Integrated assessment of irrigation and agriculture management challenges in Nepal: An interdisciplinary perspective

Abstract

Agriculture plays a critical role in ensuring food and nutrition security, livelihood, and rural employment in Nepal. Despite substantial investments and institutional reforms, irrigation projects have faced consistently low performance. While existing studies have shed light on technical aspects of irrigation performance, they often focus on specific themes rather than holistic evaluations of sustainability. This research systematically assesses barriers and challenges to effective irrigation water management in Nepal by assessing and ranking the challenges faced by three irrigation systems in western Nepal: Mahakali, Rani Jamara Kulariya, and Babai. To investigate these challenges, we collected data from 449 households, which provided insights into 33 indicators representing key barriers to effective irrigation and agricultural management. The identified challenges were categorized into four broad thematic areas: physical and structural, agricultural and water, socioeconomic and market, and gender and governance. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted to compare these challenges among the three irrigation schemes, different thematic areas, and various locations within each scheme (namely, the head, mid, and tail sections of the system). The findings revealed that timely access and availability of fertilizers, spring water availability and fair market prices of agricultural products are the most significant challenges. The Babai irrigation system faced the most substantial challenges among the three systems, particularly in the mid section. These findings emphasize the interconnectedness of these challenges, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to planning, implementation, and management. Integrated strategies are essential to address socioeconomic, market, and endogenous farming issues, ensuring reliable irrigation water availability for sustainable agricultural production.

Keywords: Holistic assessment; Likert scale; Western Nepal; agriculture water; gender and governance; socioeconomic and market.

Fig. 1

Map of the three irrigation systems (from west to east): Mahakali Irrigation Project (MIP), Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation Project (RJKIP), Babai Irrigation Project (BIP). The main canal in each systems is highlighted using parallel black lines. The surveyed canal for each scheme is specifically labelled. C in MIP, Jamara in RJKIP and B2 in BIP are the canal systems which were chosen for the respondent surveys.

Fig. 2

Location of the sample survey HHs in the select canals of three irrigation systems. The circle indicates the tentative demarcation of the head (red), mid (green) and tail (purple) sections of the selected canals for the survey. Note: The image was obtained from the Kobo platform, which was used to collect and store sample household data.The data was then overlaid on GIS maps of irrigation canals. The numbers inside the bubbles indicate the number of households surveyed in that area. Circles outside the boundary of the irrigation systems indicate that the respondents' houses, where the interviews took place, were outside, but their fields were inside the command area.

Fig. 3

Category-wise distribution of total challenge scores in all three irrigation projects. The data label shows the average challenge score for each category. The highest score for each project is highlighted.

Fig. 4

Indicators-wise combined challenge score in all 3 irrigation projects (Note: A&I – Agriculture and Irrigation, WUA- Water User Association).