Mark Svendsen

A framework for assessing irrigation performance

A comprehensive framework for conceptualizing irrigation performance is presented which, by clarifying relationships among the many incommensurate approaches to performance assessments, can provide the basis for more systematic comparative assessments of irrigation. Irrigation systems are carefully defined, and their relationships to broader agricultural and socioeconomic systems specified in terms both of goals and of inputs and outputs. Goals are seen as crucial to performance assessments, and the existence of many sometimes conflicting goals requires both specification of whose goals are being considered and clarification as to whether the goals are related to inputs, to outputs or to efficiency. Assessments can be categorized according to their purpose, with significant differences among those that monitor operational performance, those that facilitate interventions to improve performance, and those that promote accountability within an operating agency. Assessments also differ in the types of performance measures used. Three distinct categories of performance measures are identified: process measures, which relate to a systems internal operations; output measures, which focus on a systems final output; and impact measures, which pertain to the effects that the systems outputs induce in its larger environment. Performance measures are distinguished from performance standards which may be established from a variety of sources.

Asian food production in the 1990s: Irrigation investment and management policy

Abstract This article addresses the implications of declining productivity growth for rice and wheat in Asia and parallel changes in irrigation investment patterns for future irrigation investment and management policies. The general economic case for increased public investment in new irrigation is examined, the potential for improving existing irrigation systems assessed, expansion of private irrigation investment discussed, and policy implications for irrigation investment and management strategy in Asia presented. The authors conclude that substantial recent cutbacks in public investment are largely appropriate, but that modestly higher shadow prices for rice and wheat should be utilized in evaluating investments. Other policy implications include the importance of considering a wider range of performance improvement options and of greater selectivity in project design, the need for more fundamental reform in many public irrigation institutions, and the undervalued importance of private investment in irrigation development coupled with greater public investment in supporting infrastructure and institutions.

Irrigation management institutions in transition: a look back, a look forward

The paper explores current dissatisfaction withpast irrigation improvement approaches and examines reasonssuch dissatisfaction is so widespread. It reviews past andcurrent efforts to improve irrigation management in developingcountries and deduces themes with implications for the future. Finally it builds on these themes to speculate on directions inwhich both public irrigation agencies and local levelmanagement institutions will evolve in the future.

Farmer's perspective on irrigation performance.

Of the many client groups with interests in irrigation system performance, farmers are probably the least often considered. This paper attempts to explore the meaning of irrigation performance from their perspective, highlighting at the outset basic difference between this perspective and that of system managers. It then reviews several important concepts underlying a consideration of performance in irrigation systems. The paper then proposes and discusses a set of twelve measures of irrigation service judged to be of interest to farmers. These are adequacy, timeliness, equity, tractability, convenience, predictability, temperature, sediment content, salt content, nutrient content, toxics, and pathogens.

Irrigation development in Southeast Asia beyond 2000: Will the future be like the past?

ABSTRACT During the 1980s, external irrigation investment in Asia fell by about 50 per cent compared to levels prevailing in the 1970s. As a consequence, the rate of expansion of irrigated area in the region has fallen to less than 0.5 per cent per year from earlier highs of 2.0 to 2.5 per cent. A variety of factors are responsible for these reductions, though principal ones are the general abundance of foodgrain in the world, the resultant low level of projected future prices, and the rapidly escalating capital cost of surface irrigation development. In general the drop in new investment appears to be a rational response to these conditions. Four fundamental forces can be expected to drive coming changes in Southeast Asian irrigation. These are (a) technology, (b) economic liberalization, (c) competition for water, and (d) environmental and health concerns. A variety of implications can be drawn from a consideration of these forces, taken together with past trends. respecting irrigation investment patter...

The impact of financial autonomy on irrigation system performance in the Philippines

Abstract An assessment is made of the impact of removing operating subsidies to the Philippine National Irrigation Administration on the performance of its canal irrigation systems. The shift was found to have reduced staffing levels and lowered operating expenses, while real irrigation fee-based income held constant. Concurrent changes in operating rules and procedures led to an apparent increase in equity of water distribution in the agencys irrigation systems, resulting in a projected 13% increase in area irrigated had water supply remained constant. This change was significant at the 95% confidence level. This outcome is consistent with income-maximizing behavior on the part of the agency, since it expands billable area and revenue potential. The observed improvement in system performance is seen as a consequence of the shift to agency financial autonomy.

