Himachal Pradesh : policy options for participatory irrigation management -- farmer organisations and organisational and procedural changes

Though community-managed irrigation systems have long existed in Himachal Pradesh, some 90% still being farmer-managed, the state invested heavily on the construction of new irrigation projects in the post-independence era. The responsibility fell largely on the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department, the principal line agency for irrigation, which constructed and managed the state owned irrigation schemes. It was soon realized that state ownership of irrigation systems without the full involvement of farmers creates many problems. One noted in Himachal Pradesh, as elsewhere in India, the gross underutilization of irrigation resources. The participatory approach advocated by HALWD was implemented under the Farmer Organisation Development Program (FODP) and resulted in tangible improvements. For instance, water utilization increased from 34% in the government-managed irrigation systems to 67% in the FODP schemes. Impressed by these results, the Government of Himachal Pradesh decided to adopt the participatory approach developed under FODP. The purpose here is to examine how KVSs functioned, the issues that influence their promotion and sustainability, and to draw lessons that may help the government to formulate and implement a reasoned irrigation policy. Data are drawn from an in-depth survey of all the 24 FODP irrigation schemes against a backdrop of the 878 schemes implemented under HALWD. A few traditional and government schemes were surveyed for the purposes of comparison. (Author abstract)