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ADB Project in Pakistan Gives Farmers More Control Over Irrigation

Smallholder farmers in Pakistan will have more participation -- and control -- over irrigation in a Punjab Farmer-Managed Irrigation Project for which the Asian Development Bank today approved a US$7.8 million concessional loan.

Farmers' organizations for the first time will have management control of the distributary canals that feed the smaller watercourses which irrigate their individual farms. This was previously the responsibility of government provincial water authorities. Farmers have long managed irrigation at the watercourse level and are now willing and able to assume management responsibility of the distributary level further up the irrigation system.

"By giving farmers more responsibility and control over the sources of their irrigation water, the project aims to reduce the inequalities of water distribution and make the project more sustainable," says Akmal Siddiq, the ADB project economist. "Farmers will assess and collect water fees and they will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the irrigation systems."

The project is part of a national reform program to improve the governance of irrigation systems to ensure sustainability, improve equity of water distribution and increase agricultural production and incomes. A participatory approach with greater autonomy for the irrigation community is seen as essential to increase growth in irrigated agriculture and agro-based industries as well as raise rural employment and reduce poverty.

Some 17,500 smallholder farm families will benefit from this project.

Agriculture is the largest sector in Pakistan's economy and is the major contributor to Gross Domestic Product. Seventy percent of the country's irrigated agriculture is in Punjab province.

The physical condition of the distributary canals across Pakistan has deteriorated due to lack of maintenance, resulting in significant inequalities in delivery, frequent breaches of the canals, and water loss due to seepage.

The project will develop the institutional capacity of farmers for sustainable management of distributary canals. It is expected to lift agricultural output by 15 percent through improved water delivery and a more equitable water distribution and it will reduce subsidies. In addition, it will conserve natural resources by reducing water losses due to saline groundwater. The project will be evaluated to provide feedback for replication.

Two of the larger distributary canal commands in the Punjab covering a total of 53,000 hectares will be covered by the project. More than 75 percent of the farmers in the project area cultivate their own land. The project will establish two fully autonomous and financially self-sufficient farmers' organizations.

The ADB loan, which will cover 61 percent of the total cost of the project, will come from the Bank's concessional Asian Development Fund. It will be repayable within 35 years, including a grace period of ten years. It will carry an interest charge of one percent per annum.

The Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority will be the executing agency for the project.

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