A public–private partnership experience in the management of an irrigation scheme using decision-support tools in Burkina Faso

Water user associations: a review of approaches and alternative management options for Sub-Saharan Africa

“…In most countries, but notably Ghana, South Africa, Mali and Mozambique, the annual growth rate of conventionally irrigated areas actually dropped to zero by the year 2000, though increased in Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal between 2000(Svendsen et al 2009 As public spending on agriculture declined, international development banks and agencies promoted IMT and the formation of WUAs as a mechanism to reduce government spending, as well as to increase farmer 'ownership' of irrigation schemes (Turral 1995). The first wave of WUAs in the 1980s and 1990s in West African countries such as Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali aimed to simultaneously decentralize and upgrade the management of existing irrigation systems, while reducing the costs for governments (Aw and Diemer 2005;Wellens et al 2013;Wester et al 1995). Under these conditions, the public sector placed more responsibilities on irrigation water users (Aw and Diemer 2005;Wester et al 1995).…”

“…Under these conditions, the public sector placed more responsibilities on irrigation water users (Aw and Diemer 2005;Wester et al 1995). The often abrupt disengagement of public irrigation agencies contributed to improper O&M of the irrigation systems by WUAs (Vandersypen et al 2007;Wellens et al 2013).…”

“…However, monitoring data on the availability and distribution of water is often lacking at WUA level, which can undermine the ability of WUAs to control water use and impose sanctions when users do not respect irrigation turns or any other operational rule. Several authors argue that monitoring water levels at field level, in particular, can be an effective tool to improve irrigation performance without the need for expensive technical interventions (Poussin et al 2006;Vandersypen et al 2008;Wellens et al 2013). Ambitious plans to implement such M&E may exist at the project planning phase.…”

“…Cases on PPPs in SSA with regard to the impact on smallholders and their irrigation practices are found for Zambia, Swaziland, Burkina Faso and South Africa (Houdret et al 2017;Mapedza et al 2016;Wellens et al 2013). Those cases suggest that the involvement of farmers in the planning phase is critical to achieving sustainable outcomes.…”

“…Mapedza et al (2016) argued that the main reason for failure is a lack of involvement from the smallholder farmers in planning the partnership. A positive example in Burkina Faso is provided by Wellens et al (2013) (Box 6). Here, WUAs were found to be actively involved in drafting the conditions for the PPP contract.…”