Communication Between Irrigation Engineers and Farmers
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Communication between irrigation engineers and farmers The case of project design in North Senegal Steven Scheer Communication between irrigation engineers and farmers: the case of project design in North Senegal Promotoren: ir. L. Horst, emeritus hoogleraar in de irrigatie dr. ir. N. G. Roling, bijzonder hoogleraar m.b.t. landbouwkennis- systemen in ontwikkclingslanden Co-promotor: dr. ir. P.P. Huibers, universitair docent tropische cultuurtechniek ^Library IRC International water and Sanitation Centre T«l.: *31 70 30 689 80 Fax: +31 70 35 899 64 S. H. Scheer Communication between irrigation engineers and farmers The case of project design in North Senegal Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor in de landbouw- en milieuwetenschappen op gezag van de rector magnificus dr. CM. Karssen, in net openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 14 juni 1996 des namiddags te vier uur in de Aula van de Landbouwuniversiteit te Wageningen LIBRARY IRC PO Box 93190, 2509 AD THE HAGUE Tel.: +31 70 30 689 80 Fax: +31 70 35 899 64 BARCODE: /'iff A.-T LO: Scheer, S.H. Communication between irrigation engineers and farmers: The case of project design in North Senegal / Steven Scheer. - Ul. - Thesis Landbouw Universiteit Wageningen. - With ref. - With summaries in Dutch and French. ISBN 90-5485-546-0 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of boxes ix Glossary xii Acknowledgements xvi To whom it may concern xix PART 1 INITIAL PERSPECTIVES 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Irrigation problems and the search for solutions 3 1.2 A new paradigm? 6 1.3 Indigenous knowledge 8 1.4 The central question of this thesis 11 Chapter 2 Some initial theoretical perspectives 13 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 The cultural dimension of knowledge 15 2.3 Exchanging knowledge 16 2.4 Influence of knowledge exchange on the design outcome 19 2.5 How to exchange technical knowledge 20 2.6 What to look for in the field? 21 2.7 Research techniques 23 2.8 The structure of the thesis 25 PART II PRACTICES AND ENVIRONMENTS OF DESIGN ENGINEERS AND FARMERS IN THE SENEGAL MIDDLE VALLEY 29 Chapter 3 The physical and institutional environment 32 3.1 Physical environment 32 3.2 Turning the valley into a granary, a government's wish 36 3.3 Disengagement of the SAED and turnover of the irrigation systems 39 Chapter 4 Haalpulaar farmers, their foyres, villages and relations with the outside world 41 4.1 A first acquaintance with the Haalpulaar 41 4.2 The foyre, the Haalpulaar household 42 4.3 Social and political relations within the village 46 4.4 Relations with the outside world 50 4.5 Ranking of problems by farmers 53 Chapter 5 The Haalpulaar farmers and their practices in irrigation schemes 55 5.1. The GMP: "The father of the canal" 55 5.2 Water distribution 57 5.3 Maintenance of the canal network 59 5.4 Irrigating the plot and plot-oriented knowledge 61 5.5 Adaptation of collective practices to the physical environment 63 5.6 Adapting the irrigation infrastructure 63 Chapter 6 The design engineers' education and position 67 6.1 Introduction 67 6.2 The education of design engineers 68 6.3 The design engineers' position 73 6.4 The design engineers' relation with farmers 75 Chapter 7 History of irrigation development and design engineers' practices in the middle valley 79 7.1 The first PIV generation 79 7.2 The second PIV generation 80 7.3 The 'improved' second generation 83 7.4 The Al concept 84 7.5 The design process of Ate 89 PART III SOCIAL INTERFACES, DESIGN PROCESSES AND TECHNICAL IMAGES 93 Chapter 8 Different design process approaches: Two examples of site selection for Ate 93 8.1 Introduction 93 8.2 The design process of Ndoulomadji 94 8.3 Views on the design engineers' role in the process 100 8.4 The design process of the Cascas floodplain 102 8.5 A comparison of the two design processes 107 Chapter 9 Irrigation and drainage requirements in the PIV Abdallah III 109 9.1 Introduction 109 9.2 The example of Abdallah III (first part) 110 9.3 The example of Abdallah III (second part) 112 9.4 The state of the art of communication between design engineers and farmers in the lie a Marphil project 116 Chapter 10 Structures and canals in the Al of Diomandou 119 10.1 Introduction 119 10.2 Involvement of farmers during the design process 119 10.3 The technical design of Diomandou 121 10.4 Different perspectives on canals 123 10.5 Different perspectives on structures 127 VI 10.6 Image about one another 130 10.7 The effect of the actual communication 133 Chapter 11 Topographical adjustment 135 11.1 Introduction 135 11.2 Plot level 135 11.3 Land levelling beyond the plot 140 11.4 Reference points and contour lines 142 11.5 To what extent can the topography be adapted? 