTP KlS 13LGWP MLlP SMIP HIS n~c Need identification by joint walk Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes through Joint prioritization of identified works Yes Yes No No No Yes No Measures for controlling ambitious Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes • demands Design works in consultation with No No No No No No No WUA Construction scheduling in consultation Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes withWUA Contracting to WUA Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Loans or mobilization advances to WUA No No No Yes No Yes Yes Joint construction supervision Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes .. 'oint quality control Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Joint commissioning Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Similarities All the cases have a rehabilitation component Rehabilitation is done before the management transfer in all cases All of them involve the formation of local beneficiaries' organization All of them have some fonn of cost sharing arrangements Differences Cases ofBLGWP, ILC, SMIP, and also KIS have the approach of a "package program" which is based on a mutual agreement that requires the beneficiaries to do some jobs and the agency to do some. After completion of the agreed upon works, the management responsibilities are transferred over to respective ... beneficiaries . Cases of MLIP and HIS have followed a form of "experimental" approach in which some adjustments and modifications have been made in the due course of sub project implementation. 123 IMTP has adopted a "phased and conditional" approach which is f tied with some conditions and mile stones of the institutional development activities before its different categories of supports .. ~ could be extended to its sub projects. 1 .., Notably, these are the variations or differences in the approach itself. As observed during the field observations, fanners were raising many concerns about the way these programs I are or were actually implemented. Also, some conflicts were noted between the planned approach and the actual implementation. For instance, MLIP fanners were pointing out to <8 the scheme rehabilitation/modernization works that have forced them to accept the proportional water distribution in the canal network. Further, some of the turnouts were F not placed at appropriate locations and needed correctional measures. Also, quality of some construction works was not found satisfactory to the beneficiaries. Similarly, some t1 "0 fanners of BLGWP expressed their annoyance to the placement of turnouts and location of the tube wells. Fanners of other project sites too, such as IMTP, KIS, HIS, etc. have p many issues to share including matters related to quality of works, design, the construction cost, contractual processes including contracting to beneficiaries, farmers' ~ cost sharing, etc. As a result, fanners in some sub projects are found reluctant to eagerly take over the irrigation management responsibilities, specially the O&M. However, the 1 agency people take this situation as the fanners' tendency to hang onto the government P somehow. So, in the course of actual implementation of such programs at the field level, v a one could expect further deviations from the planned ones. r, ..,. a Further studies are. suggested to be undertaken focusing on the actual implementation f process of such programs and the results thereof. In order to tmderstand the process of , scheme rehabilitation/modernization in relation to management transfer in a better way, r the following hypotheses are suggested to be tested during subsequent studies related to actual implementation process of the management transfer programs in the field and j lastly. the impacts on performance of the turned over, partially or fully, irrigation schemes. 1 t Hypothesis I: The method of phasing and conditioning the j rehabilitation/modernization support to some development mile r stones of local irrigation organization facilitates in building up 1 the management capability of the organization I., ..J Hypothesis II: Contracting the construction works to beneficiaries makes the r local irrigation organization more effective ,} I l , Hypothesis III: An effective local irrigation organization aids the process of , ( management transfer 124 Hypothesis IV: Beneficiaries' participation in design considerations Jeads to a , successful management transfer Hypothesis V: Quality of construction works to beneficiaries' satisfaction leads 1 to a successful management transfer Hypothesis VI: Management transfer to an effective beneficiaries' organization results in better performance of the partially or fully turned over irrigation schemes First three hypotheses are recommended to be tested during the second phase of the study . focusing on the actual implementation process of the management transfer programs in the field whereas. the remaining three hypotheses should be tested during the third phase of the study that focuses on the perfornlance assessment of management transfer programs. Summary The Department of Irrigation in Nepal is actively engaged in carrying out the government policy of joint management and turnover both through its own resources and with • assistance of donor funding. These programs of management transfer and turnover are relatively new. The policy emphasizing such directions was enforced just about five years ago, in 1992. Accordingly. there has been a variation in process within the broad framework of management transfer. Also, such programs in Nepal typically involve varying degrees of rehabilitation or modernization. There are many reasons to perform rehabilitation or modernization in these systems, but the major reason is to bring the irrigation system to a condition that facilitates its management by Water Users' Associations. 