IMPROVING IRRIGATION WATER MANAGEMENT ON FARMS

This final report describes the results of an AID-funded, l968-80 research project in Pakistan by Colorado State University (CSU) to develop guidelines to improve OFWM. A l979 USAID review estimated that the project"s institutional and technological achievements could increase irrigated land production by nearly 90 million ha in developing countries worldwide. Project successes included improving crop stands and yields through bed and furrow planting, hand weeding, crust control (through mechanical means or by timing irrigation water), field drainage, and land leveling; introducing the Cutthroat flume to measure watercourse losses; developing irrigation controls; testing skimming wells to reduce salinity; use of basin and furrow irrigation; identifing poor land levelling as a major cause of overirrigation; and conducting consumptive use studies on wheat, berseem, and cotton. Poor watercourse maintenance, poor local organization, and inadequate farmer knowledge of the extent of watercourse losses and of water management techniques were identified as key socioeconomic contraints to production. In addition, extension officers from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF), were trained to help farmers manage expanded water supplies, leveled land, inputs, and weed and pest activities. Further research needs in Pakistan are to develop technologies to decrease salinity and waterlogging; strengthen the OFWM capabilities of user organizations and the Ministry of Agriculture"s Irrigation Department; and provide field research and training at UAF, other research institutes, and in Baluchistan Province. The project taught the advantages of not placing CSU in a counterpart role and of using an interdisciplinary approach; the need to conduct research with active farmer involvement and with a view to increasing production; and the need to address field problems (both for research and to provide a training ground for host country personnel) and to disseminate research results. Appendices include a brief project history and a list of research publications.