The agricultural decision process in a small tank cascade system in Sri Lanka: diagnosing options for adaptive governance

Abstract

Small Tank Cascade Systems (STCS) are interconnected small reservoirs constructed in shallow valleys in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. STCS have assumed heightened significance for their potential contribution to climate adaptation of agricultural systems. Local communities managed STCS to store water by capturing seasonal rain and cultivating crops that suited local conditions over millennia. The British colonial centralisation of STCS governance led to the degradation and deterioration of STCS. Contemporary water governance literature identifies STCSs as complex multifunctional systems. Adaptive co-management (ACM) approaches can reconcile complex resource governance issues by combining co-management with co-governance. We studied Palugaswewa STCS in North Central Sri Lanka to explore farmer and government officials' views, perceptions, knowledge, and experiences about agricultural decision-making including current governance, issues, and proposed improvements seeking evidence for ACM in practice. We interviewed eleven farmers and four extension officials selected from the analysis preceding this research. Our results show that an informal decision process (pre-cultivation meeting) precedes and informs the formal decision process (cultivation meeting), farmers use their collective knowledge and experience to anticipate seasonal weather and plan cultivation, and government officials facilitate a community-led decision process with institutional limitations. We concluded that the informal process compensates for the lack of timely meteorological information, allows space for sharing and co-development of knowledge and facilitates ACM. Future governance interventions in STCS need to recognise informal processes that drive decision-making, provide timely user-centred meteorological information, and rethink legal frameworks at local and national levels to provide flexibility for local farmers.