111e arrangements for rehabilitation and the way in which rehabilitation is done are thought to be major faCtors of the success or failure of the management transfer process. At the same time, not many studies have made in·depth investigation into scheme rehabilitation/modernization efforts aimed at partial or full management transfer in Nepal's context. Thus, with the view to have a better understanding of the rehabilitation process in relation to management transfer. this study-series has focused on Management Transfer Processes and Perfornlance. The ultimate goal of this study series is to identify rehabilitation and modernization processes that lead to successful management ~ransfer. In that context. this initial study at phase-I reviews the stated processes of irrigation system rehabilitation that are in place in Nepal for management transfer and it documents arrangements for rehabilitation therein. Further studies would document the actual field practices and evaluate the process based on the evaluation of impacts of the management transfer process at individual systems. 125 1 Both surface and ground water irrigation schemes have bccn covered by this study and the findings show that the Department of Irrigation has incorporated the approach of participatory irrigation development and management in almost all of its projects/programs that also emphasize the transfer of irrigation management responsibilities over to organized beneficiary farmers, partially or fully. Accordingly, the idea of management transfer in government-managed irrigation schemes has also been i given due consideration while undertaking various irrigation development and management tasks in various irrigation schemes that include scheme strengthening works, development of beneficiaries organizations, joint management activities in the areas of water management, canal operation and maintenance, etc. In all such activities, farnlers are increasingly encouraged to take a bigger role. The ·notion also prevails while extending various kinds of supports to the farmer-managed or farnler-initiated irrigation • schemes and fanners are encouraged to take active roles in overall irrigation development, and upon development, in operation and maintenance of the irrigation scheme. According to the Irrigation Policy, irrigation schemes smaller than 500 ha in hills and 2,000 ha in Terai are to be fully turned over to organized beneficiaries. However, a detailed plan and schedule for materializing the above goa) are yet to be worked out. TIle policy also encourages gradual management transfer in larger schemes. In larger schemes, sllch efforts of gradual management transfer are generally undertaken in the fon11 of participatory joint management activities, specially in operation and maintenance activities of the irrigation scheme, by which the agency and the beneficiary farnlers share irrigation management responsibilities. With the experience, beneficiary farnlers are encouraged to assume greater responsibility in irrigation management tasks. Further, all projects/programs have been guided by the policy to implement scheme strengthening efforts - in form of rehabilitation/modernization works - with farmer participation at each stage of pla1Uling, implementation, etc. However, the degree of envisaged farmer participation varies from case to case. Similarly, roles and responsibilities of beneficiary farmers and the agency, while undertaking scheme rehabilitation/modernization activities, also differ. Nevertheless, the aim of involving beneficiary fanners at all stages of work is invariably addressed in all these projects/progranls. In majority of cases, some external donors support programs related to schemes' strengthening works and management transfer. The Kankai irrigation scheme has been the first to take initiative on such efforts with its limited budget. 