G3: Water Governance and Community Based Management Fall Ganges Basin Development Challenge

08

Situation Analysis
LGED subproject Bhagirabad-Jainkathi, Patuakhali Sadar, Patuakhali

Report from

C. Dewan and M. Maniruzzaman

Merged by Marie-Charlotte Buisson September 2012

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 4
1.1. Aim of the report ................................................................................................................4 1.2. Methodology ......................................................................................................................4 1.3. Overview of Jainkathi Sub Project Area ................................................................................6 1.3.1. Location and accessibility...................................................................................................... 6 1.3.2. Basic Facilities Access ............................................................................................................ 9 1.3.3. History of polder Bagirabad LGED Sub Project ..................................................................... 9

2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND LIVELIHOODS ................................................................ 11

2.1. Change of Agriculture with Polder Development ................................................................ 11 2.2. Land use ........................................................................................................................... 13 2.3. Present Farming System .................................................................................................... 13 2.3.1. Crop Seasons ....................................................................................................................... 13 2.3.2. Irrigation Sources ................................................................................................................ 14 2.4. Productivity and costs and returns ..................................................................................... 15 2.5. Livestock ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.6. Fisheries ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.7. Drinking water situation .................................................................................................... 16 2.8. Employment through Labour Contracting Societies (LCS) .................................................... 16

3. CONDITION OF THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .......................................... 18

3.1. Condition of the Embankment ......................................................................................... 18 3.1.1. Emergency response ............................................................................................................ 19 3.2. Condition of the Sluice gates ............................................................................................ 19 3.3. Condition of the Canals .................................................................................................... 20 3.3.1. Siltation ................................................................................................................................ 20 3.3.2. Leasing ................................................................................................................................. 20

4. OPERATION OF THE SLUICE GATES ...................................................................... 21

4.1. 4.2. 4.3. Role of WMCA and farmers .............................................................................................. 21 Opening and closing of the gate ....................................................................................... 21 Conflicts in the operation of the gate: Inundation of lowlands .......................................... 21

5. MAINTENANCE OF PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................. 23 6. SSWRDSP: PROJECT PROCESS AND RESULTS ........................................................ 25
6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 6.5. 6.6. 6.7. Small-Scale Water Resources and Development Sector Project ......................................... 25 WMCA formation ............................................................................................................. 25 WMCA Meetings: durability over time? ............................................................................ 26 Sub-committees and Training .......................................................................................... 26 WMCA as a cooperative: the role of microcredit and loans................................................ 27 Perception of WMCA........................................................................................................ 28 Participation, Gender and representativeness ................................................................... 29

7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 30
7.1. 7.2. 7.3. i) ii) Irrigation scarcity and silted canals .................................................................................. 30 WMCA as a governance structure ..................................................................................... 30 Sustainability or dependence?........................................................................................... 31 Government Agencies .......................................................................................................... 32 NGOs .................................................................................................................................. 33

ANNEX 1: INSTITUTIONS IN WATER GOVERNANCE ................................................ 32

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Aim of the report

Based on Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews, this report aims to create a detailed situation analysis of polder Jainkathi Sub Project in Patuakhali district. It will do so by providing: i) A historical narrative of the polder from the time it was constructed to present; ii) Farming systems and livelihoods options; iii) Current state of the polder infrastructure; iv) Examining the results and process of the water management intervention by the LGED v) Reviewing how maintenance of water infrastructure takes place; vi) Reviewing how operation of sluice gates take place and vii) Discussing main conflicts. It will then conclude by discussing the main findings and implementable policy recommendations that came from the respondents for improving water management in the Polder called Bagirabad, Jainkathi Sub Project of the LGED.

1.2.

