Executive summary

The Regional Workshop on the Future of Large Rice-based Irrigation Systems in Southeast Asia was convened by FAO in Ho Chi Minh City, 26-28 October 2005, with the support of the Evaluation Study of Paddy Irrigation Under Monsoon Regime (ESPIM) Project funded by the Government of Japan and the Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam. The major objectives of the workshop were to identify strategies, opportunities and interventions for the sustainable management of large rice-based irrigation systems in Southeast Asia over the coming decades in the context of improved management of water resources, and to promote collaboration in the region.

The workshop included a half-day's field trip to an irrigation system and two-and-a-half-day's plenary presentations, group discussions and plenary discussions, which focused on three crucial questions whose answers could determine the evolving character of large rice-based irrigation systems over the next 20 to
25 years, namely: How would agriculture and rice production evolve in Southeast Asia? What changes would be required in irrigation service provision by the large rice-based irrigation systems? How would ongoing and expected reforms and investment programmes measure up against the projected needs of the region? About fifty experts and representatives from international, regional, and subregional organizations and national agencies and institutions, including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, participated in the workshop.

In addition to a general review and analysis of regional trends and challenges related to water, rice, agriculture, economy and environment, as well as irrigation policies and strategies recommended and adopted previously, the workshop produced three major outcomes:

A typology of irrigation schemes, categorized by socio-economic contexts and hydraulic characteristics, was developed. Main drivers, strategic responses and evolution scenarios were identified and outlined for each type of irrigation scheme as summarized in Table 1.
Based on identification of the implications of the evolution scenarios and the re-appraisal of current strategies and options, recommendations for new strategies, directions and concrete actions were proposed in terms of: financing and multifunctionality; design and operation; management and institutions; and new systems, as shown in Table 2.
Six general conclusions were generated concerning the current status of large rice-based irrigation schemes in Southeast Asia, the way forward and the measures that need to be taken; these are:

	1)	Modernization of the irrigation systems and their management to increase their flexibility and insert them into river basin management, while taking into account the multiple functions of agricultural water management, is more required than ever.
	2)	New layers of complexity have been added to our understanding of irrigation, from multiple use and social complexity, to multiple use, multiple ecosystem and livelihood functions, and agro-socio-economic-ecological complexity.
	3)	To respond to this complexity, management needs to be made more professional and present institutional reform models need to be evaluated and overhauled to respond to new demands and characteristics of farmers.
	4)	Evolution scenarios, objectives and strategic responses will vary greatly according to the types of irrigation systems and their socio-economic contexts. Non-rice drivers will play an important role in their evolution.
	5)	New recommendations can be characterized as: moving away from the generation of both positive and negative externalities by accident and from development of autonomous farmers' responses by neglect, to explicit management of multiple roles and explicit recognition of farmers' service and other objectives, and of their contributions to overall efficiency and productivity, for instance by pumping, and of the costs thus incurred by them.
	6)	The main focus in irrigation modernization will remain improving the performance of existing assets. New systems may be still developed in predominantly agrarian economies and in ecosystems with comparative advantages, but their planning and appraisal processes should be reformed to adhere to improved water governance.

