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Presentation

3rd Karachi International Water Conference

21-22 Nov 2017

FARMER MANAGED IRRIGATION SYSTEM AND ITS IMPACT ON WATER SERVICE DELIEVERY: A CASE OF SINDH-

PAKISTAN

Nazir Ahmed- GM, Transition

SINDH IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE AUTHORITY (SIDA)

Basic Facts

• 21st largest river

in the World with

regard to Annual

flow

• 3180 km long

• Crossing China,

India, Pakistan

• Watershed 1.165

ml sq KM

• merge to Arabian

Sea near Thatta

• Lifeline to Pak and

Sindh economy

and livelihood

Chotiari

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BS Feeder 14764 Cs

Desert Pat Feeder 13275 Cs

Ghotki Feeder 8490 Cs

Nara 13649 Cs

Rohri 10887 Cs

Khairpur East 2094 Cs

Khairpur West 1940 Cs

Dadu 3150 Cc

Rice 10658 Cs

North Western 5152 Cs

Kotri

Barrage

Kalri Baghar 9000 Cs

Fuleli 14859 Cs

Pinyari 13636 Cs

Akram Wah 4100 Cs

Sukkur

Barrage

Gudu

Barrage

Flood Protection Networks

Front Bunds = 875 miles

Loop Bunds = 331 miles

FP Bund = 119 miles

Total = 1325 miles

Sindh Provincial Irrigation Network

Govt. Approved TWs

Sweet

TWs

= 3933

Saline

TWs

= 2255

Total = 6188

Irrigation Infrastructures

Main canals = 14

Branch

Canals= 106

Distributaries

& Minors= 1500

Total Length

of canals=

13234

miles

Outlets =42268

Nos.

Irrigated Area =12.815

MA

Gross Area = 34 MA

Water Allocation Province-wise

Indus Water Accord 1991

(Total Allocation = 114.35 MAF)

Sindh

48.76

42.6%

Punjab

55.94

48.9%

NWFP

5.78

5.1%

Balochistan

3.87

3.4%

Sindh

Punjab

NWFP

Balochistan

Water is lifeline of Sindh and despite challenges and constraints..

Sindh’s contribution in Pakistan’s Agriculture GDP is approx 30% mainly through:

◦ Wheat 15%◦ Cotton 23%◦ Livestock 28%◦ Sugarcane 31%◦ Rice 42%◦ Marine fish 70%

Difficult to operate & maintain

Less sustainable

Insufficient irrigation service fee &

recovery

Local Water conflicts

Fewer beneficiaries

Open to rent seeking & informal payment

Deteriorated infrastructure

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Annual revenue is less than 20% of the total O&M fixed cost (approx. Rs. 6000 ml)

O&M Subsidy is more than $10 per hac Capital works schemes additionally cost Rs.

Billions There is a continuous increase in expenditure

in electricity/pumps and establishment cost leaving less amount for O&M of canals

Water rates are lowest in the region and recovery is also very low- even if rates are increased thrice with 100% recovery, O&M cost is not met

Financially unsustainable

Until the late 1800s, irrigation in the world –

participatory at the village or community level

In early 1900s, large scale irrigation & drainage

schemes were built by the Govt. agencies

Users community became passive recipient of the

service instead of responsible, active parties

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1970s Intensive irrigation capital expansion; mostly large-scale systems by governments

1980s Irrigation management became an issue – Introduced irrigation service fees & farmer participation in irrigation management

1990s Institutional reforms to devolve (whole or partial- PIM/IMT) management responsibilities for lower level irrigation systems to farmer FOs/WUO / WUA / IA

Many countries have implemented PIM, mostly by organizing FOs/WUAs at lower level of irrigation systems

Partial transfer in many countries-joint management/govt. lead agency

A few countries have implemented IMT

SIDAmaintains barrages, delivers water to AWBs, maintainsmain/outfall drains + bunds along river, prime agent ofchange

AWBsmaintain main canals, deliver water to FOs, pay SIDA Forservices

FOsmaintain distributaries/minors, deliver water to farmers,collect revenue, pay AWBs For services

Regulatory Authority (Govt. body; Govt. policies)supervises SIDA, AWBs, FOs and arbitrate conflicts(currently SIDA is acting as RA as per section 100 ofSWMO-2002).

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14-Dec-17 13

Area Water Boards Formed in Sindh

Legend

Area Water Boards

transferred to SIDA

Area Water Boards

Notified June’02 but

not transferred to

SIDA

TOTAL SIDA

Barrages 3 0

GCA 14.158 5.39MA

CCA 12.576 4.81MA

M Canals 14 4

Distr’ies 1446 369

WC’ses 45000 9500

Drains km 3690 2701

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Farmers Board of Revenue

Irrigation

DepartmentFinance

Department

Pays Abiana

Allocates Funds

- Finance Reach the Destination through long processes and too many hands

Transfer

Collection in

Central pool

Maintains

Irrigation

Infrastructure

for

conveyance of

Irrigation

Supplies

- No involvement of Beneficiaries in utilization of finance

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Regulatory AuthorityImplements Govt. Policies

Arbitrates SIDA – AWB – FOs

SIDA

Maintains River System /

Barrages

AWB

40% for maintenance of

Branches & Main canals

AWB

AWB

FO

FO

FO

Collects Abiana

40% for

maintenance of

Distry /Minor60%

FO

FO

WATER

Finances

Barrages &

Outfall Drains

60%

FO

- Abiana cess is invested at the source of collection

- Expenditure through beneficiaries

- Minimum bureaucratic involvement

Board Representation

SIDA

Act

1997

SWMO- 2002

SIDA Farmer Representative 0105

(1 tail, 1 small)

Independent/Academician 0 05

Govt. Representative 07 05

AWB Farmer Representative 0205

(1 tail, 1 small)

Independent/Academician 03 06

Govt. Representative 04 0

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S Area Water Boards

Total FOs to

be

Registered

(Tentative)

FOs

Registered/

Formed

Management

Transferred

1 Nara Canal AWB 184 162 159

2 Ghotki Feeder Canal AWB 94 89 74

3 Left Bank Canal AWB 105 94 93

Others (Rohri, Khairpur,

etc)- 15 0

Total 383 360 326workshops/seminars/FOs conventions/IDMT agreement ceremonies are being held as regular feature of SIDA

activities. Millions peoples have been mobilized.