1110ugh the provided budget in Kankai is generally meant for undertaking regular operation and maintenance of the irrigation scheme, it has made use of the available budget to get some management transfer objectives fulfilled as well. Scope of works generally taken up in the form of rehabilitation/modernization works covers from repair of headwork and flood damages to development of water courses, from 126 , • c ,. . construction of new water controlling and ll.:gulating structures to construction of farm to-market and canal service roads. Basically, no uniform criteria exist that could provide a tool for ascertaining various types of \-\'orks under different categories of scheme strengthening works . .fl The agency's supports in schemes' strengthening works or in some form of rehabilitation/modernization component including conumUld area development activities have often been used as an incentive for beneficiaries to motivate them toward assuming ... greater management responsibilities. Nevertheless, such works also have objectives of improving effectiveness and serviceability of irrigation and drainage schemes as well. Also, farmers' involvement in the management tasks is also thought to be important in improving the perfornlance of lfngation schemes. In few cases, the rehabilitation/modernization works have been perceived as a measure for reduciug the cost of operation and maintenance activities to beneficiary farmers, resulting from improved physical status of the irrigation and drainage infrastructure, after the management transfer. Such supports are generally driven by farnlers' demand and in some cases by the agency' own assessment. Cost sharing arrangements also vary from case to case. Nevertheless, all cases abide by the requirements stipulated in the Irrigation Policy, The policy has fixed the "minimum" cost sharing but it does not elaborate on the "maximum." All the cases meet the criteria of "minimum" cost sharing but there are variations in upper limits. For instance, the Irrigation Management Transfer Project requires about 26% from farmers as their part of cost sharing in the scheme strengthening works whereas the Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project is seeking only 10%, the "minimum" stipulated in the policy. Majorities of cases have adopted a joint walk-through approach while identifying and prioritizing the rehabilitation/modernization needs. However, the notion of prioritization has not been considered in the cases that have a fonn of a package program. General measures adopted for checking farnlers' unnecessary or ambitious demands for . rehabilitation/modernization works in their irrigation schemes, are: the cost sharing requirement, conditional strings for the different categories of works, and the process of joint decision making. The conditional strings, in case of Irrigation Management Transfer Project, require certain level of demonstrated capability of the beneficiaries before other forms (such as construction of farnl-to-market roads) of supports could be extended by .. the project . ... All the necessary design works, in all the cases, arc undertaken by the agency whereas schedules for carrying out rehabilitation activities are prepared through joint discussions. Sometimes, such schedules are incorporated in the mutually prepared and agreed upon implementation plan (Action Plan) itself. 127 l ! Contractual fomlalities for construction works relatcd to idcntificd and agreed UPOIl scheme strengthening works are processed by the agcncy. Howcvcr, in fcw cases, a joint committee is also involved in the process. All the works agrced to be done from the I agcncy side are awarded to the professional contractor. However, in cases of Irrigation '" Management Transfer Project, Irrigation Line of Credit Program, Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project, some relatively easier works involving mainly earth works are contracted to the beneficiaries. In Bhairahawa Lumbini Ground Water Project and Sunsari Morang Irrigation Project, no construction contracts are given to beneficiarics' groups. .. Some form of a joint supervisIon committee generally' carries out supervision of construction works. However, quality of work is controlled by different ways in different U· cases. For instance, Sunsari Morang Irrigation Project does the job solely by itself whereas, Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project gets this job done through hired consultants. The KIS also does the work of quality control through its technicians. In other cases, quality of construction works is controlled by joint efforts of the agency and beneficiary fanners. Pa)TIlents for completed construction works, to be done from agcl1cy'sside, are all made by the agency. However, in few cases, it requires the recommendation of the joint conmlittee. ... Conunissioning of all the completed works, in general, are done jointly. Usually, the I ., envisaged management transfer takes place during a mutually agreed transitory period after conullissioning of the rehabilitation project/program. In sum, there are some variations or differences in the approach itself. Further, in the course of actual implementation of such programs at the field level, one could expect further deviations from the planned ones. Hence, in order to have a better understanding of the rehabilitation process that leads to successful management transfer, further studies are suggested to be undertaken that focus on the actual implementation process of such programs and the results thereof. • 128 .,. 