Table 1. Evolution scenarios of different irrigation schemes

National and Sub-national context	Economic and agriculture profile	Strategy and policy	Type 1: Reservoir gravity	Type 2: Off-river gravity	Type 3: Off-river pump	Type 4: Conjunctive	Type 5: Integrated management of deltas
Focus is outside agri. Post-agriculture	highly diversified agriculture; resources competition; high environmental concern; diets shifting; need to conserve certain level of food production capacity; watermultifunctionality link (more classical environmental issues)	Reduction/ decomissioning of rice irrigation areas; specialization; improve water productivity; protect environment and water quality; government investment for modernization	0	-	+	+	-
Focus is outside agri. Post-agriculture			Optimizing multiple use; economically justified; limited number of sites available for new systems	Reduce, merge or neglect because of low reliability; convert to type 3 or 4; convert to different crops/land use	Increasing energy costs; crop diversification; rice phased out economically justified; limited number of sites available for new systems	Highly flexible; farmers decide; market rules (export possibilities) (many more use pumps)	Urbanization; optimizing multiple use (environment, drainage issues, peri-urban agriculture, urbanization); more crop diversification
Agriculture exportmain focus;intermediate	On the way to diversification; quick demographic transition; further improvement of food security; need rice exports for foreign exchange earning+C6 to stabilize rice production	Stabilization and modest development of rice irrigation areas; development of small systems; increase financial selfsufficiency	Not economically justified by agriculture alone but may expand	0	0/	+	Expand in the short term then decline because of urbanization, sea level rise, salinity?
Agriculture exportmain focus;intermediate			Anticipate multiple uses	Improve, modernize (endless); inherent limitations of supply	Likely reduction because of energy costs (for paddy)	Highly flexible: farmers decide; market rules (export possibilities) (several farmers use pumps)	Optimize multiple use; expensive drainage (environment, drainage issues, peri-urban agriculture, urbanization)
Agriculture main focus; low level of development	Rely on rice production; urgent need for food security; possess comparative advantage; few alternatives; link between water, ecosystems, and livelihoods	Further water resources development; further rice irrigation expansion; strong government financial support and external assistance	0	+	+	+	Expand in the short term then decline because of urbanization, sea level rise, salinity?
Agriculture main focus; low level of development			Too expensive for rice but plan for future or multipurpose structure	Low costs; comparative advantage (compared with other options)	Affordable investment; subsidized O&M	Highly flexible: farmers decide; market rules (export possibilities) (some rich farmers use pumps)	Developing paddy systems; not yet urbanized

Table 2. Recommendations from four thematic working groups

Financing and multiple roles	Design and operation	Management and institutions	New large irrigation projects
Modernization should aim atimproving water service and responding to farmers’ needs. Adapt water delivery systems for multiple users. Irrigation financing mechanisms should move progressively from subsidies to market-based incentives, and to public-private cost-sharing, as economies evolving from lower level to high level. “Early economies” should take into consideration long-term development to harmonize water management for ecosystem services.	Develop excellent “water control engineering” programmes in universities and colleges; and establish national or regional Centers of Excellence for irrigation modernization. Continue regional training programmes on irrigation modernization and RAP; RAPs should be carried out before any new investment is put in place. Revise national design standards and operation manuals to take advantage of new knowledge in the irrigation sector and state-of-the-art technologies. Replicable pilot projects to demonstrate modern technologies; learn from practical experience for a relatively small cost. Consider use of new donor lending instruments – e.g. adjustable programme loans.	Invest in making irrigation management more professional through continuous in-service training focused on operational management. Operationalize and mandate a suite of assessment and performance measures to monitor and improve irrigation performance and externalities, such as RAP, benchmarking, service-oriented irrigation management, balance sheets and improved data collection and processing. Diagnose existing PIM approaches; identify and replicate successful experiences. Focus initiatives on: minimizing transaction costs; creating incentives for participation; promoting self-financing; making functional WUAs and federations; and improving the performance of WUAs and federations. Propagandize! Take these messages to governments	Before committing to new, large-scaleirrigation developments a comprehensive options assessment should be made of the land and water existing use values and development options in that place. If a new, large-scale irrigation development is proposed, the design must recognize and be flexible enough to take account of the inevitability of future demand changes. Large-scale irrigation projects, as with anyothers, should be planned, built and operated within a governance regime that embodies social justice ethics, is transparent, and participatory. If a new, large-scale irrigation development is proposed, it is essential to increase efforts to boost the capacity of local stakeholders playing many different roles. In addition to the overall economic assessment, it is critical that an adequate financial strategy is put in place, covering the whole construction, operation and maintenance cycle. The impacts of an irrigation project on the local environment, ecosystems and livelihoods need to be closely assessed and monitored.