OVERVIEW

It is often water and not land that is the limiting factor in agricultural development. In developing countries, agriculture outputs still account for a large proportion of subsistence and export economies. In addition, progress in increasing productivity of crop agriculture is central to efforts to ensure global food security and the conservation of environmental resources.

THE CHALLENGE

In Pakistan, irrigation is central to the country's economy. Approximately 90 percent of agricultural output is entirely dependent on irrigation. Yet Pakistan's irrigation and drainage system ins in dire straits, suffering from water-logging and salinity, overexploitation of fresh ground water, low efficiency in delivery and use, and inequitable distribution.

Take, for example, the case of Gazg, an isolated and neglected village of Balochistan, 280 km southwest of Quetta, the provincial capital. In the absence of telephone, electricity, reliable water supply, and a road, Gazg's population had little choice but to spend at least three months every year to divert only 5.8 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water. Half of this diverted water would go to waste due to seepage between the intake point and the destination area. The annual flood of the Momi River would wash away the diversion structure, leaving the villagers with no option but to spend another three months next year doing the same thing all over again. With the completion of a Rupees 53 million landmark project, supported by the Balochistan Community Irrigation and Agriculture Project(BCIAP), Gazg Perennial Irrigation Scheme supplies villagers with 7.5 cusecs of water and 20 kilowatts of electricity annually.

The project comprised four components: community development and support, the construction or rehabilitation of 30 perennial irrigation schemes and four pilot fl9ood irrigation schemes, institutional strengthening, and project management. Under the community development component, the project provided technical assistance for developing farmers' organizations, the design and construction of irrigation works, formation of women's groups, promotion of better land and water use, and the provision of agriculture extension services. The construction component also provided drinking water (where needed and practical) to people living within the project area. The project's institutional development component trained about 50 Balochistan Irrigation Department (BID) staff members in community participation and began the process of transforming the department from a construction agency to a service organization for small-scale irrigators. The project strengths lie in the organization of the communities, which had to sit down, discuss and agree on one project, and contribute with cast and time for its pursuit. The ownership component deriving the from this process ensures that the project is sustainable over time.

The BCIAP closed in June 2002. it helped redefine the role of government from provider of facilities to an enabler of asset creation, establish grassroots institutions to manage local issues, and introduce simple technologies that permit better resource use and increase income and employment.

        A tomato field in Gazg One of the water channels ensuring water supply for multiple crops and a farmer tending to his field  Â

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LEGACY

Despite recent drought, the BCIAP project has been successful in encouraging the participation of local communities. It also encouraged initiatives to empower women in a traditional male-dominated community. To reduce water-related morbidity, the project trained women on health, hygiene, and safe water usage on all schemes, including the completion of 11 potable water supply systems, which also eased the women's burden of fetching water. In addition to giving training for the operation and management of the potable water supply system, the women were trained to prevent water-borne diseases, and 785 bed-nets were sold to communities to decrease the incidence of malaria.

The success of the project must not only be seen in its timely completion of the physical infrastructure, but also, more importantly, in its truly participatory manner. Communities contributed cash resources and labor, planned together with the engineers, acted as contractors, were eager to be trained, acquired new skills, and are fully conscious of the benefits in maintaining the their communal assets, which in turn enables them to truly "own" the projects.

The Balochistan Community Irrigation and Agriculture Project is an example of how grassroots organizations, supported and guided by government agencies, can apply technology to improve their lives. The project concentrated on developing farmers' organizations to help plan and construct minor irrigation systems and then to assume full responsibility for operating and maintaining them.

All dollar figures are in US dollar equivalents.

June 2003

For more information on the World Bank in Pakistan, please visit:
http://www.worldbank.org/pk