THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Participation in irrigation aims at shifting of primary management responsibility to the water users with reduction of government’s role and the corresponding increase in the role of the water users.. While user’s sharing operation and maintenance activities, the financial burden on the Nepal government’s Department of Water Resources and Irrigation (DWRI) would be reduced and the performance of the irrigation scheme would increase. Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) was first initiated in Nepal in the 1980s with the prime objective of promoting farmers’ role in irrigation development management in the country. Several irrigation projects have been implemented by DWRI since then.. According to Irrigation Development Division (IDD) Kavreplanchowk, more than 35% of small and medium construction, operation and maintenance works are undertaken by the WUAs. . So, it is important to assess the outcomes and productivity of their works which ultimately will be reflected in the level of farmer’s satisfaction during different phases of the respective irrigation projects. And this information will guide the concerned authority to make changes in its mode of operandi to ensure better outputs in the future. The overall objective of the study was to assess the farmers’ level of satisfaction on WUAs’ work performance in Chakhola and Naubise-Nepal Besi Phat irrigation projects of Kavreplanchowk district. The specific objectives were to identify the factors affecting farmer’s satisfaction and explore the ways to improve it. Questionnaires survey, field visits and key informant interview (KII) were the methods used to collect the primary data and related literatures and documents available at District Division Office, Kavre were reviewed for collecting secondary data. Collection of quantitative and qualitative was the research approach used.. MS excel software tool was used to analyse the data. Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to rank the factors which affect the Farmer’s Satisfaction on WUAs performance. From the study, it is found that the overall farmer’s satisfaction level is 67.86% and 75.35% in Chakhola and Naubise-Nepal Besi Phat irrigation project respectively. This study has ranked the 12 possible affecting factors based on their importance under 3 sectors. From RII analysis, it is found that the five most affecting factors found are Organizational activities (Effective communication among concerned authority/responsible member) has first rank with RII= 0.95, water use activities (Distribution of adequate water to the farmers field at time) has second rank with RII=0.93, Organizational activities (Resource mobilization) has rank third with RII=0.91, Organizational activities (Decision making) has 4th rank with RII=0.91, Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) has 5th rank with RII=0.88. Similarly two least affecting factors are Supportive role of WUAs in system designing has 12th rank with RII=0.66 and Construction work has 11th rank with RII=0.71. Similarly, the ways & means for improvement farmer’s satisfaction have also been ranked. From RII analysis, it is found that all suggested ways have RII values more than 50%, which means all suggestions have importance for the improvement of farmer’s satisfaction on WUAs work performance. However, the suggestion “There should not be any discrimination in water access and distribution (Small farmer should not be dominated by big ones or tail end farmers shouldn’t be less benefitted than head end)” has first rank with RII=0.8, “Conduct periodic social audit as well as make public the results of annual audit ” has second rank with RII=0.78, “Fair allocation and distribution of role and responsibilities among WUAs member according to their abilities and capacities (No any political interference)” has 3rd rank with RII=0.78, “WUAs member should not misuse their power” has 4th rank with RII=0.77, “There must be standard schedule of system operation, regular monitoring and maintenance of irrigation system components” has 5th rank with RII=0.77. Based on the findings, given that the two projects under this study represent the status of irrigation development in the district, it is concluded that the PIM projects in Kavre district have more than 50% of farmer’s satisfaction level which is considered acceptable. However, WUAs should improve their working system, ensure financial transparency, and arrange time to time meetings for co-ordination and co-operation with stake-holders. Beneficiary farmers should also be involved in major decision making such as allocation and distribution of roles and responsibilities, fairness in water use activities and irrigation system operation and maintenance.

Keywords

Water User’s Association (WUAs), Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM), Irrigation Management Transfer(IMT), Social audit, financial transparency, economic burden.