Farmers Actions and Improvements in Irrigation Performance Below the Mogha
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FARMERS ACTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE BELOW THE MOGHA How farmers manage water scarcity and abundance in a large scale irrigation system in South-Eastern Punjab, Pakistan Robina Wahaj CENTHALE LANDBOUWCATALOGUS 0000 0873 2931 Promoter Prof. L.F .Vincent , Hoogleraar in Irrigatie & Waterbouwkunde, Wageningen Universiteit Samenstelling promotiecommissie: Prof.dr. P.Richards , Wageningen Universiteit Prof.dr. W.Bastiaanssen , International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences, Enschede. Dr. J. Gowing,Universit y ofNewcastl e upon Tyne,Unite d Kingdom. Prof.dr. P.A.A. Troch, Wageningen Universiteit. FARMERS ACTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE BELOW THE MOGHA How farmers manage water scarcity and abundance in a large scale irrigation system in South-Eastern Punjab, Pakistan Robina Wahaj Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor op gezag van de rector magnificus van Wageningen Universiteit, Prof.dr . ir. L. Speelman in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 5decembe r 2001 des namiddags te 16.00 uur in de Aula Farmers actions and improvements in irrigation performance below theMogha : How farmers manage water Scarcity and abundance ina larg e scale irrigation system in South-Eastem Punjab, Pakistan. Wageningen Universiteit. Promotor: Prof. L.F.Vincent . -Wageninge n : Robina Wahaj, 2001. -p.24 5 ISBN 90-5808-497-3 AJ/00X^\13O^ Propositions 1. Nay were yet okno w withcertaint y ofmin d (yeb eware) . Al-Quran 2. For farmers, control over irrigation water is like control over their own lives - aswate r is life. This thesis 3. It is better toclea n yourow nwatercours e than toborro w anirrigatio n waterturn . This thesis:A farmer from watercourseFD 84-L 4. Nowadays, no one accepts authority from others, everyone wants to be an elder of the village. Welac k unity therefore we canno t organisecollectiv e action anymore. This thesis: Afarmer from watercourseFD 84-L 5. Although some of the actions by farmers can be called reactive management, in general farmers do plan their irrigation management activities and they have learned through experience to manage their irrigation system. Their management can not be classified as 'contingent management' and israthe rperformanc e oriented. This Thesis 6. The assumption that watercourses are managed collectively because of the fact that farmers are grouped together is an over-simplification of the realities in which water management takesplac e in awatercours e command area. This Thesis 7. I am aquee n and you are aquee n aswell ,whic h ofu sshal l carryth ewater ? APukhtoon Proverb 8. The radical of one century is the conservative of thenext . The radical invents the views. When heha swor n them out,th e conservative adoptsthem . Mark Twain 9. Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future continues intim epast . T. S. Elliot 10.Washin g one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with thepowerful , nott ob e neutral. PauloFreire ABSTRACT The irrigation systems ofPunjab , Pakistan areno t functioning effectively in relation to design criteria or farmers' needs. This under-performance is attributed to among others, scarcity of irrigation water, changes in cropping intensity and mis-allocation of available resources. Presently irrigation system management in Pakistan is undergoing institutional reforms- to introduce Participatory Irrigation Management with involvement of new Farmers Organisations in water management- that is expected to result in improved water distribution performance and financial sustainability of the system. This study was conducted to investigate the impact, value and capability of farmers' local water management actions in a large-scale canal irrigation system, to contribute in the wider debates about Participatory Irrigation Management and sustainability of groundwater use in such schemes in Pakistan. Aninterdisciplinary , socio-technical approach wasuse d asth emai n methodological approach for this study. A comparative study method was used to analyse farmers' actions for water management. The research was undertaken in the Fordwah Irrigation System, which serves a command area of 232,000 hectares. Six watercourses along the two distributaries (at the tail ofth e system)wer e selected for in-depth study. Fieldwork was conducted between November 1996 to April 1998. Water delivery performance was measured at the outlets of these watercourses. Collective and individual water management actions were studied to understand their dynamics andthei r impact on improvingwate r delivery to the farm. The study suggeststha t there isneithe r astandar d seto f water management activities nor they are strictly planned, in the study area. Farmers' actions are mostly subject to their desires