Collective Action by Traditional Water Users’ Association for Successful Management of Irrigation Schemes in Amaro Special Woreda of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The native people of Amaro wereda (i.e. the ‘Koore’ nation) are known by their enriched experience of using traditional irrigation practice that is managed and administered by a traditional water users’ association locally referred as ‘Watsi-Qoro’ in which members of the apex committee  are elected in a democratic and decentralized manner. The objectives of this study were to assess the roles played by each functional units of the association, to analyze enforcing rules and their role on conflict management and to identify the determinants of household’s membership of traditional water users’ association. The study examined that the traditional water users associations contributed a lot for successful operation and maintenance of   traditional irrigation schemes, to handle and manage intra and inter group conflicts over irrigation water, and for the sustenance of the agricultural extension service in the study woreda. The result of the binary logit model also showed that five of the fourteen explanatory variables including sex, age, extension contact,  distance to the water source and inputs use were found statistically significant in determining household’s membership in traditional water users’ association.

Keywords: Conflict resolution,   Institutions, Irrigation, Water Users’ Association,

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/14-11-02

Publication date:September 30^th 2023