Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Africa. They either do this on their own or in conjunction with existing
irrigation facilities.
The irrigation systems provided by NGOs are mostly managed by the
communities through the water user associations that the NGOs help to
establish. The WUAs often own the irrigation infrastructure and are
responsible for operation and maintenance of the facilities to ensure success
and sustainability.
The crop types cultivated and the marketing of products are mostly handled
and decided by the beneficiaries of the facilities. In some cases the NGOs
link the farmers to the markets and allow the farmers to deal directly with
the market or facilitate negotiations between farmers and the markets.
3.3.3
Non-Government Initiated but later
supported/partnered by Government
There are other types of irrigation systems which were initiated by private
individuals or groups but later received government support or intervention.
These have characteristics and success stories different from the types
discussed in previous sections. There are examples of private/community
initiated irrigation systems in Kenya which were subject to government
interventions and led to irrigation expansion. The Ng'uuru Gakirwe water
project was expanded by the local users to also provide irrigation. This
expansion was financed through a government loan to the farmers which
they paid as annual water charges. Irrigation is by sprinkler and each farmer
is expected to irrigate up to 1 hectare. The scheme accommodates 430
farmers and has potential coverage area of 6000ha (Mati and De Vries,
2005).
Field surveys conducted in Burkina Faso (Ofosu et al., 2010), identified
groups of shallow well farmers being assisted by government to re-construct
their shallow wells, line the wells and being promised motorized pumps for
lifting water. Such interventions can boost the ability of farmers to produce
more.
There are instances where local individuals have rejected or resisted
government intervention. A typical example is the Jamaane village scheme in
Senegal. It is a small-scale irrigation system established by local people from
their own resources. But local people had to respond to attempts by the
Senegalese Government to become involved together with USAID when the
farmers applied for a US$60,000 loan from USAID for the purchase of
equipment. The farmers rejected the government involvement because they
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