REVIEW OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 58

3.4.4 Ineffective Institutions

Irrigation institutions have to be effective to promote and manage irrigation
to be productive, efficient and sustainable. Effective institutions are required
from the farm level, catchment level to the national level. These institutions
are responsible for ensuring irrigation productivity and efficiency, planning of
irrigation development, managing of impacts due to irrigation development,
formulating and implementing policy directives and funding towards
sustainable irrigation development.
The historical bias toward infrastructure investment to the neglect of
ensuring effective institutions is one cause of poor irrigation performance
(Faurès et al., 2007). Effective institutional arrangements have failed due to
insufficient resources, lack of political support, lack of proper involvement of
water users, resistance of public agencies and water users and lack of
capacity building.
Ineffective institutions have resulted in limited access to water and land for
irrigation development (Lahiff, 1999). Insecure tenure is a disincentive to
farmers who wish to make long-term investments on their land. For example
in Rhodesia, under the Control of Irrigable Area Regulations of 1970, every
plot-holder was issued three permits, which had to be renewed every year
(Manzungu et al., 1999). Under such conditions irrigators can be replaced in
certain circumstances. As a result farmers were not willing to invest in long-
term infrastructure on their land-holdings.
Within the past 15-20 years there have been some institutional reforms in
many countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on withdrawing
government from management. Management responsibilities have therefore
been transfered from centralised bureaucratic management to lower levels
(FAO, 1997; Johnson et al., 2004). However as Faurès et al. (2007) put it
effective institutional arrangements for irrigation still remain a challenge.
Institutional reforms backed by strong political commitment towards
productive and sustainable irrigation development are needed in sub-Saharan
Africa (Merrey et al., 2007). Sustainable institutional reforms have the
following characteristics: they give legal recognition to farmers and farmer
groups, clearly recognise sustainable water rights and water service, specify
management functions, provide compatible infrastructure with water service,
create effective accountability and incentives for management, have viable
arrangements for conflict resolution, mobilize adequate resources for
irrigation and ensure that farmer investments are proportional to benefits
that exceed costs (Samad and Merrey, 2005; Merrey, 1997).