Engineering and water governance interactions in smallholder irrigation schemes for improved water management.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SISs) in South Africa have reported below expectation
performance, despite massive investments. A diagnosis of the SISs poor performance indicates
prevalence of infrastructural deficiencies, as well as poor institutional setup. The government’s
Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) initiative compounds the problem. IMT placed irrigators
in self-governance, which inadvertently made irrigators carry the burden of scheme Operation and
Maintenance (O&M) costs. This study sought to investigate and evaluate how technical design
principles i.e., technical aspect of irrigation design, interact with irrigation water governance for
SISs in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The study hypothesized that the existing current water control
infrastructure does relate to the water governance frameworks in the selected study sites. The study
was carried out in Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme (TFIS) and Mooi-River Irrigation Scheme
(MRIS). An infrastructure condition assessment was carried out followed by a root cause analysis.
Questionnaires were then administered to relevant stakeholders to rate the degree of identified
causal factors. Key informants ranked how water governance and infrastructure aspects are related.
The data was processed using a fuzzy theory approach. Finally, structured questionnaires were
administered to irrigators to establish how water governance impacted on water adequacy for crop
production. A binary logit regression model was employed to process the data. Assessments
revealed the poor condition of the infrastructure, such as deep cracks in canals and missing latches
on hydrants. The study revealed that TFIS had a strong institutional setups according to the
Closeness Coefficients(𝐶𝐶𝑖 = 0.18), and clearly defined goals and objectives for the scheme
operation. However, other governance aspects such as procedures (𝐶𝐶𝑇𝐹𝐼𝑆 = 0.17, 𝐶𝐶𝑀𝑅𝐼𝑆 =
0.16) were not strong. MRIS (𝐶𝐶𝑀𝑅𝐼𝑆 = 0.20) had a good standing on rules and regulations as
compared to TFIS (𝐶𝐶𝑇𝐹𝐼𝑆 = 0.14). Eight water governance related statistically significant
variables that influenced water adequacy were identified. The eight variables were irrigation
scheme (𝑝 = 0.000), location of plot within the scheme (𝑝 = 0.008), training in water
management (𝑝 = 0.012), satisfaction with irrigation schedule (𝑝 = 0.000), irrigation training
(𝑝 = 0.085), farmer knowledge of governments aims in SIS (𝑝 = 0.012), availability of water
licenses (𝑝 = 0.002), and water fees (𝑝 = 0.022). A descriptive analysis showed that 24% and
86% of the farmers in MRIS and TFIS respectively, had adequate water. The study concluded that
the SISs lacked an O&M plan and the farmers were not willing to opt for collective action and
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cooperate in Water Users Association (WUAs) and Irrigation Management Committees (IMCs).
Some of the water governance aspects were discordant with infrastructure characteristics and
requirements, consequently, impacting on the water adequacy for the irrigators. Overall, the study
proved the hypothesis that the water control infrastructure does not relate with the water
governance framework. This study recommends that the stakeholders involved in SISs, i.e.,
government, extension workers, NGOs, should aid the irrigators in policy articulation. In addition,
the WUA and IMCs should provide incentives to motivate farmers to actively participate in
scheme O&M.
Description
Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.