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Irrigation System Management (ISM) poses many issues in terms of social and technical aspects. These can be further elaborated as the issues toward the efficiency of infrastructure, equity of water sharing, environmental integrity and economic acceptability. Water losses and the structural changes of the system caused many issues putting the irrigation system into distress. Hence, this urges the need for sustainable ISM to improve social and technical attributes in ISM. This paper aims to apply the Socio-Technical Systems (STSs) theory for sustainable ISM.

The qualitative expert opinion survey method was selected as the research strategy to approach the research aim. Sixteen industry professionals in the ISM sector were selected through the purposive sampling method to conduct semi-structured interviews to collect data in the Sri Lankan context. Code-based content analysis through a directed approach was used to analyse the data.

Four main categories of strategies were emerged from the research findings as “engineering strategies”, “operational strategies”, “management strategies” and “regulatory strategies” through STS approach for sustainable ISM. The STS framework was developed by combining engineering and operational strategies into the technical subsystem and the management and regulatory strategies into the social subsystem to approach the aim of achieving contemporary system management in irrigation in a sustainable manner.

The research revealed the links between the strategies emerged from various disciplines to minimise the issues in ISM from the perspectives of technical and social subsystems. The study contributes to knowledge by providing a framework for sustainable ISM by applying the socio-technical systems theory by integrating the concepts of sustainability.

An understanding of the social entrepreneurial behavior of key stakeholders in Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) is of vital importance to the socioeconomic growth of a country. The term social entrepreneurship or social enterprise is relatively new to Sri Lanka just as it is with many other developing countries. Social entrepreneurs are those who solve social and environmental problems that hinder social inclusion, economic integration, and sustainable development. Though many entrepreneurs are operating across the different agricultural sectors for many years, the exact nature of social entrepreneurial behavior among them is still unknown. As an agricultural economy-based country, PIM policy encompassing many strategies has been implemented in Sri Lanka to eradicate poverty and hunger in society. Therefore, this chapter aims to focus on the socioentrepreneurship of five key stakeholders in PIM and to provide empirical evidence of their activities in the area of the Bata-atha branch canal in the Walawe irrigation scheme, Sri Lanka, where PIM has been implemented. This chapter finds that the establishment of the Bata-atha farm by the Ministry of Agricultural Development and the irrigation management of Bata-atha tail-end branch canal under the organizational efforts of the Agunukolapelessa block office of Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka presents a good example of an innovative and supportive farm management system that contributes to significant improvements in the socioeconomic situation of the vulnerable farming community. Moreover, this chapter shows that the collective action of active farmer organizations and successful sole proprietors in the area constitute social entrepreneurial behavior that contributes to the social transformation. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications this has for the irrigated agricultural sector and the need for further research to identify the potential for continued development by fostering the practices of socioentrepreneurship in the country.

Water resources development plays a central role in reducing poverty and achieving sustainable economic growth in Laos. The development of irrigation is vital for the rural population dependent on agricultural production, but irrigation projects have suffered from low levels of maintenance, as farmers have felt little ownership for the government projects. At the moment, a process of Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) is undertaken in Laos with the aim of transferring the management and operation of schemes to farmers. This article aims at evaluating, how IMT has been implemented in Laos and how it is affecting the sustainability of agriculture.

Effective irrigation management hinges upon effective collective action among farmers and irrigation managers. The purpose of this study is to examine how the institutional design of irrigation agency affects the incentives and ability of irrigation managers to do a conscientious job and to relate to farmers in managing irrigation, and hence affects irrigation performance.

This study compares the Department of Irrigation (DOI) in Nepal and the Irrigation Associations (IAs) in Taiwan. Based upon extensive fieldwork undertaken in the two countries, this study identifies the opportunities and constraints embedded in the institutional designs of the agencies, and analyzes their effects on the behavior of irrigation managers.

The two irrigation agencies are designed upon very different conceptions of how the provision and production of irrigation can be organized. The DOI is built upon the premises of top‐down control, a reliance on technical knowledge, professional management, and uniform rules and regulations. The IAs, on the other hand, are designed upon the premises of reciprocity among irrigation managers, complementarity between the agency and farmers' efforts, the importance of mobilizing local knowledge and resources, the embeddedness of the agency in local communities, and a problem‐solving orientation.

Irrigation institutions that enable farmers and irrigation managers to cope with the problematics involved in the provision and production of irrigation operation and maintenance (O&M) are better able to nurture and sustain synergistic and productive working relationships.

The findings of this study can inform policy reform in the irrigation sector in specific, and in resource management and development administration in general.

This study provides not only a theoretical perspective for understanding and comparing institutions, but also empirical evidence for understanding how institutions affect irrigation performance.

Heavily subsidised irrigation systems have been the government’s measure to improve the farmer’s lives. However, evaluation of the performance of these systems was often overlooked. Thus, this study aims to assess the efficiency of irrigation systems in Davao del Sur, Philippines, according to agricultural, social and economic aspects, namely cropping intensity, functionality and production and monthly average income per hectare, respectively. More than half of the national irrigation schemes exhibited outstanding functionality based on organisation, system and operation and maintenance areas, while almost 75% of the communal schemes have exhibited the same. On the other hand, communal systems have higher cropping intensities (wet – 106% and dry – 116%) than those of the national schemes (wet – 89.8% and dry – 89.1%). Results show that communal systems perform better than those managed by Irrigation Administration. The former have been given the full control over their farm areas, where it is expected that members of the association are able to fully articulate in the decision-making and participate in their activities. Although irrigation managers of the said agency have key roles in the capacity building and management of the irrigation systems, performances of such systems largely depended on how well farmers manage the irrigation association.