1 • Institutional Framework to Support Management Transfer Mr. I. Ncupanc and Dr. B. Ncupanel --I • INTRODUCTION Irrigation management transfer is occurring worldwide. It is now recognized that important to the long-term success of transferred irrigation systems are viable institutional arrangements for supporting management transfer. For example, a system of administering water rights or the provision of extension services may be key elements of successful transfer. Nepal is in an interesting position in that it has supported viable fanner managed irrigation systems for years. In essence, transferred systems will take a similar status as farmer managed irrigation systems. Certainly, some support services, either from government or private sectors, are available. The objective of this paper is to investigate and analyze existing governmental legislation and institutional support arrangements to facilitate effective transfer and functioning of turnover irrigation systems in the country. IRRIGATION TURNOVER IN NEPAL HMGIN pursues a policy of gradual hand over of agency managed irrigation systems to farmers through their organizations. In pursuant to HMGIN broad policy, management transfer efforts have been initiated at different levels by projects under DOL TIle concept of irrigation management turnover is very recent in Nepal. The strategy of joint management and turnover of irrigation projects was drafted in early 90s. The actual implementation of the concept began in 1993 by forming WUAs in five irrigation projects. 111e actual implementation involves, besides others, the rehabilitation of the • systems, deferred and regular maintenance, capability building ofWUAs and so forth . .. I The authors are currently involved in thc preparation of RTDBIlIMI research on Institutional Fralllework to Support Managcment Transfer. 129 1 WATER SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ( ( ., ~ Various ministries, departments, corporations have been created under the broad l administrative framework of HMGIN to carryout different functions related to water use ~ }: in the country. Various legislative bodies are also formed at different levels of the ;; government hierarchy, from central to local level, to regulate the functions related to ( irrigation and water supplies. Many lINGOs are also involved, as partner of HMGIN or t by themselves, in water resource development. .. <: The National. Planning Commission, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat, Ministry 1 of Water Resource, Ministry of Population and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, • l Department of Agriculture, National Agriculture Coordination Committee and different , INGOs function at national level. Department of Irrigation is the major government department involved in irrigation development of the country. TIle DOl is the central organization with five regional, seventy-five districts, and nearly two dozen project offices. At regional and local levels, Regional Irrigation and Agricultural Directorates, DWRC, \Vater Resources Utilization Inquiry Committee, District Agriculture Coordination Committee (DACC), Chief District Office, Local Development Office MunicipalityNillage Development Committee operate. .. EFFECTIVENESS OF ORGANIZATIONS Institutional Framework: It is indicative that there are various agencies created at different levels that cater to the issues of water resource utilization, however, a converging institutional framework formed on the basis of organizational consensus in irrigation development is lacking. More precisely put, policies and institutions exist, but overall framework and strategy are not properly developed. It is also indicative of the fact that the essence of irrigation in general, and irrigation management transfer in particular, is yet to be properly incorporated in the policies and followed in actions. There is a need to develop a conmlon understanding regarding the attainment of ultimate objective of improving agriculture production. The Agriculture Perspective Plan mentions key institutions and their roles to provide coordinated services to the fanners. l32 1, ,... 1 Coordination: Although there are various institutions created under the HMG/N to operate in water resource sector at different levels, there does not exist a coordination plan to provide effective supports to the fanners for the utilization of irrigation projects. The National Agriculture Coordination Conmlittee, which is supposed to coordinate planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of agricultural development activities in the country, is inactive. The coordination problems are more critical at the districts and at field levels. This is evident from the fact that the necessary inputs, teclmology, extension are hard to reach to the famlers as one package, at time, quantity and quality. The District Agriculture Coordination Committees are also defunct DWRC Operation: The role of DWRC is limited more to issuing license to the water users in the districts. There exist ample opportunity and need to make these committees active with greater responsibility to regulate the provisions given in various acts and legislation. Waler Service Needs: Future water requirements are expected to rise consistently in the all irrigation projects in general. Urbanization and industrial activities are increasingly influencing many projects, which, in tum, have complicated the demand-supply situation of water for all purposes. Given increasing