60
Excessive water use in irrigation should be prevented through re-arrangements
to be made in demand-based water distribution, crop and area-based irrigation fee
accruing system and constant water fee accruing regardless of number of irrigation.
Excessive water uses cause yield losses and nutrient leach outs and create various
environmental problems such as soil erosion, rise of water table and soil salinity.
Irrigation projects are intended to provide economic and social benefits, which
can only be achieved through proper project operation and management systems.
Effective operation and management of irrigation projects play a significant role in
sustainable natural resource use and world food safety.
Irrigation facilities are usually constructed by states. Nonetheless operation and
maintenance of constructed systems are carried out by the users. The COMCEC
Member Countries construct several irrigation facilities with a significant amount of
investments. Various environmental problems, such as soil erosion, rise of water table,
soil salinity and alkalinity, have arisen because of improper implementations, operation
and maintenance, lack of farmers training. Irrigation water fee collection rates are also
very low in these systems. Therefore, operation, management and maintenance cost of
state-operated systems bring a heavy load to national budgets (ICID, 2010).
Following issues should be taken into consideration to get the desired benefits
from the irrigation projects constructed by allocating significant budgets from national
economies:
 A bottom-up approach, organization and ensure the participation of water
users,
 Improve the structure of agricultural enterprise and facilities,
 Encourage the use of modern irrigation and farming techniques,
 Prevent excessive water and fertilizer use,
 Introducing effective training programs on irrigated agriculture,
 The provision of inter-agency co-ordination,
 The prevention of the misuse of agricultural lands,