The absence of either state regulations or markets to coordinate the operation of individual wells has focussed attention on community level institutions as the primary loci for sustainable groundwater management in Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. The reported research relied on theoretical propositions that livelihood strategies, groundwater management and the propensity to cooperate are associated with the attitudinal orientations of well owners in the Meghraj and Dharta watersheds, located in Gujarat and Rajasthan respectively.

Here, more than 100 years of incumbency reports on officers of the irrigation bureaucracy of Punjab, Pakistan, are presented and analyzed. The data highlight how representation changed before and after partition within the irrigation bureaucracy. The data show that the irrigation bureaucracy increased through staffing its representation of local communities and is in its appointments responsive to elected representatives. Therefore, it is argued that empowerment of the local community can be achieved without irrigation management transfer but through the irrigation bureaucracy itself.

This study examines the socioeconomic features that underpin the expansion of groundwater-dependent irrigation in Northern State, Sudan. Groundwater development in the region serves as an economic lifeline given the poor Nile-based irrigation infrastructure and future changes in Nile hydrology. Groundwater-dependent irrigation is found to be expanding in previously uncultivated regions increasingly distant from the Nile.

Land reform is a many-splendoured thing. The term has been used to include not only redistributive reforms of ownership rights but also the establishment of collective or communal forms of farming, state sponsored land colonization schemes in frontier areas, and land tenure reforms, i.e., changes in the contractual arrangements between the landowner and those who cultivate the land. In addition, tax (and credit) measures intended to create incentives for large landowners to sell part of their holding sometimes are described as “market friendly” land reforms.

Background: Farmers apply several and often different farmer-specific strategies to cope with and adapt to the perceived trend of declining rainfall and crop productivity. A better understanding of the factors affecting farmers’ coping and adaptation strategies to counteract both trends is crucial for policies and programs that aim at promoting successful rainfed agriculture in Ethiopia.

Land degradation of agricultural areas in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, specifically due to soil salinization, has resulted in significant declines in agricultural productivity. This study builds upon previous limited work on 'Bright Spots' by focusing on specific farming enterprises in the two target countries. The objective of this study was to identify factors that contributed to the enhanced performance of 'Bright Spots' in each of the target countries and based on this evaluation assess possible options for expansion and out-scaling of 'Bright Spots' to larger areas.

Demonstrates the viability of farmers organizations for managing parts of the water resource system to achieve efficient and equitable use of water in a hierarchical society such as Pakistan. Suggests a successful conceptual and methodological framework for taking a bottom-up approach to the formation of water users associations and identifies possible constraints on its wider application.

Describes the process of transfer of irrigation districts in Mexico from public ownership to joint management, where responsibility for irrigation O&M is shared between the public irrigation agency and water user associations. It evaluates the sustainability of transferred systems and discusses needed changes.