The Process of Establishing and Functioning of Farmer Water User Committee (FWUC) of SCIRIP

Abstract

The Stung Chinit Irrigation and Rural Infrastructure Project (SCIRIP) aimed to improve living standard of the local farmers through increasing the size of farmlands and at least 2 times per year in rice farming. However, the total targeted area of 7,000 ha in the wet season and 30% in the dry season reached only 2,960ha and 20-30% respectively (mostly vegetation) and the yield was still low. The FWUC was established, but the project was still a problem for the farmers. The study aimed to: assess the process of the FWUC's formation and its roles and responsibilities in providing services to its members, assess the functioning of the FWUC and its performance compared with the defined roles and responsibilities, and analyse constraints and potentials of FWUC encouraged participation from its members. The researchers selected 10 different villages from 3 communes including 100 households of members and 50 households of non-members, 2 persons from FWUC, 10 village heads and 1WUG in each village, and 1 representative from each PDoA, CEDAC, AFD, GRET and PDOWRAM to be interviewed. The results showed that the project was designed with insufficient study of the location. There was too deep of a drain, too small of a watercourse of tertiary and quaternary canals, unequal land uniformity and poor quality of soil (basalt, young and old alluvium). The formation of the FWUC and its regulation did not involve participation from all its members. Moreover, only 50-60% of the regulations were implemented and these focused a lot on fishing activities, management of cattle and buffaloes, and the use of roads and ox-cart tracks, but less on management, water distribution, irrigation and canal protection. The participation from farmers was poor for the small plots of land they owned, traditional habit of rice field protection, multiple jobs, poor commitment and cooperation amongst farmers in system protection. In addition, pest booklets caused problems. The problem resulted from internal factors; poor project design, poor FWUC's implementation, poor participation from farmers and external factors; pest booklets and poor soil conditions.