The irrigation improvement program (IIP) is one of the large-scale projects to help Egypt to sustain its ambitious development plan. The project is being implemented by the irrigation improvement sector of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI).
The program involves a combination of technical changes and infrastructure investment, together with institutional and organisational changes in the way irrigation water is managed.
It has been recognized that the beneficiary farmers can only attain long-term sustainability of irrigation through the sharing of both capital and O & M costs. Although farmers have traditionally cooperated to organize, and pay for, operation and maintains at mesqa level, they did not have their own formal organizations for doing this (although the District engineers, to make arrangements on the farmers’ behalf). Existing agricultural cooperatives are not oriented towards water distribution, being largely established and controlled by Government as a vehicle for subsidized in put distribution and state purchase of agricultural production and membership was mandatory. Therefore, in recognition that new institutions were required, the government has, through law 213 of 1994, amended Irrigation Law 12 of 1984 to enable the MWRI to:
- Organize farmer groups to operate and maintain mesqa facilities;
- Maintain mesqas and tertiary drains at the farmers’ expense, should they fail to do so themselves;
- Implement mesqa improvements and recover the full capital cost of these improvements (without interest);
- Establish a special revolving fund within the Ministry of Finance for future mesqa improvement.
Of key importance, Water Users’ Associations playing a major role in decision-making and the operation and maintenance of the pumps and mesqas by themselves, with minimal assistance from the Irrigation Advisory Service staff.
The fundamental change introduced by the irrigation improvement is to replace individual farmer pumping at multiple points along the mesqa (irrigation ditches) by collective single point pumping.
In addition to the above primary aims, there are many other aspects to the project, including intensive training for water users, the IAS, and all levels of personnel involved to the top of the ministry; special studies and seminars, workshops to help the execution of such a program.
The overall objectives of the project are:
- To increase agricultural production and farm incomes by improving the irrigation infrastructure, facilitating a more equitable distribution of water and improving on-farm water management;
- To improve the long-term sustainability of irrigation, through the assumption of responsibility for operation and maintenance at the tertiary level by farmers, and establishing cost sharing arrangements for tertiary level investment costs;
- To strengthen the institutional planning and implementation capacity of MWRI in the irrigation sector.