IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/ifprid/2061.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Migration and gender dynamics of irrigation governance in Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela
  • Pradhan, Prachanda
  • Zhang, Wei

Abstract

Nepal has a long history of irrigation, including government and farmer-managed irrigation systems that are labor- and skill-intensive. Widespread male migration has important effects on Nepalese society. How institutions such as Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) respond and adapt, is therefore critical to the understanding of rural transformation and the likely impact on gender equality, food production, and rural livelihoods. This paper examines the effects of male migration on institutional change in WUAs, women’s roles, technological change, and outcomes affecting effectiveness of irrigation systems based on a mixed methods study, combining a phone survey of 336 WUA leaders from all provinces in Nepal with qualitative data from case studies in 10 irrigation systems. Results indicate WUAs have adapted rules to increase women’s participation and monetize the contributions for maintenance. Women exercise agency in whether and how to interact with WUAs. Mechanization has reduced the need for some male labor, though the ability to mechanize is limited by hilly terrain and small plot sizes. Overall, systems are adapting to male migration, with relatively low idling of land or labor shortages causing deterioration of the systems, though there are concerns with the high levels of women’s labor burdens.

Suggested Citation

  • Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Pradhan, Prachanda & Zhang, Wei, 2021. "Migration and gender dynamics of irrigation governance in Nepal," IFPRI discussion papers 2061, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/134815/filename/135028.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Koppen, Barbara & Raut, Manita & Rajouria, Alok & Khadka, Manohara & Pradhan, P. & GC, R. K. & Colavito, L. & O’Hara, C. & Rautanen, S.-L. & Nepal, P. R. & Shrestha, P. K., 2022. "Gender equality and social inclusion in community-led multiple use water services in Nepal," IWMI Working Papers H050908, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Shrestha, Gitta & Pakhtigian, Emily L. & Jeuland, Marc, 2023. "Women who do not migrate: Intersectionality, social relations, and participation in Western Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    NEPAL; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; migration; gender; governance; irrigation; technology; feminization; agriculture; water; Water Users’ Associations;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2061. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.