Local governance and water management in a smallholder irrigation scheme under management transfer : institutional analysis of the Thabina irrigation scheme, South Africa
This document embodies the results of research conducted between November 2003 and March 2004 at the Thabina Irrigation Scheme in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The objective of the research was two fold: (1) to gain a better understanding of the formal and informal control of water by users of the Thabina Irrigation Scheme and (2) to develop and test a methodology and framework for institutional analysis that is complementary to the SMILE approach and applicable to research at other irrigation schemes. The report first describes the approach used which consists of both a framework for analysis and a methodology. It draws mainly from existing material on collective action in common resource management and more specifically collective action in smallholder irrigation systems. It is complemented with an understanding of irrigation systems as networks composed of heterogeneous material i.e. technical, managerial and social aspects are not separated but analysed as a whole. A qualitative approach is chosen that focuses on water users, their relations to infrastructure and its link with patterns of governance. Following this, a case study of the Thabina Irrigation Scheme is presented. Between 1998 and 2001 the Scheme was rehabilitated as a pilot of the Revitalisation of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in the Limpopo Province. A Water Users' Association and Management Committee were set up under the same programme and management responsibilities turned over to the Committee. A previous study conducted at the Scheme made use of the SMILE approach and indicated a significant economic/agronomic diversification tendency (Perret et al., 2003). The same study also acknowledged the importance of some institutional issues and the availability of water. This report elaborates on these issues.
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | monograph biblioteca |
Language: | eng |
Published: |
CIRAD
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Subjects: | P10 - Ressources en eau et leur gestion, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7252, |
Online Access: | http://agritrop.cirad.fr/525848/ |
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