competition, more attention is needed to address water service needs. Drainage Use: In general, the drainage systems are poor in many irrigation projects of Nepal. Despite the potentiality to use the drainage as supplementary source of irrigation water, particularly in the Terai, the efforts are apparently lacking. Hood Warning System: l1lere is no full-fledged government agency to look afier the problem of flood and its management Also, there is no early flood warning system developed in the projects leaving the syste;ns vulnerable to floods·. Water Quality Maintenance: No government authority has been made rcsponsible to look· after and maintain water quality in the area. The environmental action plan of 1992 and environmental guideline published in 1996 are more or less silent about the quality of water in irrigation canals. However, the national code of conduct (1963), WRA (1992), Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilization Act, 1987 and WRR (1993) have laid down a few definite guidelines for water quality maintenance. River Basin Management: Environmental Action Plan (1994) has provisioned some definite policies for integrated river basin wide managcment. The issue has remained in constant discussion among the water resources sector policy makers. But no detailed plans have been made yet about river basin management. TURNOVER STATUS: IMTP EXPERIENCE .. The IMTP Phase-l appears to be successful in tenns of project design, planning and implementation for successful transfer of irrigation managclllcnt. In two ycars of the project, most of the activities have been completed accordlllg to the established schedule leaving no major pl:l1ding and backlogs. 113 1 In all sub-projects in IMTP Phase-I, fully evolved and experienced WUAs have been set up and are involved in the management of the system. These WUAs are registered, and bear full legal authority for O&M of their respective systems remaining within the legal framework provided by the WRA, WRR and IP. A district level federation has been formed of about 3 dozen WUAs functioning in Chitwan district. The federation was formed about a month ago and is functioning satisfactorily. The two sub-projects under transfer, KHIS and PIS are members of this federation. Such federation does not exist in WGIS area. The information on ISF collection was available for the last few years, but not in a uniform pattern for all sites. Moreover, the ISF collected in all systems fall short if they are compared with the O&M requirements on per hectare basis. This strongly implies to the fact that either the ISF should be increased or the O&M cost should be decreased or further improvements are attained in both. ISF collection system is gradually being refined and evolved based on the experience and knowledge gained by the WUAs. In WGIS, the WUA collected ISF by hiring a staff in the first and second year. The achievement in ISF collection was far from satisfactory as the ISF collected was much less than assessed. From the next year, the WUA entrusted the responsibility of ISF collection to the branch conmlittees ofWUA. Besides ISF, the WUAs are soliciting other potential sources of income to meet their O&M cost. In case of WGIS, other sources include mainly, the cash support from the government for the initial three years after turnover, internal tax collection from the vehicles using canal service road, Haat bazaar (periodic market in the area) tax, fine and penalty, etc. Such taxes have already been raised in WGIS last year, which amounted to a total of Rs 134,000. \VUAs are trained to prepare their annual budget and financial statements. The major item of income constitutes the ISF collection in all sub-projects, whereas their expenses consist of wages and salaries to the hired staff, stationery, fuels, repair and maintenance, etc. There is still a need to refine the process of budget preparation and maintain updated income and expenditure statements. The WUAs audit their accounts and financial records by the local registered and licensed auditors. So far~ the accounts are small in tenllS of volume of financial dealings and transactions in all sites. Improvement in water service quality could be assessed in tenns of increased water flow ill the canals, water adequacy, increased irrigated areas and crop cultivation in different ,{.) season. However, based on the quality of the available data, it is inconclusive whether the I systems are improving on thcse characteristics or not. l j 134 1 The available documents show a growth in the irrigated area from 7,623 to 9,825 ha in the summer of 1995/96 in WGIS. The corresponding growth is recorded at 600 from 450 ha in PIS. The dry season figures on irrigated area for 1995/96 are 2200 in WGIS, 400 in KHIS and 200 hectares in PIS. The corresponding figures for 199617 arc reported at 9,800, 1,600 and 600 hectares, respectively. Evidently, the cropped areas must increase over the period because of better irrigation management. However, the cumulative data available for comparison are not in conformity to an increasing trend. In KHIS, the total cropped area increased by 15.67 % between 1992 and 1994, however, it declined by six-percentage