Methodology

Four Focus Group Discussions and eight Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted by the Shushilan research team from 8th to 10th April, 2012. While the FGDs were held in four sub villages (para) of village Bagirabad, the KIIs with farmers were held at their village home and the KIIs with officials were held at the respective offices in the UP and Upazila headquarters. The map below describes where the FGDs have been conducted. The FGD locations and participants were selected to represent various parts of the village, distance from the sluice gates, the gate condition and concentration of various types of farming, particularly paddy and betel leaves cultivation. A glance look of the FGD participants reveals the following: The general FGD groups met at North para (Northeast part of the village) had 7 participants including 5 women. All own land one to two acres. One man and all women are Hindus. Ages varied from 24 to57. Of the two men one is crop as well as fish farmer and the other is a tailor. All women are housewife. All seven are WMCA members. The general FGD group met at South para had 11 participants, all Hindus. It had 5 women and all 5 are landless. Of the six men, one is a landless, others own land between 1.0 to 10.0 acres. Of the six men 4 are farmers, one mason and one handicraft producer. All five women are housewife and all 11 are WMCA members. Ages varied from 30 to 80. The WMCA FGD had eight participants including 2 women. All eight are WMCA members. Of the six men, one is a teacher and another one is a rural medical practitioner (village doctor). The other four are farmers. All own land from 0.30 to 10.00 acres. The women are housewife. Age varied from 42 to 90. The LCS group met comprises five landless women of age 18-55. All stated to be housewife although they work in the LCS. 4

FGD Type General General LCS WMCA

Numbers of Participants (Female) 7 (5) 11(5) 5 (5) 8 (2)

Location North para, Northeast side of the polder South para (Southwest side of the polder) Moddhya para (Middle part of the polder) Bagirabad, Jainkathi Table 1 -

Village & UP Bagirabad, Jainkathi Bagirabad, Jainkathi Bagirabad, Jainkathi Bagirabad, Jainkathi

Canals Chandanbaria (open), Kalibari (open) Chandanbaria (open), Kalibari (open) and Talukdarbari (closed) Chandanbaria (open) and Talukdarbari (closed) Chandanbaria (open), Kalibari (open) and Talukdarbari (closed)

Relevant Sluice Gate Numbers 01, 02 01, 02 01, 02 01, 02

List of the FGDs, villages, gates and canals

Respondent Type UP Chairman UP member Paddy farmer WMCA-president WMCA-women member Woman household head Landless CO-LGED
Table 2 -

Village/ Venue Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad Bagirabad

Date 08.04.2012 08.04.2012 09.04.2012 09.04.2012 09.04.2012 09.04.2012 09.04.2012 10.04.2012

List of KII conducted in Jainkathi Sub Project polder

1.3.

Overview of Jainkathi Sub Project Area

1.3.1. Location and accessibility Location The Jainkathi Sub Project polder of LGED is located at Bagirabad village in Jainkathi UP of Sadar Upazila in Patuakhali district. The polder area is surrounded by the Chandanbaria canal in the north, east and south while the western boundary is formed by Jainkathi Patuakhali road. The polder area has one village, Bagirabad. The adjoining village in the south is Shehakathi of the same UP. Geographical characteristics The land in the beel area was regularly inundated by tide when it was not regulated by embankment and sluice gates. Presently, after constructing the embankment by the LGED, it is not inundated by tide water but it faces drainage problem, because one gate in the south is closed and the canal blocked by the adjoining landowners. About one third of the polder is relatively high land and the high lands almost surround the river, particularly from the northwest through east to southwest. The yellow colored (on the map) high land area accommodates the homesteads and betel leaves plantation. The homestead area and the road sides are full of 6

trees, hence looks very green. The soil is clay loam type in the middle and loam type in the peripheral high lands. The extreme northwest and south have two canals draining water from the lower middle part to the Chandanbaria khal. Since the Talukdarbari gate (number 2) is closed, the polder has now only one drainage outlet and irrigation inlet, the Shorif bari or Kalibari gate (number 1). The southern and eastern part is elevated and the land slopes towards northwest. Hence the Shorifbari gate can serve the need of drainage purpose to a great extent (not fully) but it cannot provide water for irrigation to all areas, particularly the southeast part remains un-served. Accessibility The sub project area is located six kms south of Patuakhali town. It is connected to the town by a paved road from Jainkathi UP office to the southeast corner of the town. This is the only paved road from the polder area located in the western boundary. The LGED embankment along the Chandanbaria canal serves as an internal unpaved road. In the past, people used country boat and motor launch service to go to the town but now, because of road development, waterway is rarely used for this short distance. However, people still use motor launce service for longer travel to Dhaka or to nearby Upazila, Golachipa. Boats are still used for going to markets like Kalagacia in the southeast, 10 kms downstream on river Lohalia. Nearest motor launch stations are Shehakathi 2 kms southeast and Patuakhali, 6 kms north. Nearest bus station is nine kms north in Patuakhali town. Most frequent mode of transport is rickshaw, rickshaw van and three wheeler battery operated auto rickshaw. Bus service and motor launch service are availed after arriving Patuakhali town. 1.3.2. Demographic features Table 3 below provides basic demographic features of the Bagirabad Jainkathi Sub Project polder. The polder has just one village surrounded by it, Bagirabad of Jainkathi UP. The adjoining village in the south is Shehakathi of the same UP. The Table 3 provides information of village Bagirabad which is the polder area. Information of Jainkathi UP and Patuakhali Sadar Upazila of which Bagirabad is a part is provided for comparison. Area of the polder is about 32 ha as noted in the IWM map. Its a very small polder where only about 325 people live as per population census 2011 but is density is much higher than that of the Upazila and the UP as a whole. Average household size, 4.6 is very similar to that of the Upazila and UP but sex ratio is quite low 91 male per 100 female. While the UP and the Upazila have 93 to 94 percent Muslim population, village Bagirabad has 71% Hindu population. Only about 47% of the total population and 39% of female population are literate in the polder which is lower than both UP and Upazila. Village Bagiraba, despite having high proportion of Hindu population which is supposed to have higher literacy, has low literacy. The reason is, until recent years children could not go to school for poor road condition, it was not possible for the children to go to school as the roads either submerged or became extremely muddy.