to match water demand with supply, however one can still see some of the water management activities that are inevitable to operate the system. The actions taken and the way and time these activities are organised and performed is difficult to predict in advance. Collective action is undertaken more at the watercourse or higher level in the irrigation system, whereas individual actions aremainl y undertaken atth e farm level. The four mainfindings o f thestud y are: 1)tha t fanners areknowledgeabl e and capable actors who take actions that improve water supply and compensate for dysfunctional delivery; 2) farmers actions are not only technically and economically sound but also have motives other than just economic benefit; 3) farmers' management cannot be classified as 'contingent management' and is rather performance-oriented; and 4) current performance indicators, which are not able to show realities of social relations shaping water availability, could be improved by including criteria to assess performance of irrigation system from the perspectives of different actors. By incorporating the way farmers intervene with the system and thus appropriate the water delivery, such new performance studies could portray local water dynamics of a system and support recommendations based on reality to improve the functioning ofth e irrigation system. The patterns of conjunctive water use at the farm level suggest that in future groundwater must continue to provide significant amount of water for crop production. Farmers already organise management actions in the irrigation system: new Farmers' Organisation may improve the accountability ofthes e to other farmers. CONTENTS List of figures iv List of tables v List of boxes vi Acronyms and Glossary vii Acknowledgements ix INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT 1 1.2 STUDY SITE 4 1.3 RESEARCH METHOD 6 1.4 THESIS OUTLINE 9 WATER MANAGEMENT, IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE AND FARMER'S ACTIONS: ACONCEPTUA L REVIEW 11 2.1 INTRODUCTION 11 2.2 INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES: WHATMAKE S IRRIGATION SYSTEMSWORK , HOW IRRIGATION SYSTEMS WORK 15 2.3 TECHNOLOGY ANDMANAGEMEN T 16 2.4 WATER MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES AND ACTIONS TO MEET SCARCITY AND SURPLUS 19 2.5 OPERATIONS IN THEORY: THE 'DESIGN-MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT' INTH E IRRIGATION SYSTEM(S) OFPAKISTA N 24 2.5.1 Physical Infrastructure: Design Assumptions and Its Implication on Operation ofth e System 24 2.5.2 Principles ofWate r Allocation: Water Rights and Warabandi 26 2.5.3 Organisational and Institutional Environment: Administrative Set-Up of the Punjab Irrigation Department 27 2.5.4 Irrigation Management at theWatercours e Level 27 2.5.5 The Reality Gap 28 2.6 RESEARCH QUESTION 29 2.7 OPERATIONALISING THE FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH 29 2.8 SETTING UPDAT A COLLECTION 34 2.9 CONCLUDING REMARKS 37 THE WATER DELIVERY ENVIRONMENT OF THE STUDY AREA: WATER DELIVERY, AGRARIAN CONDITIONS, AND PRODUCTION 39 3.1 WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS AT THE DISTRIBUTARY LEVEL 39 3.1.1 Size of theDistributarie s 39 3.1.2 Discharge of theDistributarie s 39 3.1.3 Water Situation atth e Tail ofth eDistributarie s 41 3.1.4 Desiltingof the Distributaries 42 3.1.5 Groundwater Use 42 3.2 THE SAMPLE WATERCOURSES: WATER RIGHTS AND AGRARIAN CONDITIONS 43 3.2.1 Settlement Patterns of the Watercourses 46 3.2.2 Agrarian Conditions 47 3.2.3 Social Relations and Leadership in Water Management 49 3.2.4 Interaction Between the Farmers and the Irrigation Department Staff: Location of Irrigation Staff and Means toAcces s Them 51 3.3 SAMPLE WATERCOURSES: OUTLET TYPES AND WATER SUPPLY DURING THE STUDY PERIOD 52 3.3.1 Outlet Type inth e Selected Watercourses 52 3.3.2 The Influence of Outlet Dimensions on Water Supply in selected Watercourses 54 3.3.3 Water Supply During the Study Period 54 3.3.4 Water Allowance Versus Supply 57 3.3.5 Conjunctive Water Use 58 3.4 CROP PRODUCTION, IRRIGATION WATER REQUIREMENTS, ANDWATE R DELIVERY 61 3.4.1 Cropping Pattern 61 3.4.2 Cropping Intensities 62 3.4.3 Irrigation Water Demand and Water Supply in the Selected Watercourses: Matching Supply with the Demand 63 3.4.4 Yield 65 3.4.5 Soil and Water Quality 66 3.5 CONCLUSION 67 COLLECTIVE EFFORTS TO CHANGE THE WATER DELIVERY 69 4.1 WATER ACQUISITION: ACQUIRING MORE WATER FOR ALL SHARE HOLDERS INTH E WATERCOURSE COMMAND AREA 69 4.1.1 Lobbying for an Increase inDischarg e 70 4.1.2 Physical Interventions 70 4.1.3 Tampering with theMogha 72 4.1.4 Institutional Arbitration 72 4.2 WATERCOURSE MAINTENANCE: KEEPING GEOMETRY OFTH E WATERCOURSE IN GOOD SHAPE TO REDUCE LOSSES 76 4.2.1 Farmers Perception on Frequency of Desilting of theWatercourse s 77 4.2.2 Why Desilt aWatercourse ? 80 4.2.3 IndicatorsUse d by Farmers in Organising the Desilting Activity 81 4.3 CONVEYANCE LOSSES