Performance of large rice-based irrigation systems in Southeast Asia: results and lessons learned from the application of a rapid appraisal process in an FAO training programme

摘要

The vast and expanding body of literature on the performance of irrigation systems reflects the expanding circle of specialists, disciplines and stakeholders interested in evaluating the performance of irrigation systems. The selection of a particularset of performance indicators reflects a particular perspective and has a significant influence on the specific objectives of system management and improvement. It also has a significant influence on the details of interventions and the changes considered. Efforts to improve irrigation performance in Asia have to a large extent concentrated on "irrigation efficiency" and on-farm water management and, more recently, on governance and institutional issues, mostly to improve cost recovery. Aspects relatedto design and operation of irrigation systems and service delivery have been neglected and this neglect is also reflected in many irrigation development and rehabilitation programmes. As a result, farmers often have not seen much improvement in the water delivery service provided by the systems and results in terms of agricultural and economic performance and irrigation efficiency have been disappointing. The selection by FAO of the rapid appraisal process (RAP), developed by the Irrigation Training and Research Centre of California Polytechnic University, and its further development for FAO and the World Bank, as a methodology for appraisal of conditions and performance of irrigation systems, have been consistent with the promotion of irrigation modernization understood as "a process of technical and managerial upgrading (as opposed to mere rehabilitation) of irrigation schemes with the objective to improve resource utilization (labour, water, economic resources, environmental resources) and water delivery service to farms" and the promotion of a service orientation in the irrigation sector. A recent series of appraisals of large and medium-scale irrigation systems by FAO and partner national irrigation agencies in eight countries in Asia by trainees of national workshops organized under a Regional Irrigation Modernization Training Programme using RAP shows that system performance and service delivered to farmers are poor but could be improved significantly with changes in design, operation and management that can easily be introduced. The level of chaos (difference between stated policies and actual policies) and of anarchy (subversion of policies) in the appraised systems is high.