144 Chapter 12 Water flow 149 12.1 Introduction 149 12.2 The design engineers' technical knowledge about water flow 149 12.3 The farmers' technical knowledge 150 Chapter 13 Canal maintenance and water flow in Guede Ouro 157 13.1 Introduction 157 13.2 The engineer's design and the practices of farmers 157 13.3 Opposite arguments compared 160 13.4 Conclusion about the concept 162 PART IV EXPERIMENTS AND EMERGING PERSPECTIVES 165 Chapter 14 A SSM perspective on irrigation design in the middle valley 167 14.1 Introduction 167 14.2 Stage 1 and 2: assessing the problem and finding out 168 14.3 Stage 3: selecting relevant systems and formulating root definitions 172 14.4 Stage 4 and 5: building conceptual models and comparing them to perceived reality 176 14.5 Stage 6 and 7: defining changes and taking action 176 14.6 Using SSM to solve the tow-question of the thesis 178 Chapter 15 The scale model 179 15.1 Introduction 179 15.2 Finding out about technical knowledge: plot level 181 15.3 Finding out about technical knowledge: maintenance, water distribution and topography 183 15.4 Finding out about technical knowledge: increasing complexity 188 15.5 Finding out about the farmers' organization 193 15.6 Role of the model in a learning system 194 15.7 Other examples of scale models 197 Chapter 16 Diagrams, maps, drawings and field visits 199 16.1 Introduction 199 16.2 PRA, RRA and PTD 199 16.3 Drawings 202 16.4 Maps 204 16.5 Field visits to relevant irrigation schemes 206 16.6 The water level 208 16.7 SSM and PRA, RRA and PTD 209 Chapter 17 Conclusion 17.1 A lack of exchange of knowledge during the design processes in the Senegal middle valley 211 17.2 Differences in technical knowledge of design engineers and farmers 212 17.3 Circles of unconscious confirmation 214 17.4 The influence of the unconscious confirmation cycles on the quality of the design and the sustainability of the system 215 17.5 Improving the situation: a system of participatory irrigation design 217 17.6 Recommendations 220 ANNEX: Overview of differences with regard to technical knowledge 225 BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 RESUME 241 SAMENVATTING 247 SUMMARY 253 CURRICULUM VITAE 258 vin LIST OF BOXES 1.1 Analytic model of the relation between socio-economic factors and the physical environment 5 1.2 Illustration of the complexity of an irrigation-oriented intervention 5 1.3 Resemblances and differences between the irrigation technique of farmers 10 2.1 Learning my way to new perspectives: the force of the pump 14 2.2 Our interpretation of reality is beyond our control 16 2.3 A learning cycle 18 2.4 A confirmation cycle 18 3.1 Senegal and the river Senegal 30 3.2 The regime of the Senegal throughout the year 30 3.3 The process of flooding 33 3.4 Rainfall and potential evaporation in the middle valley 33 3.5 The variability of rainfall 34 3.6 Seasonal and agricultural calendar 34 3.7 Land use and soil types in the middle valley 35 3.8 A comparison of annual rainfall before and after 1969 35 3.9 Evolution of the irrigated area between 1966 and 1992 38 4.1 Household categories based on different production activities 44 4.2 Differences between villages with respect to the average household 44 4.3 Changing practice: the asymmetric master slave-relationship 47 4.4 Changing practice: men, women and irrigation 48 4.5 Organizational dispositions of the Haalpulaar 50 4.6 The dependency disposition 52 4.7 Farmers' problem priorities 54 5.1 Farmers' problem priorities with regard to irrigation 56 5.2 A small scale village irrigation scheme 58 5.3 Division box 58 5.4 The organization of canal maintenance 60 5.5 Pattern of water distribution in a PIV in the middle valley 62 5.6 Two examples of drawings I used when discussing with farmers 65 6.1 Lay out of a downstream control structure 71 6.2 Module a masque 71 6.3 Cases of design engineers: their position and their opinion about farmers' participation 73 6.4 Cases of design engineers (continued) 74 6.5 Examples of the attitude of design engineers towards farmers 76 6.6 An inventory of opinions and practices of design engineers with regard to communication in the design process 77 7.1 The design engineers' role in the change of the construction method of PIVs 81 7.2 Propositions for the standardization of norms in the design process of the second generation of PIVs 82 7.3 AI composed of large PIVs grouped together 85 7.4 The AI with a low water level primary canal 87 7.5 The AI with a high water level primary canal 87 7.6 Plying technical arguments to underpin choices 90 8.1 The opinion of farmers in the department of Matam 94 8.2 The farmers' rejection of the infrastructure, and other problems during the first season in Hamady Ounare 96 8.3 Meetings, interviews and field visits in the Ndoulomadji design process 97 8.4 The design of the AI of Ndoulomadji 99 8.5 Preliminary results of the Ndoulomadji scheme 100 8.6 Information gathering for the Cascas feasibility