| Abstract | It is contended that most of the farmer managed irrigation systems are
operating quite smoothly as compared to the government managed irrigation
systems. The major objective of this study, thus, is to determine, whether
it is a promising approach to hand over government constructed small and
medium scale irrigation systems to user farmers for operation and maintenance. To meet this objective, a comparative study of two small scale
irrigation systems, one managed by user farmers (FMIS) and the other
managed by the government field agency (AMIS), was conducted. The
findings show that FMIS respondents are relatively more satisfied with
the overall system management than the AMIS respondents. A high degree
of participation of respondents in canal maintenance and repair was found
in the FMIS. AMIS respondents expressed their willingness to take on operation and maintenance works to secure smooth functioning of the system.
The opinion of the agency officials was positive towards handing over of
the small and medium scale AMISs to the farmer users. Participation of
user farmers in operation and maintenance of the FMIS was found to be
obligatory, and, hence, small farmers and tenant farmers had to contribute
more than their share to system operation and maintenance as compared to
the big land owners. Recommendations for better management of irrigation
systems include protecting tenant farmers under the Tenancy Act, selection of water leaders from among user farmers, sharing of agricultural
inputs by tenants and land ·owners, promotion of cash crop cultivation,
and proper repair and desilting of main canals. |