Brief description of documents
     
    Title Impact of irrigation management transfer: a review of evidence.
(Research report, 35 pages)
         
    Author   Douglas L. Vermillion
         
    Organisation   International Water Management Institute
         
    Year   1997
         
    Summary/
Introduction		        For the last two decades, an ever-increasing number of countries around the world have been turning over the management authority for irrigation systems from government agencies to farmer or other local, nongovernmental organizations. This phenomenon is generally referred to as management transfer or devolution.

     Despite the widespread adoption of irrigation management transfer programs, little information is available internationally about its impacts. This report synthesizes the most significant evidence available to date about the impacts of management transfer programs on the financial viability of irrigation systems, the quality of irrigation operations and maintenance, the physical sustainability of irrigation infrastructure, agricultural and economic productivity, and the environment. Data from 29 studies of irrigation management transfer are summarized and evaluated.

     More evidence is available in the literature on operational and financial performance; less evidence is available on effects of management transfer on maintenance and economic performance of irrigated agriculture. The literature shows a mixture of positive and negative results, while on balance most sources report positive results, especially in operations and finance, although the cost of irrigation to farmers often rises. Agricultural and economic performance tend not to change much with transfer. Management transfer often results in lower government expenditures for irrigation.

     Although the literature on the subject is becoming extensive, no clear analytical paradigm has yet emerged. The literature is a disparate collection of definitions and methodologies from which it is difficult to deduce general conclusions or policy implications. Many writers show a bias in favor of transfer programs, apparently on philosophical grounds. More systematic research methods need to be applied with enough commonality to permit conclusions about impacts and to specify conditions under which transfer programs could be expected to succeed or not. The International Irrigation Management Institute and other organizations are engaged in this task.

     The report recommends 12 principles that should guide future research on the impacts of this important reform. It concludes with an identification of key researchable propositions about the essential conditions that should prevail for management transfer programs to succeed:

  • a clearly recognized and sustainable water right and water service
  • infrastructure that is compatible with the water service and local management capacities
  • well-specified management functions and assignment of authority
  • effective accountability and incentives for management
  • arrangements for viable and timely conflict resolution
  • adequate resources that can be mobilized for irrigation management

     It is hoped that this report will be useful for policy makers and planners, technical staff of donor agencies, and researchers who wish to determine whether to adopt transfer policies, how to structure transfer programs, what kind of outcomes to expect, and how to measure what those outcomes really are.

         
       

Complete document (391k)
Abstract (29k)