Assessment of water user association support program (WUASP) : report

It has met its objectives to help farmers establish water user associations (WUAs), support them to clean and rehabilitate irrigation infrastructure, and improve their productivity through training in business, water management, and good governance and democratic principles. Thanks to this training, WUAs are, in general, institutionally and financially sustainable organizations that are responsive to their constituencies, and can resolve water management issues. By overcoming the limiting factor of irrigation water, farmers have opened up more land, grown more crops and diversified their on-farm activities. In many ways, the role and responsibilities of WUAs are expanding. Given the lack of a functioning extension service in Tajikistan, the WUAs are becoming more like farm associations that look at the entire farm management cycle and tackle the problems that hinder agricultural growth. Many challenges remain. For example, farmers are under-capitalized, interest rates on loans are high, relations with district water departments can be strained due to water user fee issues, equipment for operating and maintaining irrigation infrastructure is expensive to rent or is in dire need of repair, and legislation on agriculture and water management still needs full improvement. Nevertheless, WUA members have a sense of purpose and unity, and are confident that they can solve their problems. Importantly, WUA members have taken their newly gained knowledge and skills out of the confines of agriculture into the larger arena of their communities, where farmers have applied democratic principles, business knowledge and agricultural skills to other aspects of their life. Such an application and expansion of knowledge and skills underscore that the WUASP-supported WUAs are grassroots organizations actively engaging in civil society. Their continual activities after the life of the project indicate that WUAs have a promising future in shaping the dynamics of society in Tajikistan. (Author abstract)