Village Bagirabad Area (Sq km) Household Population Total Density Household Size Male Population Female Population Sex Ratio Religion Muslim % Hindu % Christian and others % Literacy All Literacy M Literacy F
Table 3 -

UP Jainkathi 25.35 3,786 17,514 691 4.63 8,601 8,913 96 93.9 6.1 0 47.7 50.9 44.7

Upazila Patuakhali Sadar 362.62 68,813 316,162 872 4.59 155,395 161,067 96 92.6 7.3 0.1 59.5 62.7 56.5

0.32 71 325 1,016 4.58 155 170 91 28.9 71.1 0 46.6 55.9 38.5

Source: BBS. Population Census 2011. Community Series for Patuakhali district.

Basic Demographic Information, Jainkathi

Table 4 below shows employment status of male and female population (age 7+ not attending school) of village Bagirabad, UP Jainkathi and Upazila Patuakhali Sadar. In village Bagirabad, a little over two thirds of the male labor force was working, 25% reported non-working and 8% reported to be involved in own household work. This data should however be read with caution because it refers to only 25 male labor force against total male population of 125. The UP and Upazila data with larger absolute population however show a bit higher proportion of people working (75-79% (a bit lower proportion non-working (17-20%) and male workers in household chores much lower (3-4%). In Bagirabad, about 74% of the female labour force is reported to be engaged in household chores and 26 percent reported non-working. High proportion of non-working is reported for the inclusion of 7 to 14 years old children (both boys and girls) in the of definition labor force. Village Bagirabad Population age 7+ not in school Male Female % Employed Male % Employed Female %Looking for Job Male %Looking for Job Female %Household work Male %Household work Female %Not working Male %Not working Female
Table 4 -

UP Jainkathi 4,082 1,711 2,371 78.8 2.6 0.8 0.3 3.1 82.6 17.2 14.6

Upazila Patuakhali Sadar 54,990 23,162 31,828 75.3 5.5 1.2 0.4 3.9 72.0 19.6 22.2

35 12 23 66.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.3 73.9 25.0 26.1

Employment Status of Male and Female Population of age 7+ not attending school

Village Bagirabad Agriculture % of male worker Agriculture % of female worker Industry % of male worker Industry % of female worker Services % of male worker Services % of female worker
Table 5 -

UP Jainkathi 66.1 36.1 3.6 4.9 30.2 59.0

Upazila Patuakhali Sadar 65.3 21.7 9.4 13.7 25.3 64.7

62.5

37.5

Source: BBS, Population Census, 2011. Community Series for Patuakhali district

Employment by Sector, Jainkathi polder

Table 5 above shows distribution of employed male and female (household chores excluded) by broad economic sectors. In Bagirabad, about 63% male workers were engaged in agriculture and remaining 37% in services. This date should be read with caution as the figures are too low, eight male workers only. The distribution by sector is better reflected by the UP and Upazila data. 1.3.3. Basic Facilities Access Table 6 below shows access to basic facilities like sanitation, drinking water and electricity. About one third of the households in Bagirabad still use non sanitary latrine compared to 21-22% in the UP and Upazila. Access to drinking water Tube well is nearly universal in the area while about 63% households in Bagirabad have electricity. Village Bagirabad Sanitary Toilet water sealed % Sanitary not water sealed % Non sanitary% No latrine % Water source: TW/Tape % Electricity Connected %
Table 6 -

