PARTICIPATORY IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN KELARA KARALLOE IRRIGATION PROJECT, SOUTH SULAWESI, INDONESIA

Despite the rapid industrialization in Indonesia over the last few decades, irrigation development for paddy remains a strategic endeavor for enhancing the nation’s food security program, in particular, and stability of agricultural productivities in general. This is particularly the case during the effort of the government to recover the multidimensional economic crises since 1997. In an attempt to support sustaining irrigation development and management, for acceleration and stabilization of food security while maintaining appropriate level of agricultural production, the government has given special scrutiny on management of the existing irrigation scheme while pursue some selected development for new schemes. These include the construction of new irrigation schemes on the “Outer Islands”, rehabilitation, and reconstruction as well as upgrading of the existing schemes on the Inner Islands (Java). In line with the development efforts, it turned up that the massive development and rehabilitation implementation have been significantly constrained by variety of predicaments for pursuing effective operation and maintenance (O&M) under the limited capacity of the farmers to participate supporting the farm level irrigation management. Therefore, the government policy has been adjusted from initially centrally managed toward decentralized O&M approach, giving opportunity for the farming communities (through their water users’ association – WUA) to participate in all aspects of irrigation development and management. This paper presents a series of experiences on participatory irrigation management efforts in Kelara Karalloe (KK) irrigation projects, as the pilot model, in South Sulawesi Province – Indonesia, giving some elaborations on participatory process ofrehabilitation, upgrading, and repair of the irrigation schemes, as well as post rehabilitation operation and maintenance phases.

کلیدواژه ها:

Participatory Irrigation Management ، Kelara Karalloe Schemes ، South Sulawesi – Indonesia