- Water courses registrations as WCAs

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1 No. of Farmers Organizations 360 %

2 Location of Chairman

A Head 105 30%

B Middle 108 30%

C Tail 146 40%

3 Land Holding

A Upto 16 Acres 52 15%

B 17 to 50 Acres 108 31%

C 51 to 100 Acres 98 27%

D Above 100 Acres 101 27%

4 Qualification

A Primary 69 19%

B Middle 23 6%

C Matric 88 25%

D Intermediate 55 15%

E Graduate 92 26%

F Post Graduate 32 9%

S#

Land

Holding of

Chairman

Percentage of Office Bearers

Chairm

an

Vice

Chairm

an

Secreta

ry

Treasu

rer

Membe

r-1

Membe

r-2

1

Upto 16

Acres20% 40% 60% 40% 60% 40%

2

17 to 50

Acres40% 30% 20% 20% 10% 40%

3

51 to 100

Acres30% 20% 10% 20% 20% 0

4

Above 100

Acres10% 10% 10% 20% 10% 20%

200 FOs managed canals rehabilitated sofarthrough two projects of WB and GoS

FOs to act as contractor for the rehabilitation of their own distributary/ minor canals

US$ 100,000 contract amount- through Community Based Contract (CBC)- FO as contractor

if amount exceeds US$ 100,000, the contract is normally awarded to the private contractors through National Competitive Bidding (NCB). FO becomes employer of the contractor.

Participatory walk-through surveys, contract award, implementation, and monitoring

AWB FOs

Signed

IMT agreement

Total FOs

Collecting

Abiana

Area (CCA

in million

acres) with

Fos

Tentative

Area (CCA

in million

acres) with

AWB

Tentative

Total (in

million

acres)

Remarks

NCAWB 159 159 1.386

(60%)

0.906

2.292

LBCAWB 93 93 0.791

(66%)0.624 1.415

GFCAWB 74 74 0.576

(69%)0.253 0.829

Total 326 3262.753

(61%)

1.783

(39%) 4.537

AWB

Target

Recovery % age(in million)

Nara 610.00 335.5 55

Ghotki 196.65 137.655 70

Left Bank 228.04 114.02 50

Total 1034.69 587.18 57%

• The Commercial rates have been revised and being implemented- only in PIM area

• The Sindh Abadgar, Bhawani, Khoski and Mirza sugar mills paid their bills as per revised

rates.

• Recovery also improved recently due to local bodies elections where election forms were

being rejected on account of Abiana defaulters.

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

-07

20

07

-08

20

08

-09

20

09

-10

20

10

-11

20

11

-12

89%

71%

55%

38% 38%

44%

34%

50%

55%

34%36%

Overall Abiana Recovery over-time (%)

S# Rules / Regulation Framed Remarks

1 SIDA Election Regulation √ Approved

2 SIDA Internal Recall Regulation √ Approved

3 SIDA Financial Regulation √ Approved

4 AWB Election Regulation for Members √ Approved

5 AWB Election Regulations for Chairman √ Approved

6 FO Registration Regulation √ Approved

7 FO Election Regulation √ Approved

8 FO Internal Recall Regulation √ Approved

9 FO Financial Regulation √ Approved

10 Election of DBG Regulation √ Approved

11Internal Recall Regulation of Regulatory

Authority√ Approved

The sample size for FOs/irrigation channel was taken as 30 for the impact assessment

Meanwhile, 6 irrigation channels were taken for control purpose i.e. to be able to attribute the improvements to the project interventions “Without Project”.

Area Location Overall

Head Middle Tail

Area Water Boards 10 10 10 30

Control 2 01 03 03

Total 12 11 13 36

34%

33%

33%

Area Water Boards

Head

Middle

Tail

On quarterly basis, performance of FOs is assessed

through surveys of sample FOs.

Five indicators are used to assess their performance

and sustainability.

1. Organizational Development (20)

2. Irrigation Service Delivery (30)

3. Management of Physical condition of Channels (20)

4. Dispute Resolution (10)

5. Water Charges (abiana) Assessment and Collection (20)

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main findings are:

Conveyance efficiency increased from 66% to 71%

Reliability increased from 42% to 53%

Equity increased by 13%

User satisfaction increased from 51% to 59%

DPR in PIM area is higher than non-FO area (0.82:

0.70)

The main conclusion of study and sample surveys and interviewshave indicated that institutional reforms in irrigation and farmermanaged system is worth to opt and beneficial for not only farmersbut overall economy of Sindh.

The state may get benefit from such interventions by acceleratingreform process and transferring irrigation system to farmers.

Presently, FOs/WCAs have emerged as ongoing functional identitiesmeeting most of the “necessary condition” of institutional reform.

Nevertheless, any FO/WCA will have to qualify the final stage of“sufficient conditions” which as, having organizational adaptabilityto local, physical, social and cultural environment; goal attainment,integration of beneficiaries’ vision, attitude, value system; andknowledge for keeping independent identity at the communitylevel.

The improved water service delivery covering areas of efficiency,reliability, equity, users’ satisfaction, etc would certainly lead toincreased yield and improved living.

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