High‐yielding capacity building in irrigation system management: targeting managers and operators

Abstract

Irrigation management is facing complex challenges evolving with the transformation of agriculture, competition over resources, environmental concerns, without forgetting the critical objective of food production. Managers are ill prepared to meet these challenges and the FAO called for and initiated a massive retraining programme of engineers and managers on irrigation system modernization to address these issues, starting in Asia. Results from this first generation of interventions confirmed the lack of success of many investments and institutional reforms, gaps in capacity and training and the potential for achieving significant improvements at minimal cost by focusing on system operation. The FAO prepared new guidelines for improving system operation and management (MASSCOTE) based on service-oriented management concepts, tested them through training workshops in Nepal, India and China and is disseminating them through a second-generation training programme building on first-generation knowledge synthesis. This paper presents the FAO's strategic approach to capacity building on service-oriented management. It builds on the major lessons drawn from past programmes and is based on three interrelated thrusts: at the system, state and regional/global levels. Concepts, methodologies, lessons learned on upscaling to policy and long-term investment planning, limitations and conditions for success and future programme development are discussed. Copyright RÉ SUMÉLa gestion de l'irrigation est confrontée à des défis complexes en évolution avec la transformation de l'agriculture, la concurrence sur les ressources, les préoccupations environnementales, sans oublier l'objectif critique de la production alimentaire. Les gestionnaires sont mal préparés pour répondre à ces défis et la FAO a lancé un vaste programme de nouvelle formation des ingénieurs et cadres sur la modernisation des systèmes d'irrigation pour traiter ces questions, en commençant par l'Asie. Les résultats de cette première génération d'interventions ont confirmé le manque de succès de beaucoup d'investissements et de réformes institutionnelles, les lacunes dans les capacités et la formation et les possibilités de parvenir à des améliorations significatives à peu de frais en se concentrant sur le fonctionnement du système. La FAO a élaboré de nouveaux guides pour améliorer l'exploitation The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Scientific and methodological substantiation of measures for environmental management of upstream area Tupolangsky waterworks

“…Moreover, using the MASSCOTE technique (this is the search for a solution to improve irrigation management and operation and better user service) [6][7][8][9][10][11]. The necessary materials were taken from annual reports of the Regional Department of Water Management of the Surkhandarya Region, also irrigation and drainage expeditions.…”

From central control to service delivery? reflections on irrigation management and expertise

“…The decades focusing on physical infrastructure have been superseded by additional awareness of the importance of social and political issues (Franks et al, 2008). In response to these challenges, the FAO has recently launched the MASSCOTE approach, which stands for Mapping System and Services for Canal Operation Techniques (Renault et al, 2007;Facon et al, 2008). The modernization definition from the FAO discussed above is the core of MASSCOTE.…”

Efficiency Analysis of the Input for Water-Saving Agriculture in China

“…More than 400 of the 669 cities in China have insufficient water supply, 108 cities are seriously deprived of water, and the water shortage exceeds 6 billion m 3 in China annually [2]. This has affected the normal production and lives of more than 160 million people [3,4]. The amount of blue water resources in eight provinces is still unable to cover the needs of the domestic ecosystem, including in Qinghai province, which is known as the "source of rivers" [5].…”