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Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research

Participatory water management in the Gezira scheme: The challenges ahead

Abdelhadi A. W. and H. S. Adam

Abstract:

Since the start of the Gezira Scheme in 1925, the decision on all the agricultural production activities has been top-down. Although the scheme is composed of more than 10,000 smallholder farmers with strong farmer union and competent experienced agricultural and engineering staffs representing Sudan Gezira Board and the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, the agricultural production is well below the research results. Water management was no exception where the O&M of the minor canals had ambiguous management practices up to the year 2000. The operation of the minor canals was the responsibility of the Sudan's Gezira Board while the maintenance was tackled by the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources. The farmers were only responsible for their field channels with no freedom on crop selection. Since the O&M were unified under the Gezira Board in 2000, it becomes possible to transfer the responsibility to farmer Water User Associations (WUAs) at grass root level with more freedom on crop choices without violating the canal capacities. This has been clearly stated in the new Gezira Act that was approved by the National Assembly in July 2005. There are three basic differences between the authors view and the Farmers Union on the implementation of the new Act. The authors believe that the implementation should be gradual as the setup of the conveyance system and training of more than 1500 WUAs would take a lot of time and financial resources. The estimated time frame was conceived to be about 8 years. The other difference is related to the functions of the WUAs which the authors requires that it must be global covering inputs, finance, planning of areas and crop choice and not just O&M of minor canals. The third basic difference is that we believe the WUAs should be build bottom-up, from the minor to the Block, to the Group and finally, one WUA at the scheme level as stated in the act.
This paper discusses these basic differences and shows that the interpretation of the Act by the farmers union may lead to a complete failure and burry the growing hopes of thousands of farmers for an improved livelihood. Pessimistically, it may lead to a disaster



 

Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 10  (2007) PP. 25-32