Informal Irrigation in the Colombian Andes: Local Practices, National Agendas, and Options for Innovation
2013
Gutiérrez Malaxechebarría, Álvaro Martín
Knowledge about the extent of irrigated land in Colombia is scarce because most irrigation is done informally and therefore not registered. Informal irrigation in Colombia has not been investigated, its national presence has not been identified, and its characteristics are still unknown. The present article aims to help fill this gap. Because of topographical and agricultural patterns, Andean informal irrigation is impossible to identify or characterize using standard methods. To provide information on the scale of informal irrigation systems in Colombia, their type, the users they serve, and the type of water sources they use, a large-scale partial inventory was made combining statistical analysis, questionnaires, interviews, and field trips. The findings indicate that informal irrigation is widespread in the country's mountainous zones, in a great diversity of environments, characterized by an equally great diversity of local uses and water-use strategies. This diversity has resulted from the coexistence of very different community and state institutions, posing challenges for planning and organizing water-resource management more efficiently and sustainably for producers, the government, and other stakeholders.
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