AN ANALYSIS OF AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM CASE STUDIES OF COLLABORATIVE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN MAHAWELI SYSTEM H

Abstract

Collaborative resource management has been a focus of a number of nationalenvironmental policy developments in Sri Lanka. The irrigation sector provides a richsource of experiences and lessons in user participation. The Mahaweli System H beganan accelerated programme of transferring management responsibility to DistributoryCanal Farmer Organisations (DCFOs) in 1998. This study attempted to construct asuitable weighted composite performance index (WCP!) to evaluate the participation andperformance of DCFOs in the co-management of the Mahaweli System H. Data werecollected from 60 DCFOs from Madatugama and Eppawala blocksOutcomes of the co-management provide evidence of a significant (36%) increase inwater productivity of the D~FOs. There was a marginal increase in agriculturalproductivity and profitability. Irrigation fee collection rates (90%) and accumulation ofreserves (27%) in DCFOs had improved significantly in the DCFOs in both blocks.However, financial self-sufficiency was affected due to inadequate opportunities for newsources of income and less control on cost. Relative less participation was found amongtail-end farmers compared to head-end farmers in meetings and decision-making. Thismeans that they risk not gaining the crucial benefits that can be realised from comanagement.Compared to Eppawala the DCFOs in Madatugama had gained controlover many operational decisions and secured the opportunity to stabilise theirperformance. WCPI analysis shows that in both the studied blocks future sustainabilityremains on 50% of the weakly performing DCFOs. Systematic continuos monitoring andevaluation of the performance particularly in financial and institutional aspects, as wellas more training and additional time will improve the performance of the weak DCFOs