Progress of constitutional change and irrigation management transfer in Pakistan: insights from a net-map exercise

Abstract

Two current processes of institutional reform -irrigation management transfer (IMT) and the 18th Amendment to Pakistan's Constitution -are expected to significantly impact agriculture and irrigation in Pakistan. Results are analyzed from a net-map exercise conducted with water-sector experts at the federal and provincial (Punjab) scales. The data suggest the potential for successful shifts of decision making under the 18th Amendment. However, weaker perceptions of the role of IMT in water governance were found than would be expected given its long history. This is further evidence that something new is necessary to help shift towards the decentralized IMT model.

Reimagining cost recovery in Pakistan's irrigation system through willingness‐to‐pay estimates for irrigation water from a discrete choice experiment

“…Cost recovery for irrigation system maintenance is low, with the assessed water use charges or abiana themselves not reflecting the cost of service provision (on the order of 150 Rs./acre, approximately USD1.5/acre, depending on crop and season) [ Khan , ] and with low levels of compliance [ Briscoe and Qamar , ]. There is an ongoing process of irrigation management reform in Pakistan that, among other things, places responsibility for collection of abiana in the hands of local institutions [ Bell et al ., ]; establishment of these new institutions led in many cases to short‐term increases in collection of abiana , but compliance typically declined again after only a few seasons [ Memon , ; Asrar‐Ulhaq , ]. These results suggest that farmers might be willing to pay for their water—but only if they can perceive a return to their investment.…”

Using social network analysis to identify key stakeholders in agricultural biodiversity governance and related land-use decisions at regional and local level

“…The different data sets allow for triangulation between network structures and narratives (Gamper et al 2012). There are many descriptions of data collection processes using the Net-Map tool (e.g., Hauck 2010, Schiffer and Hauck 2010, Aberman et al 2012, Bell et al 2013, Campbell et al 2014, Stein et al 2014, therefore, we only briefly describe it here.…”

Water for food security: challenges for Pakistan

“…The first three papers take different perspectives in addressing institutional and technological challenges in agricultural water management. Bell et al (2013) use the net-map analysis tool to assess how key water stakeholders perceive power and interlinkages among water agencies in both the key agricultural province of Punjab and at the national level to infer perceptions about the 18th Amendment (of 2010) to Pakistan's Constitution -which devolved key agricultural functions to the province level -as well as about the implementation of the irrigation management reform process that was started in 2007 as one means to improve water-use efficiency in the IBIS. While the authors find a strong potential for the changes made under the 18th Amendment to be successfully implemented and embraced, they find little if any reflection of the irrigation management transfer processes in the net-map tool results.…”