UP Jainkathi 36.4 41.6 20.9 1.1 98.8 34.7

Upazila Patuakhali Sadar 29.7 47 21.9 1.30 96.7 40.4

43.7 23.9 32.4 0.0 100 63.4

Basic Facilities Availability/ Access

1.3.4. History of polder Bagirabad LGED Sub Project

History of polder development Bagirabad village of Jainkathi UP, Patuakhali district was not covered by the coastal embankment project of the BWDB. Although the BWDB embankments were constructed in the southern part of the district in the 1960s, no embankment was constructed in Bagirabad Jainkathi area. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, BWDB constructed embankment in the Shehakathi area along the river Lohalong the river Lohalia. Also during this period, Bagirabad was left possibly because it is a very small and interior area away from major rivers and sea shore and less affected by salinity intrusion. The LGED constructed 1.8 km embankment and 2 sluice gates in Bagirabad under the SSWRDP during 2001-02. The circumference of the polder is however higher as the LGED constructed embankment. In

addition the west boundary is formed by a paved road constructed earlier and some sections of earthen roads. The embankment constructed By the LGED is located along the Chandanbaria canal in the north, east and south. Expectations and Objective of Sub Project Interventions The subproject aimed to protect mainly aman and aus paddy and homestead area from tidal inundation. Before constructing the LGED embankment, the whole area was inundated by tide water and also homesteads were inundated. There was no dry land and there was no road inside of the village. Only HBB road was located in the western boundary of the polder. In the absence of road, school enrolment was low and illiteracy was very high. Still illiteracy is high but present generation children are attending school. Physical Environment After constructing the embankment along with other interventions (re-excavation of canals and constructing two structure), the physical environment has improved considerably. Presently the agricultural and homestead areas are not inundated by tide water twice a day, the homesteads are not isolated from the road network. People have better access to school, heath service and financial institutions like Grameen Bank. Fetching water from the nearby tube wells is more convenient and children are attending school as the roads are no longer muddy or submerged. Women and children particularly need not keep them confined up the bamboo cod inside of the room as one step below is tide water. With the project making the main outer road in three sides and other government project upgrading the main road in the western boundary, the scenario of the polder as a whole has changed. It is no longer an isolated village but now well integrated to local as well as national road and waterway networks. Besides developing the main embankment cum road by the LGED sub project, the local government has improved inner roads now linking most homesteads to road network. After having the embankment and roads, people have elevated their homesteads and monsoon rains do not flood them. As a result, tree plantation has increased and now the roads, embankment and the homesteads took very green.

10

2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND LIVELIHOODS

2.1. Change of Agriculture with Polder Development

In the past, three main occupations were crop farming, livestock rearing and fishing. In the 1990s, before embankment, livestock declined, fishing also declined and crop farming declined too, all because of increased pressure of flood. Then people from the area migrated to other areas for seasonal employment and many migrated to urban areas. Now crop farming opportunity improved and people find work in the area. Figure-1 below shows change of cropping with the polder development. Before 2000-2001 when polder was not constructed, only local aus and local aman could be grown and for that too, yields were very low. Traditional broadcast aus and aman mixed seed were sown together in April, aus was harvested in July, aman plants continued to grow with flood water rising. In the same piece of land khesari seeds were sown in November. In December aman paddy was harvested butb khesari plants stayed with paddy roots. In FebMarch khesari was harvested. This was a traditional risk minimization strategy. Although three crops cultivated, yield was low due to flood or other hazards. In early to mid 1980s B. Aman and B. Aus mixed was replaced initially by T. Aus and T. Aman. But in mid 1980s to early 1990s Aus discontinued as Aus plantation was not possible. In this period pressure of flood water increased when polder built in the surrounding area but Bagirabad not protected by any polder. Before embankment, yield of aman paddy per acre was only about 10 mounds and with 30% chance of crop failure it was effectively 7 mounds. Yield of Aus Paddy was only about 6 mounds and with 50% chance of crop failure it was effectively 3 mounds. So, yield per acre of two paddy crops taken together was only about 13 mounds. Still, farmers tended to cultivate both aus and aman hoping that at least one will have good yield. During this period, fish was abundantly available, particularly until late 1980s then it declined gradually and now very little fish are available in the nature. Cattle rearing too was difficult as all land was flooded, no space to make cattle shed. Few buffaloes were reared as they survive in wetland condition. After 2001 when polder has been constructed, besides local aman, a number of other crops were introduced. Presently, the crops grown include local aman paddy but HYV aman is grown in part of the beel area where water depth in monsoon is only about half feet. In the deeper part of the beel, still, local aman is the main crop. The local aman varieties cultivated include lalmota, sada mota, dudkolam etc. In the elevated part of the beel local fine rice chinigura is grown during aman season. HYV aman grown include BR 23 and BR 11 and BR 39. The main aus variety is mala irri (ann aus HYV). HYV boro is cultivated in limited area. Perennial crop betel leaf is grown in round the year. Other crops grown include pulses (khesari, maskolai, mug bean, palleng daal, lentil), oilseeds (sesame and mustard), spices (chili), vegetables (okra, brinjal, bitter gourd, cucumber), groundnut and sweet potato. These are grown in the robi season except vegetables which are grown round the year.