point in 199617 (ICON: 1993, ERC: 1993, RTDBIDOI: 1995, SAPR-3 and 4, IMD: 1997). This could be due to inconsistency in data and shift in the cropping pattern by the farmers to perennial crops such as sugarcane. Similar trends have been observed in WGIS and PIS. The available data for the productivity of major crops do not provide any clear picture. It is too early and also impossible to draw any conclusion, whether or not the management transfer has any positive bearing on crop yields. It is reported that the yields have increased between 1992 to 1995, however, the available data shows a drastic decline in the wheat yield in 1996/97. As wheat is winter season crop, it can be contended that either the water service in the winter of 1996/97 was not satisfactory or the area is experiencing a major shift in cropping pattern that has made wheat an unimportant crop to the farmers. ,. Although a major indicator of system improvement is reflected from the canal discharges, it has not been compared in the report due to lack of adequate cross-sectional and temporal data. Both the government and farmers have gained valuable experience through the implementation of the project and have reached at the stage of turning over the responsibility as envisaged in the transfer policy. The government has agreed to provide certain supports to the WUAs as part of turnover obligation before the full transfer of management responsibility. The farmers are positive about the ongoing development regarding irrigation management transfer. The farmers have been fully cooperative in the operation, management and maintenance of their respective systems. Their positive attitude and inclination toward the program arc evident through an increasing participation in resource generation, ISF collection, membership in WUAs, etc. However, as the program is very new, it is not possible to assess the attitude in real sense. Also, the farmers' were not capable to note the kind of institutional support they would require after assuming the ownersliip of the systems. 135 It is, although, very early to note but the DOl seems to have no problems in internalizing the activities of IMTP into its regular working modalities. The hidden remarks, cajolery and flattery, however, are part of such a new intervention, which require the agency staff to forego some of their prerogatives. However, other line-agencies that are directly associated with the program implementation have not shown any enthusiasm toward the program. This is in irony that 001 has not made the needed efforts in coordinating and establishing linkages with other line-agencies for combined efforts in meeting the program objectives. There is also a need that the DOl's role after the system is transferred is properly studied. The turnover program is one of the major stated objectives of the government. There does not seem any major problem occurred either due to political reasons or policy measures to undennine or dissipate the efforts of 001. The recent reports have given evidences that there are some environmental problems emerging in the catchment areas of KHIS and PIS in Chitwan. TIle government has implemented a large-scale resettlement program for the people of Padampur VDC, who had earlier settled inside the Royal Chitwan National Park. As a result of this settlement (Sagun Tole) the water users of KHIS and PIS are apprehensive that this will have a long-tenn environmental impact leading to shortage of water in the irrigation systems. The study attempted to assess deviations in different aspects of turnover, including fanners' contribution share in rehabilitation, training, support Services, physical system condition, deferred maintenance, etc. In its two years of operation, IMTP has not experienced any major backlogs in institutional development and research study and strengthening ofWUAs, including training. FUTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES It must not be expected that a complete inverse relationship exists betwecn the roles of DOl and the fanners' in the transferred systems. Although DOl is prepared to provide certain level of supports to facilitate the transfer program for the first three years (in case of WGIS), it is yet to be seen to what extent these supports would be adequate. In fact, DOl's role in providing future long-tenn supports will be inevitable and its liabilities may further increase in some areas. The supports would be required basically to provide backstopping in technical, legal (water rights, riparian issues, etc.) and organizational issues and problems, in addition to key monitoring and research. The monitoring need would be critical particularly to assess the conditions of major transferred facilities, structures and their timely maintenance as well as system perfonnance. I There is an urgency to rethink on certain additional restructuring of the DOl's organization to look after the transferred systems. This restructuring must be able to f . address major issues relating to effective monitoring, major technical, legal and organizational backstopping. Representation of WUAs and their federations is warranted at the policy-making bodies within the set-up of DOl, probably