Agriculture Development and Water Resource Management

Management Transfer, Turnover, and Joint Management

CADI staff members have been directly involved with planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating irrigation management transfer programs (turnover, joint management) in the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, and Tajikistan. Working on Asian Development Bank and USAID projects, CADI was instrumental in influencing management transfer policies, programs, and procedures, including turning over routine O&M activities of government managed irrigation systems to formal WUAs. CADI assessed the qualitative and quantitative achievements of irrigation management transfer programs, including analyzing the constraints of effective post-turnover ownership, and the problems encountered in O&M, crop management, and major system repairs. High-level government officials from Mexico, Nepal, and Indonesia participated in CADI-organized multi-national management transfer exchange and training programs. As a direct result of our involvement in turnover and joint management programs, the governments of the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and Tajikistan developed policies emphasizing: (a) more effective farmer participation in pre-turnover rehabilitation; (b) developing quality control mechanisms for rehabilitation; and (c) ensuring WUAs readiness to take over full O&M responsibilities and authority after turnover.

Development and Strengthening of Water User Association

CADI participated in planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating WUA development projects in many countries in Asia, Central Asia, and the Mid-East. These projects included designing and implementing irrigation share systems linking water deliveries to fulfill certain responsibilities and obligations. To ensure the long-term sustainability of O&M, CADI staff assisted irrigation agencies and WUAs to implement irrigation service fees among the water users. These fees are used by the WUA to pay for the costs of O&M and manage the irrigation system. CADI also provided technical assistance to irrigation agencies to build linkages between WUAs and agricultural marketing activities. As a result of these efforts, over several hundred thousand ha of irrigated area has been organized into sustainable and self-sufficient water users associations.

National Policy Analysis

CADI staff assisted international donors, national planning agencies, and irrigation agencies to analyze existing irrigation policies and develop new medium and long-term irrigation strategies and investment options. Working with multi-lateral donors and government agencies, CADI assessed the role of public irrigation in national agricultural strategies, including evaluating: (a) the achievements of government irrigation investment and management strategies; (b) the performance and sustainability of irrigation investments; (c) the impact of programs on O&M and irrigated agriculture; and (d) the market-led evolution of irrigated agriculture. CADI provided options and recommendations to donors and governments regarding future assistance programs, and helped define appropriate policy frameworks and action plans to improve the performance and sustainability of irrigation investments.

Our policy analyses have resulted in revised national five-year plans, long-term investment strategies for multi-lateral donors, and new national policies for O&M, irrigation management transfer, and WUAs.

Institutional Development

CADI designed and implemented a number of institutional development activities that led to large-scale organizational change in national irrigation agencies. These activities included both the process and content of change in irrigation institutions, focusing on the agencies': (a) external environment; (b) role and strategy; (c) leadership and management style; (d) organizational culture and structure; (e) human resources; and (f) management systems and practices. As a result of these institutional development activities, governments restructured their national irrigation agencies and established new organizational divisions and branches that focus on O&M, training, research, and WUAs. The institutional strengthening activities emphasized the internal development of irrigation agencies, improving their capacity to refine policies and bylaws; formulate regulations and procedures; and design, conduct, manage, and evaluate research and training programs.

Irrigation System Management - O&M, Rehabilitation, and Construction Management

CADI has worked to directly operationalize and execute new irrigation policies in the field. We implemented a number of irrigation system management projects in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, and Egypt focusing on:

O&M: Working with local irrigation agencies, CADI staff members synthesized and refined existing government and farmer O&M procedures and assisted with the implementation of new and innovative approaches. CADI staff members also conducted large-scale reviews of existing O&M manuals and developed comprehensive manuals directly linking O&M programs with business and record-keeping procedures for water ordering and delivery. Government staff and farmers were trained to use the new procedures and farmers were assisted in preparing their own O&M plans. CADI has assisted irrigation agencies implement O&M development processes that can be applied on a regional basis.

Rehabilitation: CADI staff members designed and implemented donor-assisted minor rehabilitation programs and processes, focusing on farmer participation and practical quality controls. The rehabilitation programs included detailing and listing emergency maintenance and repair needs, identifying essential structural and catch-up maintenance needs, and recommending necessary system improvements. Rehabilitation cost-sharing arrangements between the government and farmers' WUAs were also implemented. These arrangements for minor system rehabilitation included procedures to ensure that minimum indicators of field-level institutional and WUA development was completed before corresponding physical improvements were carried out.

Construction Management: CADI provided technical assistance for the construction of irrigation and drainage works and village infrastructure. This assistance included verifying engineering designs and managing the construction of irrigation, drainage, and village infrastructure works (water, sewage, roads, and electricity).

As a result of these irrigation system management activities, CADI had a direct role in improving the O&M in several hundred thousands of ha of irrigated land in Nepal, India, and Egypt. These activities produced numerous user-friendly and practical O&M manuals, increased farmer involvement in O&M and rehabilitation activities, and improved quality control of rehabilitation and construction of irrigation schemes.

Feasibility, Design, and Evaluation of Water Resource Systems

CADI provided services for assessing and evaluating water resource systems in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China. In China, CADI developed and field tested a detailed methodology for assessing the engineering, agronomic, economic, financial, and institutional performance of irrigation systems. In India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, CADI assessed and evaluated the current status of conjunctive water use in government irrigation systems, including evaluating environmental and economic impacts of proposed regional strategies for flood mitigation and increased agricultural production. In Indonesia, CADI conducted an evaluation of pump irrigation systems, leading to the development of new policy alternatives.