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Never look a gift horse in the mouth or should you? Upgrading the Hare Irrigation System in Southern Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Wegerich Kai,
Dubale Tesfaye,
Bruins Bert
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.361
Subject(s) - irrigation , china , transparency (behavior) , agency (philosophy) , geography , socioeconomics , government (linguistics) , business , political science , economic growth , sociology , economics , law , social science , archaeology , ecology , biology , linguistics , philosophy
Abstract The upgrading of the Hare Irrigation System was a joint undertaking of the governments of Ethiopia and the People's Republic of China. After completion of the primary and the secondary canals, farmers refused to take over responsibility of the system. Existing literature on the Hare Irrigation System does not differentiate between various farmer groups and their interests. This study highlights the differences in perception of head‐end, middle and tail‐end farmers. The main group that is not satisfied with the system are the head‐enders, because they are partly excluded from using it. While the middle and tail‐end farmers are satisfied with the new irrigation system, they are unhappy because they have not received the “promised” compensation. Overall, the paper highlights the lack of transparency and communication between the local community, the government and the Chinese design and construction agency, which appears to be the main reason for the dissatisfaction of parts of the local community. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.