within the Irrigation Management Division. , 136 i' II n: It is not that how effectively the systems (IMTP and others) are transferred, but the underlying question is how these systems perform after they have been transferred to the fanners. This paper adequately proves that turnover program is a well-conceived attempt 1 of the government, which is responded positively by both the DOl officials and farmers. I ~ Seemingly, so far the program does not have any political interference. Based on these findings, the researchers assert that the exigency of defining roles and responsibilities of national and local level institutions as well as the famlers' organization in the context of transferred irrigation systems is escalating. There is also a need to provide continuity and contextual updating of various water sector wide policies, legislation and acts to support the transferred systems. There is a need, therefore, to derive an alternate avenue that could define the new roles of fanners' organization, local and national-level institutions. The following conceptual diagram provides the possible roles and responsibilities and interrelationship among entities that are fundamental to the transferred systems to realize the ultimate objective of increased agriculture perfomlanee. The diagram also provides the needed policy, act and legislative support that should be continued and updated based on the perfonnance of the transferred systems. 137 ."'.--:....-"-..-.~\ .;>;;,'~.iI••r:'I/.#'*"",-:.\".;.,_.. -_ .'_ .•, .... ."".. , ,-,~, Expected Policy Supports and Institutional Responsibilities Policies and Natloaal Level Legislation Institutions W_RiJl/llS EnfonJem ISFCoIk!o:Iioo ~o..wt.Ii.on ..Uaioall---- willi '*lIraiNwI ..ru I'ropor M.--.,.ors:r-w e...... " TniniDt ....."...... OponIioft. Data Colloctloa fur MAE "".i..I ...... """""-..- MuJl...... ,.,ofFilw1cW ancI Adviooory """"Wa in .. """ ...... -1baio AiImiDioInIIi... Tn.." .. "",,,,,)' """'~I 138 ,'"• -:- -. ,"" to., Uilln.n_., ' 0' (\ ~.,/.. . . • • ·t~~\· it REFERENCES l. ADB (1995), Appraisal Report, Irrigation Management Transfer Project, Manila. 2. ERC (1993), Baseline Study of Nepal West Gandak Irrigation System, Kathmandu Nepal 3. F AO (1979), Water Law in Selected African Countries, Legislative Study no: 17, Rome. 4. GITEC/GEOCE, (1992) Irrigation Management Transfer Project (IMTP), HMGIN 5. HMGIN (1992) Water Resources Act, Singh Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal 6. HMGIN (1994) Water Resource Regulation, Singh Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal. 7. HMGIN (1997) Irrigation Policy, Singh Durbar, Kathmandu Nepal 8. ICON (1993) Baseline Study of Khageri, Kathmandu, Nepal 9. IIMI (1997) Water Rights Conflicts and Policy, Jagadamba Press, Kathmandu 10. IMDIDOI (1996) Semi-Annual Progress Report - I, Kathmandu, Nepal 11. IMDIDOI (1996) Semi-Annual Progress Report - II, Kathmandu, Nepal 12. IMDIDOI (1997) Semi-Annual Progress Report - III, Kathmandu, Nepal 13. IMDIDOI (1997) Semi-Annual Progress Report - IV, Kathmandu, Nepal 14. Khadka, S. S. (1997) Water use and water right in Nepal: Legal Perspective in Water Rights, Conflicts and Policy, IIMI, Jagadamba Press, Kathmandu. 15. Malla R. (1993), Problem Due to Flood on a Rehabilitation Project of Nepal Gandak Western Canal Project, DOl, HMGIN 16. NPC (1993) Environment Action Plan, National Planning Commission, Nepal .. 17. Poudel, T. (1997) Report on implementation of share system, establishment of water rate structure, adopting record keeping and monitoring practices, mobilizing local resources as per the MOA assisting to office establislunents in Nepal West Gandak Irrigation System (in Nepali), RTDBIDOI, Kathmandu 18. Poudel, B. (1997)Report on implementation of share system, establishment of water rate structure, adopting record keeping and monitoring practices, mobilizing local resources as per the MOA assisting to office establishments in Khagcri and Panchkanya Irrigation System, RTDBIDOI, Kathmandu 19. RRNA & East Consult 1988, Implementation of Cost Recovery for Govenmlent Irrigation Schemes, Draft Final Report, 1988 20. RTDB, DOl (1993) Water Augmentation Study for the Khageri Irrigation System, Kathmandu, Nepal 21. RTDBIDOI (1995) Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation Report 22. Sharma, C. K. (1972) Rivers of Nepal, Sangita Sharma, Katlunandu, Nepal 23. Shukla, A. and Sharnla K. R. (1997 Participatory Irrigation Management in Nepal: A I Monograph on Evolution. Processes and Perfonllance, RTDB, DOl, Nepal ~r 24. SMEC & CEMAT (1993) Flood Damage Assessment~ General Infrastructure Final Report, Main Text, Katlmlandu, Nepal 25. Young, G. 1., J. C. I. Dooge, J. C. Rodda (1994) Global Water Resources Issues, Cambridge University Press. 