Vietnam Red River Delta irrigation management: incomplete recognition of local institutional innovations
2001
J-P. Fontenelle
Prepared as part of a study on innovations for irrigation management, this report analyses the history of changes and processes around the de-collectivisation of agriculture in Vietnam in the 1980s.At this time, emerging farming households in the Red River Delta became directly involved in agriculture. New water service requirements arose from de-collectivisation. Former irrigation and drainage management companies (IDMC) lowered their involvement in irrigation activities to the benefit of cooperatives that developed local irrigation capacities. The paper asks the questions: How extensive was this evolution? Has this technical evolution had impact on the institutional framework of the activity? To what extent are farming households involved in decision making?The paper finds that the Vietnamese State was not able to combine flexibility with accountability. It combined strong top-level policy with an inability to monitor their implementation at the local level. The present challenge is to create formal room for water management flexibility. This would improve water management if farmer participation is stimulated and cooperative social and collective mandates are respected.
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