The proposed Programme will need practical indicators to measure the impact of improved water-lifting technologies on food production and livelihoods. The details will only emerge as the Programme proceeds, because the nature of available data will only become known during the course of Task K1a. This is why development of indicators is itself included in the list of Programme components, as part of Task M3. This task will need specialist agro-economic and probably sociological expertise. This chapter merely makes some initial suggestions.
Some general indicators might be the following:
areas irrigated with the aid of small water-lifting devices, by country and region, with statistical distributions of plot and farm sizes;
numbers of water-lifting devices of different types in use by farmers and other sorts of users (domestic water supply, stock watering, etc.);
longevity and reliability of such devices, measured by sample surveys;
extent of local and effective repair and maintenance of such devices;
fuel and energy efficiency of such devices in the field, measured partly by device statistics from the supply chain, using the output of Task K2, and partly by sample surveys and direct testing;
amounts of water applied to plots served by such devices, compared to similar plots that are not equipped;
cropping-patterns and crop yields in such plots; and
farm incomes, per household and per hectare, with and without relevant water-lifting technology, differentiating various sorts of farm family or farm enterprise.
In addition to the poverty-reduction implications of those general indicators, specific poverty-related indicators could include:
availability of water-lifting devices suitable for first-time users with small landholdings, and provision of assistance in making the initial steps;
availability of intermediate technologies leading from starter-level devices towards more advanced forms, showing the suitable steps to be taken;
numbers of farm families who have increased their agricultural production, and the proportion of it representing saleable surplus, above predetermined threshold values; and
gender (and if needed ethnic) distribution of household-heads among such families.
Together with quantifiable indicators that are amenable to numerical analysis of trends, there could be from time to time a place for qualitative diagnostic studies. This would complete monitoring of the continually changing situation.