139 - Annex 1 Workshop Program Venue: Hotel Bluestar Day I: October 5, 1997 Time Welcoming to the Participants and Opening Ceremony 9.00-9.45 9.00-9.15 Registration D Taking ofthe Chair by the Chief Guest: Mr. M. N. AryaJ, D. G., 001 Taking ofthe Chair by Chairperson: Mr. C. M. Tater Welcome Address by Mr. R. P. Satyal Inaugural speech by the Chief Guest Introduction ofthe workshop by Dr. David Molden Views, observation and expectation of Chairpcrson Vote ofThanks by workshop coordinator Dr. K. R. Shanna Adjournment Tea Break 9.45-10.30 Session I: 10.30-14.00 \. DOl's Experience with Participatory Management and Management Transfer (Paper presentations on the experience oflLC, ISP and IMTP Irrigation Systems) Chairperson: Mr. R. P. Satyal Rapporteur: Dr. K. R. Shanna • Paper presentation on ISP experience by Mr. N. Ansari! Mr. D. S. Shanna 10.30-10.50 • Paper presentation on Khageri and Panchkanya by Mr. P. Khanal 10.50-11.10 • Paper presentation on ILC experience by Mr. B. R. Adhikary 11.10-11.30 • Discussions on the papers in order of presentations 11.30-12.45 • Chairperson's remarks 12.45-13.00 Lunch 13:00-14.00 ... Session D: 14.00-16.45 " Continuation of DOl's Experience (Paper presentations on MLIP and BLGWP) Chairperson: Mr. Sharada Prasad Shamla Rapporteur: Mr. S. P. Rajbhandary • Paper presentation on MLIP by T. B. Budhathoki 14.00-14.20 • Paper presentation on BLGWP by Mr. M. B. Gurung 14.20-14.40 • Discussions 14.40-15.30 Tea Break 15.30-15.45 • Discussions continued 15.45-16.00 • Farmers' Opinion on Irrigation Management Transfer 16.00-16.30 • Chairperson's remarks 16.30-16.45 Day II. October 6, 1997 Session III: 9.00-13.00 RTDB/IIMI's Research Findings and Other Experience .30 ... Chairperson: Dr. Ganesh Thapa ·.00· Rapporteur: Dr. K. R. Sharma • • Introduction to RTDBIIIMI Program: Process & Performance ofIMT in Nepal Dr. Molden 9.00- 9.20 • Monitoring and Evaluation Practices in Irrigation Projects: Mr. I. Neupane 9.20-9.40 • Findings on System Rehabilitation for Management Transfer: Mr. K. C. Prasad 9.40-10.00 ).50 Tea Break 10.00-10.30 1.10 1.30 • Institutional Franlework for Management Transfer: !.45 Mr. I. Neupanel Dr. B. Neupane 10.30-10.50 l.00 • Case Studies on IMT Impact monitoring: Ms. Charlotte 10 .50-1 l. I0 • Group Discussion 11.10-12.45 • Chairperson's remarks 12.45-13.00 Lunch 13.00-14.00 Session IV: Chairperson: Dr. David Molden .. ~ 1 Rapporteur: Mr. K. C. Prasad .:: • Group Discussions Continued (The whole participants will be split in 3 groups) 14.00-15.30 Tea break 15.30-16.00 • Group Presentations by group leaders 16.00-16.45 • Chairperson's remarks 16.45-17.00 • Adjournment ofthe Program 17.00 l' Refreshments 17.00-18.00 • 1 Annex-2 i~ List of Participants • 1. Mr. A. M. Singh, Consultant, NISP, 001, lawalakhcl 2. Mr. Amonananda Mishra, DOG, River Training Division, 001, lawalakhel 3. Dr. B. Neupane, Consultant, IIMI, Nepal 4. Mr. Babu Ram Adhikary, Senior Divisional Engineer, 001, Jawalakhel 5. Mr. Bijaya Adhikari, Agri. Engineer, RTDB, 001, lawalakhel 6. Mr. C. M. Tater, Deputy Director Genera), Irrigation Management Division, 001, Jawalakhel, 7. Ms. Charlotte de Fraiture, IIMI, Colombo, Sri Lanka 8. Mr. Chhanda Prasad Adhikary, Chainnan, Panchkanya Water Users Association, Chitwan 9. Dr. D. 1. Molden, IIMI, Sri Lanka 10. Mr. Durga Sankhar Shanna, Coordinator, SISP, 001, JawaJakhel 11. Dr. Ganesh Shivakoti, Lecturer, lAAS, Rampur, Chitwan 12. Dr. Ganesh Thapa, Team Leader, Winrock International, APROSC, Kathmandu 13. Mr. Gautam Buddha Manandhar, Chief, Agri. Engineering Division, NARC, Khumaltar 14. Mr. Haidar Ali Momin, Chainnan, WUA, West Gandak Irrigation Project, Nawalparasi 15. Mr. Harsha Bajracharya, Project Officer, ARDIUSAIDlNepal, Rabi Bhawan, Kathmandu 16. Mr. I. Neupane, Consultant, lIMI, Nepal 17. Dr. Indra Lal Kalu, Teat)l Leader, TA Team, CADI! IMTP, lawalakhel 18. Mr. Jivan P. Thanju, Senior Divisional Engineer, WECS, Singha Durbar 19. Mr. K. C. Prasad, Engineer- Sociologist, System Management Branch, 001, lawalakhel 20. Dr. Khem R. Shanna, Chief, RTDB, 001, lawalakhel 21. Mr. Larik P. Yadav, Cliainnan, Water Users' Association, Piparpati Parsauni, Nawalparasi 22. Mr. Mahendra B. Gurung, Senior Divisional Engineer, BLGWP, Bhairahawa 23. Mr. Mahendra Nath Aryal, Director General, 001, lawalakhel 24. Dr. N. M. Shakya, Engineering Institute, Pulchowk . J 25. Mr. N. Ansari, Team Leader, SISP; Implementation Consultant, lawalakhel 26. Mr. N. P. Bhattarai, Senior Divisional Engineer, Ministry ofWater Resource, Singha Durbar 27. Mr. Narayan Bahadur Shrestha, Under Secretary, National Plalming Commission, Singha Durbar 28. Mr. Niranjan Tamrakar, HRDTB, 001, lawalakhel 29. Mr. Nirjarananda Vaidya, Coordinator, NISP, 001, lawalakhel '! 30. Mr. Prem BahadurShrestha, Section Chief, Irrigation Unit, Agricu)tural Development Bank, 31. Mr. Puspa Raj Khanal, Chief, Narayani Lift Irrigation Office, Bharatpur, Chitwan "'l 32. Mr. R. P. Satyal, Chief, IMTP, DOl, lawalakhcl • 33. Mr. R. R. Sharma Neupane, Deputy Teanl Leader, TA Tean1, CADI/IMTP, Bharatpur, Chitwan 34. Mr. S. P. Rajbhandary, Chief, System Management Branch, Irrigation Management Division, DOl 35. Mr. Santosh K. Shn!stha, Agri. Economist, IMD, DOl, lawalakhel .. 36. Mr. Sharada Prasad Shanna, DDG, Planning Division, DOl, lawalakhel 37. Mr. Suman Lal Shrestha, Engineer, RTDB, DOl, lawalakhel 38. Mr. Surendra Shrestha, 11MI, Nepal 39. Dr. T. M. S. Pradhan, lIMI, Nepal 40. Mr. Tarka Bahadur Budhathoki, Project Chief, Marchwar Lift Irrigation Project, Bhairahawa 41. Mr. Tika Ran1 Dahal, Chainnan, Khageri Water Users' Association, Chitwan , • . , . tt, I , . " , : \ i J