Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?

Community-managed irrigation systems are commonly faced with problems of low system-level performance. A comprehensive survey was undertaken to assess and quantify the causes of the low irrigation performance in a community-managed oasis in southern Tunisia. At the irrigation system level, results s...

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Autores principales: Ghazouani, Wafa, Marlet, S., Mekki, I., Harrington, Larry W., Vidal, Alain
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41783
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author Ghazouani, Wafa
Marlet, S.
Mekki, I.
Harrington, Larry W.
Vidal, Alain
author_browse Ghazouani, Wafa
Harrington, Larry W.
Marlet, S.
Mekki, I.
Vidal, Alain
author_facet Ghazouani, Wafa
Marlet, S.
Mekki, I.
Harrington, Larry W.
Vidal, Alain
author_sort Ghazouani, Wafa
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Community-managed irrigation systems are commonly faced with problems of low system-level performance. A comprehensive survey was undertaken to assess and quantify the causes of the low irrigation performance in a community-managed oasis in southern Tunisia. At the irrigation system level, results showed that irrigation intervals were double those that had been expected (19-21 days). The main cause was inappropriate farmers' practices at eld level where the irrigation duration was almost twice the expected 10 h ha-1. The extension of date palm plantation and technical dysfunctions played a less important role as they were counterbalanced by cancellation of irrigation in some plots. At the eld scale, excessively long irrigation duration resulted from the joint effects of small elds, poor maintenance of eld-level water delivery systems, uncontrolled night irrigation events and low farmer commitment. This situation emphasizes the question of ef ciency and sustainability of irrigation systems when farmers subvert collective rules. Further, the situation raises the question of equity among farmers which hinders their support for the water users' association and the strict application of water allocation rules. These ndings should help identify an appropriate approach and lead to positive changes in the management of community irrigation systems.
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spelling CGSpace417832025-06-17T08:23:38Z Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis? Ghazouani, Wafa Marlet, S. Mekki, I. Harrington, Larry W. Vidal, Alain communal irrigation systems surveys case studies indicators Community-managed irrigation systems are commonly faced with problems of low system-level performance. A comprehensive survey was undertaken to assess and quantify the causes of the low irrigation performance in a community-managed oasis in southern Tunisia. At the irrigation system level, results showed that irrigation intervals were double those that had been expected (19-21 days). The main cause was inappropriate farmers' practices at eld level where the irrigation duration was almost twice the expected 10 h ha-1. The extension of date palm plantation and technical dysfunctions played a less important role as they were counterbalanced by cancellation of irrigation in some plots. At the eld scale, excessively long irrigation duration resulted from the joint effects of small elds, poor maintenance of eld-level water delivery systems, uncontrolled night irrigation events and low farmer commitment. This situation emphasizes the question of ef ciency and sustainability of irrigation systems when farmers subvert collective rules. Further, the situation raises the question of equity among farmers which hinders their support for the water users' association and the strict application of water allocation rules. These ndings should help identify an appropriate approach and lead to positive changes in the management of community irrigation systems. 2012-02 2014-07-25T11:40:43Z 2014-07-25T11:40:43Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41783 en Limited Access Wiley Ghazouani, W.; Marlet, S.; Mekki, I.; Harrington, Larry; Vidal, Alain. 2012. Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis? Irrigation and Drainage, 61(1):39-51. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.626
spellingShingle communal irrigation systems
surveys
case studies
indicators
Ghazouani, Wafa
Marlet, S.
Mekki, I.
Harrington, Larry W.
Vidal, Alain
Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title_full Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title_fullStr Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title_full_unstemmed Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title_short Farmers' practices and community management of irrigation: why do they not match in Fatnassa oasis?
title_sort farmers practices and community management of irrigation why do they not match in fatnassa oasis
topic communal irrigation systems
surveys
case studies
indicators
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41783
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