11

Up to 1980s

Mixed B. Aus local and B. Aman local, relay crop Khesari. Fishing, livestock

Late 1980s to 2000-01 No Embankment

Main Crop Local T. Aus & T. Aman. Fishing on the decrease. Cattle buffaloes decreasing

2000-2001 LGED constructed embankment

Local Aman, HYV Aman, HYV Aus, HYV Boro, Betel leaves, Rabi Crops, homestead pond

Figure 1 - Polder Development and the Change of Agriculture

The above table illustrates the dramatic change in cropping diversity. During this time, cereal production had increased from 339.0 in the pre-project time to 727.0 tons.
1999 1,900.0 4,100.0 2002 2,000.0 3,000.0 2,500.0 25,000.0 2003 1,655.0 3,458.0 2,050.0 1,853.0 2,700.0 2,300.0 1,500.0 2,841.0 2,717.0 2004 3,581.5 2,223.0

Kharif-1/Aus (Premonsoon)

B Aus HYV Aus LT Aus Vegetables Jute LT aman DW Aman(Transplanted ) HYV T Aman Vegetables Onion/Chili HYV Boro Wheat Mung Mustard Local Boro Potato Vegetables Sesame Green Mung Pulse Spices

Kharif-2/Aman (Monsoon)

2,000.0 15,000.0 1,000.0 5,300.0 2,200.0 1,100.0 1,100.0 4,446.0 988.0 1,988.4 3,211.0 24,700.0 37,050.0 1,000.4 1,482.0 1,741.4

4,076.0

4,446.0 9,694.5

Rabi/Boro (Winter)

5,607.0 1,161.0 1,247.0 2,100.0 17,290.0 21,736.0 1,099.0 1,112.0 3,458.0

4,940.0 1,358.5 988.0 10,000.0 10,000.0 555.8 1,235.0 1,729.0

Source: LGED, 2008

Table 7 -

Agricultural Productivity in kg/ha 1999-2004

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2.2.

Land use

In the elevated area (about 35%), 15% is under homesteads (all season vegetables, fruits and timber trees, aquaculture, turmeric, arum), 10% water bodies (ponds and ditches) and 10% under betel leaves plantation. In the low land area (65%) the main crop grown is aman paddy in the kharif 2 season and pulses (khesari, mungbean, lentil, maskolai, peleng daal etc), water melon, melon, sweet potato, chili, sesame etc. during robi season. Aus paddy cultivation has now decreased to only about 10% area and Boro HYV also in about 10% area. On the whole 75% area is under crop production including 10% area under perennial crop betel leaves. About 15% area is under homesteads and 10% under water bodies (ponds & ditches). The above figures are worked out based on the discussion with several informants including former Vice Chair of the WMCA and a teacher living in the village. Both have farming as well as salaried service as occupation.

2.3.

Present Farming System

The farming system emerged from the discussion and is currently existing is following: Perennial crop betel leaves (10% area). Fallow (aus season) followed by Aman with relay cropping of khesari (30% area). Aus (Mala Irri) followed by Aman (10% area). Fallow in Aus season followed by Aman and HYV Boro (10% area) Fallow in Aus season followed by Aman and robi crops (mung bean, lentil, chili, winter vegetables, melon, water melon, sesame, sweet potato, groundnut etc. (15% area).