Changes in system performance in two Chinese irrigation systems as a result of organizational reforms

Drawing on a study of two irrigation systems in Hebei Province, this paper documents the impacts of rural economic and organization reforms on irrigation system performance. In the two systems, prior to development of irrigation, farmers consumed all their grain within the household. However, at present both districts are selling grain, with annual output of 11.9 tons/hectare in Bayi and 8.5 tons/hectare in Nanyao. However, due to the use of groundwater in Bayi, output per unit of water is 1.5 kg/m3 in Bayi and 1.3 kg/m3 in Nanyao. In Bayi, farmers have augmented declining surface water supplies with groundwater and purchased water – using funds from sideline enterprises – and have increased output. In contrast, in Nanyao both income and grain output increases have reached a plateau. Nanyao, with its weak resource base, will probably need to develop additional income sources to be able to improve water management in order to reach the next plateau of productivity.

Irrigation and Drainage Systems Maintenance: Needs for Research and Action

Irrigation system maintenance hastraditionally played second chair to systemoperations. This relative neglect hassquandered economic benefits and depletedthe value of capital assets. Recentprograms transferring operation andmaintenance responsibility to water usergroups offer an opportunity to redress thisbalance and create a more systematic andsustainable program of system maintenancein transferred systems. This paperidentifies important research needs thatform the basis for an action researchintervention program. The need to linkmaintenance inputs to hydraulic performance isclearly important, as is the need toprioritize inputs in terms of both cost andexpected impact on performance. Thefunding of maintenance is closely linked toasset management so that water user groupscan develop long-term strategies forprioritizing and financing theiractivities. Factors that lead water usergroups to choose between a self-helpstrategy towards O&M and the hiring ofprofessional staff to undertake these tasksalso requires additional research andinvestigation. Finally, the relationshipbetween regular maintenance and frequentrehabilitation needs to be defined and thetwo linked through policy, agreements, andfunding arrangements.

Maintenance under institutional reform in Andhra Pradesh

India has a huge stock of canal irrigationsystems that suffer from poor maintenanceand reduced performance. The root of themaintenance problems are structural andrelate to perverse incentive structures andpoor management. In 1997, the state ofAndhra Pradesh initiated a bold experimentaimed at restructuring irrigation operationand maintenance (O&M) across the state. Under the strong leadership of the statescharismatic chief minister, a newirrigation law was passed and 10,000 wateruser associations (WUAs) created. WUAsreceived control over a portion of themaintenance budget and power to prioritizeand supervise small-scale maintenance worksin their areas. These steps changedradically the service relationships andgovernance mechanisms which controlmaintenance service provision. Accordingto one evaluation, the changes resulted ina significant expansion in irrigated area,reduced flooding losses and an earliercropping calendar as a result of improveddrainage, and higher paddy yields. However, the reforms did not establishclear accountability linkages between WUAsand O&M engineers in the public irrigationagency and failed to specify measures topermanently reduce the size of the statesirrigation bureaucracy.

Innovations in irrigation management and development in Hunan Province: financial autonomy, water wholesaling, turnover to farmers, mass movement labor.

Mass movement labor was an important contributor to irrigation system construction in China during the seventies, making up a third or more of system costs. Total per-ha system costs are roughly consistent with those in other Asian countries when contributed labor is valued at estimated farm wage rates, but less than average if zero labor opportunity cost is assumed.Innovative practices are being employed in managing and supporting irrigation system operations in Western Hunan Province. Many are ones which have been advocated repeatedly elsewhere but infrequently applied. These include the volumetric wholesaling of water to distribution organizations, farmer water charges with both fixed and volumetric components, financially autonomous irrigation management agencies, and delegation of water distribution and fee-collection responsibility to village-based organizations. Heavy emphasis currently rests on financial self-reliance of schemes as denoted by the slogan, ‘let water support water.’ This has led to a proliferation of secondary income-generating enterprises associated with irrigation system management, as well as strenuous efforts to collect irrigation fees. Often the secondary enterprises generate a larger share of total income than does the irrigation service itself.Fee levels for rice generally fall into the