REVIEW OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 52

feared losing control over their products once the government would become
a partner (Adams, 1977, cited in Barnett, 1984).
Non-government-led irrigation systems which later receive government
intervention are mostly managed by the users. In most of these cases the
users are organised farmer-groups who manage their system through elected
leadership. The leadership collaborate with the government agency
responsible for the intervention on behalf of the group.

3.3.4 Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are partnership arrangements between smallholder irrigation
associations and private companies. In joint ventures the two contracting
parties have different interests that may complement each other. The private
companies are in search of suitable land, water and labour resources, and the
local irrigators are looking for assistance in putting their derelict irrigation
infrastructure to work (van der Zaag, 2010). These are recent irrigation
contract arrangements which are not common across sub-Saharan Africa.
Examples of such joint ventures can be identified in Mozambique.
For example, in the Chokwe Irrigation Scheme, the irrigators of one lateral
canal (known as ‚distribuidor 11‛), have created an association,
AREDONZE (Associação de Regantes do Distributor 11), which entered into
a joint venture with MIA (Moçfer Industrias Alimentares), a private
company with strong links to the state. MIA engages in seed production,
agricultural input provision and processing and marketing of agricultural
produce (mainly rice in Chokwe). AREDONZE commands around 1000 ha of
irrigated land, which, when fully irrigated, comprises about 15-20% of the
annually irrigated area in Chokwe. The association consists of about 350
small to medium rice farmers. The association is entitled to water via
HICEP, the semi-public organisation that holds and controls the water
license for the whole system. But AREDONZE lacked the financial capital to
rehabilitate tertiary canals after encountering some devastating floods.
Meanwhile MIA was looking for opportunities to set up shop in Chokwe
irrigation scheme and opted to engage in a partnership with AREDONZE
(Munguambe et al., 2010).
The agreement is complex and not without risks. This partnership has led to
some tangible and positive results in terms of technological development,
maintenance, input provision and marketing, but there are also some real
drawbacks. For example, despite improved rice production in AREDONZE,
after two seasons, the majority of the leadership within AREDONZE