Strengthening farmer water user communities to improve irrigation management : Tuk Chha and Thmor Da Reservoirs, Cambodia | |
| Author | Keang Ngy |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AS-03-09 |
| Subject(s) | Irrigation farming -- Cambodia Water in agriculture -- Cambodia Irrigation|zCambodia -- Management |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AS-03-09 |
| Abstract | Very small proportions of irrigation schemes in Cambodia are operational to their fullest capacity. Only one third of the designed command area is actually being irrigated and similarly, rarely have average yields reached those levels anticipated during the design phase of the projects. This has made projects very expensive and, in many cases, uneconomical. At the same time, the life of the schemes has often been overestimated and environmental degradation due to siltation; water logging and erosion have often proved to be more serious than originally anticipated. To overcome these problems NGOs, IOs and Government have tried to form the Farmer Water User Community (FWUC). Strengthening FWUC is a key element for management and development of irrigated system. After rebuilding Tuk Chha and Thmor Da irrigated Schemes by finance from the loan of ADB the Programme de Reabilitation au Secteur Agricole du Cambodge (PRASAC) supported by the European Union to establish for Tuk Chha and Thmor Da FWUCs and the Special Program for Food Security (SPFS) has trained farmers in crop production, animal raising, fish culture and water irrigation management in field level of this area. This study was focused on strengthening FWUCs, which were established by PRASAC in Tuk Chha, and Thmor Da irrigated Schemes of Boeng Nay and Kroch Communes, Prey Chhor District, Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The main objective was to comprehensively assess the operation and maintenance activities to determine the extent of farmers' participation in management schemes. A set of structured questionnaire and guideline were used in the interview and data collection. The related secondary data were collected from Irrigation Office and Community Development Office of PRASACII Kampong Cham. The study showed that FWUCs are weak, because most of leaders are poor farmers and have poor education with no salary in their occupation. Its means SMC has small amount of water fee collection, which is inadequate for developing irrigation managements and maintenances because all farmers are willing to pay only small-irrigated area. Other hands collaboration between commune authorities with leaders ofFWUC is not strong enough to punish some people who do not follow the rule. Furthermore, PRASAC project was finished before FWUC could be self-manage. For strengthening FWUC, the MWRM agency has to reduce members of SMC from 30 to 5 persons per scheme. They are active people who work as a leader, a financier, a cashier, operators and safeguards. SMC need to get salary from government or NGOs at first. After that, the community will have to be strong in collecting water fee for running their activities in self-management. For Cambodian people, FWUC is a new work, which needs the time to disseminate to farmers, and needs to cooperate all of government agencies, NGOs, IOs, farmers and local authorities for sustainable development management irrigation system. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AS-03-09 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems(AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Zoebisch, Michael ;Clemente, Roberto; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA);Asian Institute of Technology |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003 |