
Managing Canal Irrigation
Practical Analysis from South Asia
Robert Chambers(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 23. March 1989
Book
Hardback
308 pages
978-0-521-34554-5 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
The many billions of dollars invested in canal irrigation in recent decades have had disappointing results. Rarely have projected benefits in well-being or production been achieved. In consequence, in the mid-1980s, further vast sums are being spent throughout the Third World on programmes for rehabilitation, canal lining, on farm development, and farmers' organisation. In this book, Robert Chambers shows that much of this policy and practice is based on misleading research and misdiagnosis. When applied to the complexity and uniqueness of canal irrigation systems, the normal professionalism of civil and agricultural engineers, agronomists, economists, and sociologists, leaves gaps which are keys to better performance. In successive chapters, five such gaps are analysed and presented: main system management, including the scheduling and delivery of water, and communications; canal irrigation at night; management of canal systems jointly by farmers and officials; professional conditions and incentives for irrigation managers; and methods for diagnostic analysis to identify cost-effective actions for improvement. Managing Canal Irrigation has been written for policy-makers, irrigation managers, consultants, researchers, trainers and teachers. It challenges all concerned with improving the performance and anti-poverty impact of canal irrigation, whether in government departments, aid agencies, consultancy firms, training and research institutes or universities, to re-examine their beliefs, biases and actions. By going beyond the limits of normal professionalism, the book presents a new syllabus for training, a new agenda for research and development, and points to new policies and to practical action to be taken in the field.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
622 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-34554-5 (9780521345545)
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Book
03/1989
Cambridge University Press
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Additional editions

Book
03/1989
Cambridge University Press
€92.70
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
Preface; List of figures; List of tables; Glossary and conventions; Abbreviations; Part I. Poverty, Canals and Commonsense: 1. Potential for the poor; 2. Thinking about canal irrigation; Part II. Normal Error: 3. Learning and mislearning; 4. Normal professionalism; 5. Fixation below the outlet; Part III. Professional Gaps as Centres: 6. Main system management: the central gap; 7. Canal irrigation at night; 8. Farmers above the outlet; 9. Managers and motivation; Part IV. Analysis and Action; 10. Diagnostic analysis: problems and approaches; 11. Practical action; References; Index.