On-farm water management; a joint US-Pakistan evaluation

Special evaluation by a U.S./Pakistani team covers a period from project inception in late 1976 to 3/78 and is based on field visits, discussions with project personnel, and interviews with farmers. Although the project is about a year behind schedule due to various training and financial difficulties noted below, sound procedures have been established for helping small farmers to improve their water courses and to level land for more efficient irrigation. To date, 14 field teams were working in the Sind, Punjab, and Northwest Frontier Provinces; 25 water courses were improved (24 in Punjab), and 2,826 ha of land (1,863 in Punjab) had undergone precision leveling. Recommendations include establising a permanent, possibly semi-autonomous, institution to implement the project now and after project termination and according legal and permanent status to Water User Associations (WUA) as a key to long-term improved irrigation efficiency and increased crop production. Also, a new agency should be created for extension and related farmer services. Also recommended are substituting lowered academic standards combined with additional training and experience for the present rigid qualifications for recruiting field personnel, as well as increasing slightly the number of trainees to compensate for dropouts. To improve trainee recruitment and retention, personnel should be regularized promptly to provide needed job security. District personnel and team leaders should be authorized to approve estimates of water course improvements and to make cost-sharing payments to farmers, and funds should be made to project directors on time. To encourage provinces to give priority to the project, a direct link is recommended between dollars released and rupee funds allocated to provinces. Also recommended are a pilot farmer credit program in each province and increased bank credit to private contractors. Included among other recommendations are to: define Pakistani small farmers more clearly; consider providing cost-sharing and land leveling services to tenant farmers, especially in the Sind; and replacing the hard-to-get patwari certification with a statement signed by farmers.