Extent of Farmers’ Participation in Irrigation Management and Influencing Factors in West Bengal

During 12th Five-Year Plan, Govt. of West Bengal took up an initiative to implement the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) through launching of West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Project (WBADMIP). Present study was undertaken in groundwater irrigation command areas in Burdwan (East) district of West Bengal covering a random sample of 120 farmers representing four water user associations (WUAs). Overall performance index of WUAs under selected groundwater irrigation systems found to be 72.53 per cent. Water management, level of participation and organizational linkage were also perceived better with index value of 85, 78.20 and 71.40 per cent, respectively. But financial management and operation & management functions of WUAs were found relatively low with index values of 67 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively. Overall irrigation performance was positively and significantly associated with farmers’ attributes like average income of the respondent, total land, cultivable land, irrigated land, personal cosmopolite information sources use and personal localite information sources use. WUA’s performance was positively and significantly correlated with farmer’s characteristics like average family income, total land, total cultivated land, irrigated land, average household income and expenditure and use of personal localite information sources, kharif irrigation performance, rabi irrigation performance and overall irrigation performance. Future extension efforts to form, promote and sustain WUAs need to consider income, land and communication related attributes of member-farmers.