IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jic/wpaper/34.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Assessing Effectiveness and Sustainability of Communitymanaged Informal Irrigation in Africa: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of “Temporary" Irrigation in Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Hanatani, Atsushi
  • Sato, Mine

Abstract

Since early 2000, a type of group-based informal irrigation for irrigating a very small area – less than two hectares on average, has seen widespread adoption among Malawian farmers. The technology, called “temporary” irrigation, uses farmers’ own labor and locally available materials for constructing river diversion structures and canals, and these are managed by informal “clubs.” This paper attempts to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of this technology from the beneficiaries’ point of view, by employing an analytical framework that focuses on property rights and collective action as critical factors affecting technology choice and adoption. A comparative examination of selected informal irrigation cases in the Dowa district reveals that, in spite of the absence of secure tenure over land and water and of strong collective-action incentives among farmers, temporary irrigation has satisfied most of the effectiveness criteria and thus has contributed to technological expansion. This is attributable to the relative resource affluence and temporary nature of irrigation facilities which have existed at least up to the present. But the very “success” of the informal irrigation technology is changing the nature of the resources: where water in the streams has become scarce, river-bank lands have been commoditized and temporary diversion structures have been upgraded to permanent structures. Specific policy measures necessary to ensure sustainability of temporary irrigation should include: 1) provision of agronomic extension services to improve the profitability of irrigation, 2) promotion of basin-wide watershed management including provision of opportunities for stakeholder dialogues for conflict resolution while improving water use efficiency to enable secure and equitable access to productive resources, and 3) a cautious approach in strengthening water users’ associations based on deeper understandings of the farmers’ incentives (cost and benefit) for taking collective action.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanatani, Atsushi & Sato, Mine, 2011. "Assessing Effectiveness and Sustainability of Communitymanaged Informal Irrigation in Africa: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of “Temporary" Irrigation in Malawi," Working Papers 34, JICA Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:jic:wpaper:34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10685/89
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://jicari.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=640&file_id=9&file_no=1
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alwang, Jeffrey & Siegel, P. B., 1999. "Labor Shortages on Small Landholdings in Malawi: Implications for Policy Reforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1461-1475, August.
    2. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, ed. & Di Gregorio, Monica, ed., 2004. "Collective action and property rights for sustainable development," 2020 vision focus 11, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Woodhouse, Philip, 2003. "African Enclosures: A Default Mode of Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1705-1720, October.
    4. Bardhan, Pranab, 1993. "Analytics of the institutions of informal cooperation in rural development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 633-639, April.
    5. Pauline Peters & Daimon Kambewa, 2007. "Whose Security? Deepening Social Conflict over ‘Customary’ Land in the Shadow of Land Tenure Reform in Malawi," CID Working Papers 142, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    7. Orr, Alastair & Mwale, Blessings, 2001. "Adapting to Adjustment: Smallholder Livelihood Strategies in Southern Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1325-1343, August.
    8. Rosegrant, Mark W. & Perez, Nicostrato D., 1997. "Water resources development in Africa: a review and synthesis of issues, potentials, and strategies for the future," EPTD discussion papers 28, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Adams, W. M., 1990. "How beautiful is small? Scale, control and success in Kenyan irrigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(10), pages 1309-1323, October.
    10. Knox, Anna & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Hazell, P. B. R., 1998. "Property rights, collective action and technologies for natural resource management: a conceptual framework," CAPRi working papers 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Droppelmann, Klaus & Makuwira, Jonathan & Kumwenda, Ian, 2012. "All eggs in one basket : A reflection on Malawi’s dependence on agricultural growth strategy," IFPRI discussion papers 1177, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Maia Green, 2015. "Making Africa middle class: From poverty reduction to the production of inequality in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 295-309, June.
    3. Rosegrant, Mark W. & Ringler, Claudia, 1999. "Impact on food security and rural development of reallocating water from agriculture:," EPTD discussion papers 47, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Ellis, Frank & Kutengule, Milton & Nyasulu, Alfred, 2003. "Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1495-1510, September.
    5. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Ali, Zulfiqar, 2007. "A tale of two Upazilas : local governance and social development in Bangladesh," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2396, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    7. Ansoms, An & McKay, Andrew, 2010. "A quantitative analysis of poverty and livelihood profiles: The case of rural Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 584-598, December.
    8. Pender, John L. & Scherr, Sara J., 1999. "Organizational development and natural resource management: evidence from central Honduras," EPTD discussion papers 49, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Sánchez, Fabio, 2008. "Decentralization's Effects on Educational Outcomes in Bolivia and Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1294-1316, July.
    10. Kamanga, Penjani & Vedeld, Paul & Sjaastad, Espen, 2009. "Forest incomes and rural livelihoods in Chiradzulu District, Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 613-624, January.
    11. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & DiGregorio, Monica & McCarthy, Nancy, 2004. "Methods for studying collective action in rural development," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 197-214, December.
    12. Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Pender, John & Kato, Edward & Mugarura, Samuel & Muwonge, James, 2005. "Who knows, who cares?: determinants of enactment, awareness and compliance with community natural resource management," CAPRi working papers 41, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Ralitza Dimova & Shubhashis Gangopadhyay & Katharina Michaelowa & Anke Weber, 2015. "Off-Farm Labor Supply and Correlated Shocks: New Theoretical Insights and Evidence from Malawi," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 361-391.
    14. Lauren Pandolfelli & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Stephan Dohrn, 2008. "Gender and collective action: motivations, effectiveness and impact," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 1-11.
    15. Babigumira, Ronnie & Angelsen, Arild & Buis, Maarten & Bauch, Simone & Sunderland, Terry & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Forest Clearing in Rural Livelihoods: Household-Level Global-Comparative Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 67-79.
    16. Knox, Anna & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, 2000. "Collective action, property rights, and devolution of natural resource management: exchange of knowledge and implications for policy," CAPRi working papers 11, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Zeeshan & Geetilaxmi Mohapatra & Arun Kumar Giri, 2022. "How Farm Household Spends Their Non-farm Incomes in Rural India? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(4), pages 1967-1996, August.
    18. Houssa, Romain & Verpoorten, Marijke, 2015. "The Unintended Consequence of an Export Ban: Evidence from Benin’s Shrimp Sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 138-150.
    19. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron & Naieni, Mohammad Saeid Noori & Shamekhi, Taghi, 2012. "Poverty, sustainability, and household livelihood strategies in Zagros, Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 60-70.
    20. Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora Alejandra, 2019. "Land titling and its effect on the allocation of public goods: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Malawi ; informal irrigation ; property rights ; collective action ; effectiveness ; sustainability;
    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:jic:wpaper:34. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Japan International Cooperation Agency Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jicgvjp.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.