Total of above is 75% area, the remaining 25% area under homesteads, ponds etc and this area is used for homestead gardening. 2.3.1. Crop Seasons
Crop/ Fish Aus Seedbed T. Aus Aman Seedbed T. Aman Boro Seedbed Boro HYV Khesari Robi Crops Vegetables Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Note:

Khesari is relayed with aman. Seeds are sown in aman area a month before harvest. Seedbeds are made in small plots in the elevated land then transplanted in the main plots.
Table 8 Crop Calendar

13

Table 9 below shows details of various crops grown in various seasons and approximate yield.
Crop T-Aman Paddy HYV T. Aman Local Paddy T-Aus Paddy Boro paddy HYV Variety Dudh kalam BR-39 BR-11 Lal mota Sada mota Dud kolam, Cinigura Mala Irri Season Kharif -2 Duration Jul-Aug Harvesting Nov-Dec Jul-Aug Harvesting Nov-Dec Apr-July Irrigation No irrigation required / rain water, canal water through sluice gate No irrigation required / rain water, canal water through sluice gate Mainly rain-fed, canal and sluice gate water Irrigation is needed (Irrigation block- LLP) canal water through sluice gate Little/No irrigation required No irrigation required Yield (rice kg/ha) 40 mound pddy/acre = 2,600 kg rice/ha 30 mound paddy per acre = 1976 kg rice/ha 25 mound paddy per acre = 1646 kg rice per ha 60 mound paddy/acre = 3952 kg rice/ha Per acre 200 mounds Per acre Tk. 1,333,333 = Tk. 3,2933,333/ha Good Per acre 80-100 mound =7,904 kg/ha 30 mound per acre = 2,964 kg/ha % of area under the crop 20% of the beel area (13% of whole aea) 80% of the beel (52% of whole area) 10% of the beel area (6.5% of whole area) 10% of the beel area (6.5% of whole area)

Kharif-2

Kharif -1

BRRI-28, 29. HYV

Robi/ Boro season Perennial Rabi season Robi season Table 9 -

Feb-May

Betel leaf Sweet Potato Pulses

N/A Potato Sweet potato Lentils Mugh bean Kheshari

Round the year Feb-Apr

10% area 2%

Feb-Apr

No irrigation required

20% of beel, 13% of whole area

Source: FGD, KII and follow up discussion

Crops produced in various seasons and yield

2.3.2. Irrigation Sources Aus and Aman paddy are mainly rain-fed as they are grown in monsoon season. But farmers in Bagirabad have an advantage that they can irrigate by taking in water from the canals using the sluice Sharifbari gate. Farmers in the southeast face difficulty of irrigation as the Talukdarbari gate is closed. LLP is used to irrigate in the HYV boro season and also for a number of robi crops, vegetables and betel leaves. However no irrigation is used for khesari, lentils, mustard etc.

14

2.4.

Productivity and costs and returns

Before embankment, HYV aman was not cultivated. Only local variety aman was cultivated in the most of the area and yield was only 10 mounds paddy per acre and still having chance of frequent crop failure. Making allowance for crop failure, yield was only about 7 mounds paddy per acre. This is equivalent to 463 kg rice per ha. Aus paddy was produced in some land in the upper of peripheral area and yield was only 6 mounds paddy par acre and chance of crop failure was about 50:50. Making allowance for crop failure yield per acre was only about 3 mounds paddy per acre which is equivalent to 199 kg rice per ha. No other crop was important. Vegetables, chili, sweet potato etc were cultivated in small areas around homestead land or canal sides. These were of so little significance that respondent felt it not worth mentioning. After constructing embankment, both local and HYV aman are cultivated, still local aman in larger area and HYV aman in smaller area, roughly in the ratio of 80:20. Yield of local aman is 30 mounds paddy per acre which is equivalent to 1976 kg rice per ha. Yield of HYV aman is 40 mounds paddy per acre equivalent to 2635 kg rice per ha. Boro HYV is cultivated in about 10% area and yield is 60 mounds paddy per acre equivalent to 3952 kg rice per acre. Aus HYV is cultivated in about 10% area and yield is 25 mound paddy per acre equivalent to 1647 kg rice per ha. Betel leaf is produced in about 10% area. Yield was not mentioned in quantity but it was said that from one katha (0.03 acre) land, expected yearly sale is Tk. 40,000 which is equivalent to Tk. 1.3 million per acre or Tk. 3.29 million per ha. Farmers experience indicated that one half of it is cost of production, the other half is farmers income. Profitability Profitability or cost of production and return to farmers has been calculated for local Aman, HYV aman, HYV Boro, Local Aus, