Impact evaluation of command area development in Meghna Dhonagoda irrigation project

Abstract

Improved water management is of utmost importance for flood control, drainage and irrigation schemes in Bangladesh, as nearly 80 million people live and farm on the floodplains. Water management abounds on these floodplains aI1d people have taken measures to cope with water since time immemorial. The crucial importance 0 f F CDI systems for the livelihood of many millions of people makes it necessary to understand water management practice in FCDI systems and to develop appropriate institutions and management strategies for them. Many studies on water sector in Bangladesh concluded that the intended benefits from -f' FCDI systems have not materialized. This is attributed in part to institutional weaknesses. One of the key approaches for tackling these institutional weaknesses is increasing people's participation in water management. At present the Government of Bangladesh is committed to the participatory development and management of FCDI systems. Earlier, many of the irrigation, drainage and flood control schemes in Bangladesh were jointly managed by the Government and the beneficiaries. Further, it is widely experienced, even in the older schemes, that the beneficiaries are not performing their role well in these jointly managed schemes, and that they fail to become active partners in the day to day management. At present, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has been giving emphasis to ensure people's participation for their water systems management following Guidelines for Participatory Water Management (GPWM). Command Area Development Program (CADP) incorporating Participatory Approach of water management following GPWM has been applied in some BWDB projects like Meghna Dhonagoda Irrigation Project (MDIP), Teesta Irrigation Project (TIP) and Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project (PIRDP) to some extent. In the present study, field investigation was performed to evaluate the impact of Command Area Development Program (CADP) in Meghna Dhonagoda Irrigation Project (MDIP)implemented from 1996-97 to 2002-2003 taking into consideration the hydraulic, agricultural, socioeconomic, environmental and institutional aspects.

For the hydraulic, agricultural, socio-economic, environmental and institutional aspects, the impacts of CADP on the performance of MDIP were assessed comparing the values r of se.lected indicators for the pre and post CADP situations. The hydraulic indicators were used to compare the relative water supply (RWS) and water level for some selected canals with pre (1999) and post (2003) CADP situation. The agricultural indicators directly reflect irrigated agricultural systems. Performance in terms of year wise irrigated area, cropping intensity, yield and production has been used as agricultural indicators. The socio-economic indicators used in this study include fee collection performance and financial self-sufficiency and this relates to long -ternl impacts of agricultural strategies. Water quality, natural vegetation and fish have been considered as parameters for assessing the environmental impact. { In total 388 Water Management Groups (WMGs) were formed in MDIP during 1998 to 2003 under Command Area Development Program following the GPWM. Forty-one WMGs were selected to assess their performance during the irrigation season of 2003. Sets of indicators were also identified to evaluate the impact of CADP on the performance of the project. Questionnaires were prepared and used for systematic collection of data during the field study. The results of the evaluation study revealed that RWS to the field and water level in irrigation canals in post CADP situation was higher than pre CADP situation and the actual water levels were very close to Full Supply Level (FSL). This means that overall reliability of the canal system has been improved after CADP in MDIP. RWS values with an average of 0.93 were achieved during post CADP for Boro rice. Moreover this was not satisfactory because RWS value at or close to 1 .0 represents scarcity 0 f water. Actual irrigated area has been increased by three times as compared to the benchmark year, 1996-97 and irrigated area coverage increased by a bout 6 a % . Cropping i ntensi ty was increased from 200 % to 250 %. Yield for HYV Boro rice was increased from 4 ton/ha to 4.75 tonlha. Production of HYV Boro rice was increased by about 3 times compared to benchmark year. After the CADP in MDIP, irrigation fee collection was started from 2001-02. And still now it quite insignificant and only from the fee collection, it is not possible to make the project 0 & M financially self-sustaining. There was no remarkable environmental change for water quality and natural vegetation after CADP in MDIP. But fish production has increased by two times as compared to the benchmark year. From the institutional aspects, the result of the evaluation study revealed that though all selected WMGs were registered, their activities in all cases were not satisfactory. Still now all farmers are not members ofWMGs, only 61 % of selected WMGs were involved in maintaining their field channels and 76 % of WMGs received technical support from BWDB, but all selected WMG members have received training from NGO and BWDB during 1998 to 2003, and there is lack of linkage between WMGs and BWDB project level authority and amount of fee collection is very poor. Considering all these aspects, the CADP in MDIP produced significant positive results in terms of crop productivity; agricultural returns, supply and distribution of irrigation water. However, efforts should be made to further improve the interaction between the WMG and BWDB and collection of irrigation fee to make 0 & M of the project sustainable.