The International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management (INPIM) held its Ninth International Seminar on Participatory Irrigation Management in Lahore from 4-8 December 2006. The theme of the seminar was “Institutional and Technological Interventions for Better Irrigation Management in the New Millennium”, and its three sub-themes were: (i) Participatory Irrigation Management; (ii) Irrigation Financing, (iii) Resource Conserving Technologies. The seminar was conducted in collaboration with a number of national and international partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Government of Pakistan/ Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MinFAL), Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority (PIDA), Directorate of On-Farm Water Management, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), and other national, regional and international research and development organizations. Participants from 11 countries attended the seminar.

The purpose of the seminar was to share new knowledge and experiences gained from experiments, interventions and lessons learnt from various countries, collectively identify various issues and challenges in irrigation sector, jointly deliberate on various options, potential interventions and actions; celebrate progress made so far in implementing irrigation reforms, and develop collaborations and partnerships.

In addition to having important technical sessions and open discussion sessions during the seminar, two field visits were organized for the participants. The first field visit was made to the Shahkot Distributry where the participants got the opportunity to learn about PIM reforms in the LCCE pilot area in Punjab. Open discussion sessions were held with representatives of 15 farmer organizations (FOs), farmers of the area and PIDA staff. The second field visit was undertaken to Shergarh area in Okara District where the resource conservation technologies (RCTs) being promoted in the area were showcased to the participants. The participants, both national and international, found the field visits very interesting and useful in enhancing their understanding of the PIM reform initiative and the new technologies being promoted to farmers. The participants very much appreciated the field visits and strongly felt and expressed that the seminar successfully achieved its objective. The complete proceedings of the seminar are planned to be published as soon as possible.

The highlights and the suggestions offered by the participants and resource persons during the Seminar are presented below.

1. Alleviating Poverty through Irrigation - Irrigation plays an important role in increasing productivity and food security, alleviating poverty and promoting agricultural and economic growth. However, the positive impacts of irrigation depends on a number of factors, which include equity in distribution of land and water resources, irrigation infrastructure condition and its management, water allocation, production technologies, cropping patterns and support measures (input and output marketing, information). Irrigation interventions can be strongly pro-poor, pro-poor, neutral (or even anti-poor) depending on these conditioning factors. The more favorable these factors are, the greater would be the poverty reducing impacts of irrigation.

2. Reforming and Modernizing Irrigation Systems - The importance of participatory irrigation management in irrigation reforms, with the aim to make irrigation systems sustainable, is now widely recognized by governments, donor agencies and other stakeholders. As irrigation reforms progress, issues continue to emerge, alternative PIM models and frameworks continue to be experimented in diverse local environments, and PIM approaches continue to be evolved and refined. Importantly, as water becomes scarce and faces intense sectoral and regional competition in most settings, there is an increasing need to better use and manage each single drop of water. And the PIM approach to irrigation management assumes greater than ever significance in such settings.

The PIM reforms improve O&M of systems, equity of water distribution, reduce farmers’ conflicts, improve irrigation charge collection and generate other benefits. Improving service delivery to users is the key for success of PIM. Modernization of irrigation systems based on service oriented management should be promoted.

The PIM reforms generate more benefits in some settings than in others or in other words PIM performs better and generate greater positive impacts under certain conditions than under others – and such conditions vary across irrigation systems (e.g. land and water distribution structures, farmers’ dependence on agriculture for household income, commitment of the leadership, support to newly created WUAs/FOs, incentives to managers etc). Understanding these conditions and identifying key features of successful WUAs/FOs is important.

3. Linking Irrigation Charging with Service Delivery – There is need to effectively implement well-designed irrigation charging system at least to recover operation and maintenance cost of irrigation. Irrigation charges should be linked to irrigation service delivery. The WUAs/FOs need to be involved not only in collecting irrigation charges but also in determining irrigation charges.

4. Promoting RCTs through FOs and WUAs - The new resource conserving technologies (RCTs) are promising and offer scope for conserving resources, increase productivity and farm incomes. There is a need to further fine tune RCTs and promote them through community and public- private sector partnerships for their wider dissemination and adoption. The WUAs/FOs created under irrigation reforms may be used as vehicles for promoting these technologies.

5. Broadening the Scope of WUAs/FOs’ Activities and Pilot Testing ISP - While access to irrigation is key to increasing productivity, there are also other inputs and support services that are needed for enhancing productivity and overall benefits of irrigation investments. There is a need to promote integrated service provision (ISP) or a package approach for delivery of non-water inputs and services through public-private sector partnership. The scope of WUAs/FOs activities may be broadened to enable them to be involved in ISP and related activities. This, in addition to improving farmers’ access to inputs and services, would also contribute to their sustainability. The proposed ISP project may be initiated in the PIM reform areas.

6. Building Capacity – Capacity building at policy, management and FO level has been identified as one of the top priority areas that require attention, continued commitment and support. Such capacity development program should involve empowering and equipping people and institutions with appropriate tools and resources to address the issues, and should serve as means for enhancing performance and adapting to changing demands in the agricultural water sector. The capacity development program, in addition to building much needed management capacities for newly created institutions, can serve as important vehicles for cross-fertilization of ideas, exchange of experiences and best practices, cross-transfer of technologies across institutions (FOs) and regions. The national/ regional and international organizations with rich experiences in capacity building in irrigation and water resources sectors, such as the International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management, may be involved in such capacity building programs.

Participants emphasized the need for greater role of reputed institutions such as INPIM in supporting and promoting PIM reforms - with support from donors and government agencies.

Further, the Participants highlighted the following three main concerns and offered suggestions:

1. Evaluating PIM Reforms in Pilot Areas - There is a need for independent (third party) evaluation of PIM reforms in the pilot project areas (in Pakistan) in terms of assessing their performance and impacts, identifying gaps, constraints, and developing guidelines for further strengthening and sustaining them.

2. Addressing Agency Transition Issue – Agency transition issue should be thought through carefully and a strategy laid out and implemented in order for PIM reforms to be sustainable in the long run.

3. Promoting On-farm and Off- Farm Linkages – Participants made suggestions on developing a strategy to create linkages between on-farm and off-farm interventions in irrigation and irrigated agriculture, linkages across WUAs, FOs, AWB and service providers, linkages across on-farm and off-farm irrigation management agencies.

Other suggestions made by the participants include the following:

Creating a platform for FOs - federation of FOs at provincial level, for greater communication, exchange of experiences, and for providing them a forum for raising their concerns and voices at the higher level.

Adopting participatory approach in resource conservation – for promoting new RCTs.

Promoting participatory groundwater management and conservation.

The details of these recommendations, along with other material presented and discussed during the seminar will be published in the formal proceedings of the event.