Elsevier

Agricultural Systems

Volume 92, Issues 1–3, January 2007, Pages 140-156
Agricultural Systems

An assessment of collective action for pond management in Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS), China

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2006.03.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Ponds are common property resources that allow users to obtain water on-demand because of their capacity to store rainwater and other surplus water close to users. Effective management of these ponds is crucial, especially with increasing water scarcity and decreasing water deliveries for agriculture that are taking place in many irrigation systems, including the Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS) in China. The purpose of this study was to determine the nature and performance of collective action in pond management, and to quantify the factors affecting that collective action. We used two different approaches to measure the performance of collective action: a performance indicator based on soil conditions, and farmer’s perceptions based on their satisfaction with the current level of management activities. The results using the two approaches were consistent, and indicated that, among other variables, dependency on pond water, pond size, and household size were important variables affecting the performance of collective action. There was also limited evidence that clarification of property rights through the use of contractors for pond management improved outcomes for farmers.

Introduction

The dimensions of water scarcity issues are very well documented. Until recently, water issues were treated as engineering problems and most research focused on improving water use efficiency (WUE) through innovative water delivery technology (Wang and Huang, 2002). Increasingly, it has been recognized that the challenge with water is not so much water itself, but rather how society organizes itself for the search of a better life in a way that is compatible with limited and vulnerable water resources, and respecting their role as the bloodstream of the biosphere. Although technical interventions and manipulations in the water cycle will continue to be important and necessary, unless adjustments also take place within society, it is futile to expect that the water problem will be overcome (FAO, 2000).

Ponds are small reservoirs located in irrigated areas that allow farmers to capture rainfall and store surplus water from other sources. Ponds allow users to obtain water on-demand because of their capacity to store water close to users (Loeve et al., 2001). Ponds also help reduce floods by providing drainage in high-rainfall periods (Walter, 1963 as cited by Anbumozhi et al., 2001). In the Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS) in Hubei Province, China, these ponds play an important role in agriculture by providing supplemental irrigation. The ZIS obtains one-fourth of its water from medium- and small-size reservoirs to complement the supply from the main Zhanghe reservoir (Moya et al., 2001).

Each pond provides water to several different users, and the management of local common property is one of the most important issues in rural development (Hayami, 1997). Management of the ponds requires local communities to effectively pool efforts to perform various tasks such as removing silt, constructing field channels at the local outlet level, regulating water allocation and monitoring violations, weeding, and repair and maintenance of ponds and channels (Bardhan, 2001). How this collective action is performed can determine the usefulness of the ponds. Because empirical studies of collective action for pond water management are rare, the purposes of this study are to determine the nature and performance of collective action in pond management, and to quantify the factors affecting the conduct of collective action.

After this introduction, Section 2 briefly reviews previous studies focused on collective action, irrigation and pond management. Section 3 describes our conceptual framework for collective action. A description of the study area is presented in Section 4, followed by a description of our methodology in Section 5. Section 6 presents the results and discussion, and Section 7 reports the conclusions and implications of the study.

Section snippets

Review of the literature

The political science and economics literature on collective action has found that while individual rationality and collective rationality differ, and the temptation to free ride on the provision of collective benefits is an universal problem, self-organized governance of natural resources has survived for multiple generations (Ostrom, 1990). Institutional and property rights theorists have emphasized the importance of both formal and informal institutions in the management of common property (

Conceptual framework

The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology defines collective action as “action taken by a group in pursuit of members’ perceived shared interests.” We consider collective action to be both decision-making and subsequent behavior. Three main types of collective action for pond management can be observed:

  • 1.

    Constitutional actions: these involve the design and establishment of the farmer’s groups or pond water users associations, wherein the mission and basic structure of authority and decision-making are

Study area

The study was conducted in the Zhanghe Irrigation District (ZID), which is located in Hubei Province in the Yangtze River basin of China. The Zhanghe basin has an area of 7740 km2, including a catchment area of 2200 km2. The ZIS accounts for most of the irrigated area in ZID. It is designed to irrigate an area of about 160,000 hectares. The main water source in ZIS is the Zhanghe reservoir (see Fig. 1). Apart from this reservoir, there are thousands of medium- and small-sized ponds supplying

Performance indicators (dependent variables)

In the long run, one would expect that all collective action would be effective, or else the “collectivity” of the action would disintegrate when farmers find that their commitment to action is producing few results. Nevertheless, just as individuals do not always behave in a rational manner, especially in the short-term, the undertaking of collective action does not necessarily mean that the action improves natural resource management. Thus, performance indicators are required.

Performance can

Ownership, management, and operation of the ponds

Based on the survey of 36 villages, there were 119 ponds per village. The number of ponds per village varied from 22 to 334. Small ponds were most common, with an average of 72 ponds per village, compared to 34 medium size ponds and 13 large ponds. Based on the intensive survey of four villages, the average area served by small, medium, and large ponds was 17, 47, and 101 mu, respectively.1 Small, medium, and large ponds

Conclusions

This study found that while farmers try to eliminate free-rider problems by making it obligatory for everyone to participate in collective action for pond management, it is still harder to secure participation and make that participation effective in large ponds. First, smaller ponds had more frequent collective action. Second, collective action was more effective in small ponds, as measured by both of our effectiveness indicators and as measured through regression analysis.

Dependency on ponds

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