Farmer-Managed or State-Managed:The Case of Village Irrigation Systems in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The label of 'farmer-managed'in terms of irrigatuin systems is typically applied ti small-scale village irrigation systems.Such irrigation systems are significant in many tropical countries, and exceed the land area that is irrigated by'agency-managed'irrigation systems.This paper makes a case that the label 'farmer-managed irrigation systems'is really a misnomer in Sri Lankan context.It is argued that at least starting from the latter half of the nineteenth century,a process of State penetration into the rural areas in general and into the irrigation-cum-agricultural sector in particular,has resulted in village irrigation systems becoming primarily Statemanaged.