Abstract
The paper aims at assessing potential of farmer participation in operation and maintenance (o& m) of irrigation and drainage system: a case study of left bank outfall drainage project (LBOD) area in Sindh province and examining farmers contribution for operating and maintaining (O & M) of the LBOD project, drainage facilities as well as their response in cost recovery in that area. The Punjab province, where the experience of farmer drainage organizations (FDOs) have remained considerably successful, irrigated agriculture of Sindh province does also have huge potential of farmer participation in managing drainage infrastructure facilities. In this direction, the paper reveals that the declining performance of drainage facilities, including deep tube-wells, scavengers, interceptors and tile drains, has hampered reliability of irrigation supplies and control of salinity and water logging in the LBOD project component area, which has significantly affected crop yields, incomes, and overall quality of life of the farmers in the project area. As a matter of fact, farmers have a grave concern regarding the operating and maintaining (O & M) of those drainage facilities, which were installed with the aim of reducing salinity and water logging; increasing crop yields, incomes and water supplies; and improving health and the environment. In order to address these problems, the paper suggests that there is need to encourage farmer’s participation in managing irrigation as well as drainage network by forming farmer drainage organizations (FDOs) in the LBOD project area. It is suggested that this process of devolution can be implemented in the same way as it was successfully implemented through the introduction of farmer organizations (FOs) by competing authorities like SIDA and WAPDA. In this regard, the paper demonstrates that this process requires number of implementation measures, such as introduction of institutional reforms, participation of farmers from planning to sustained operation, provision of adequate maintenance funds, and training and motivation of farmers and technical staff, particularly on operation and maintenance of the LBOD drainage facilities.
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