Sustaining the irrigated agriculture, while conserving the natural eco-system, are the two main objectives of sustainable water management (SWM) in irrigation. Achieving both the objectives simultaneously is a complex task in most developing countries. This requires a holistic approach of understanding the issues in irrigation water management (IWM) from social, economic and environmental perspectives. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the issues towards the SWM of irrigation systems in Sri Lanka to help maintain a stable relationship between the aforementioned two objectives.

Qualitative interview survey was selected as the research strategy to achieve the research aim. 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in IWM sector to collect data in the Sri Lankan context. Data were analysed using code-based content analysis, based on directed approach.

Findings revealed the issues in SWM in terms of efficiency of irrigation infrastructure; equity of water distribution; environmental integrity and economic acceptability. Most of the issues were related to the inefficiency towards SWM of irrigation systems. Conflicts among water users, especially the people in downstreams aggravated the problem of equity of water sharing. Depletion of groundwater and waterlogging were the major issues towards environmental integrity. Loss of water happened due to the issues in different irrigation infrastructure components hindering economic acceptability.

Theoretical contribution includes an analysis of issues in IWM from a sustainability perspective. Practical implications include an overview of deficiencies in the SWM to generate appropriate strategies to achieve sustainability for decision-makers such as policymakers in the irrigation sector in developing countries similar to Sri Lanka.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of four components of social capital on farmers’ participative behaviour in collective actions for constructing and operating small-scale groundwater irrigation systems on the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China.

The four components (social networks, social trust, social reciprocity and social participation) were derived by employing exploratory factor analysis. Logistic model was used to estimate the influence of these components on farmers’ participative behaviour. Information was obtained from a field survey covering six counties in 2011 of Shaanxi Province, China.

The findings indicate that considering different components of social capital allows for a better understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour. The authors find that higher levels of social trust and social participation lead to a higher propensity for collective action, while social reciprocity reduces the probability of participation. Other socio-economic factors and farming characteristics such as education levels, cultivated area, cropping patterns and grain subsidies also have a significant impact.

The findings suggest creating favourable conditions for communication and information exchanges between households, which enhance their trust of each other, and encourage farmers to participate in collective affairs. Moreover, supportive rules are necessary for the future development of collective action. The results of this study also have implications for national irrigation plans for small-scale irrigation facilities in other developing countries.

A consideration of the different components of social capital allows for a more precise understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour.

Accelerating the influences of external stakeholders in any construction project is inevitable. Studies on external stakeholder influence on construction projects and literature on external stakeholder management in irrigation infrastructure projects executed with donor funds are scarce. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how to manage the external stakeholders' influence on donor-funded irrigation infrastructure projects effectively.

A mixed approach consisting of 17 semi-structured interviews and two rounds of questionnaire surveys was adopted to rank the following: the types of external stakeholders who can significantly influence irrigation infrastructure projects, significant influencing strategies used by those stakeholders, and significant strategies that can be adopted to manage external stakeholder influence on the projects.

In total, 12 of external stakeholders who can significantly influence irrigation infrastructure projects were identified; 17 significant influencing strategies used by external project stakeholders and 22 significant strategies used to manage external stakeholder influence on the projects were identified. The influencing/management strategies specific to each external stakeholder type and those that are common to all external stakeholder types were identified separately. The grievance redress mechanism should be activated for managing external stakeholder influence on donor-funded irrigation infrastructure projects.

This study contributes to theory by identifying significant strategies that can be used to manage external stakeholder influence on donor-funded irrigation infrastructure projects during the planning and design stages. The study will help project teams to handle external stakeholder influence on the projects successfully, accomplish project objectives, and make maximum utilization of the donor funds received.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the typology that links the characterization of the irrigated farms with their structural and functional aspects for the context of sustainable irrigated agricultural development.

East Mitidja scheme is selected for this study. About 134 farms are selected from the irrigation scheme. Multiple correspondence and ascendant hierarchical classification are used as data mining tools to characterize the typology of irrigated farms.

The typology provides a way of understanding the diversity of farms with regard to their socio‐economic environment. It also helps to identify those farms that fall into broad categories of unsustainability. The latest implemented agricultural and irrigation policy has a differential effect on various types of farmers, favoring some and discouraging others. The socio‐economic constraints have prevented the implementation of various development programs. This situation leads to the unsustainable exploitation of the water and land resources and to the promotion of unsustainable irrigation scheme.

The findings and results may help decision makers to implement appropriate interventions in terms of resources, conditions and interests that are compatible with each identified class of farms.

This is one of the first studies to explore irrigated agriculture development issues in Algeria using multivariate methods. The typological method can help policymakers to identify priorities. It can also be used to predict how different farmers will likely respond to government programs and policies regarding irrigated agricultural development.

Sri Lanka, as an island located near the southern tip of India and the Asian Continent and in the core area of the South Asian Monsoon has developed its own unique forms of Hydraulic Civilization. Sri Lanka is covered with a network of thousands of man-made lakes and ponds, known locally as “tanks,” numbering more than 25,000. Some are in the functional mode and others still remaining abandoned type. Many are thousands of years old and almost all show a high degree of sophistication in their construction and design. Sri Lanka's tanks are fascinatingly distributed in the cascades of tanks one below the other conserving water and soil and most effectively, acting as buffers against droughts while giving due consideration to maintaining the ecosystem equilibrium.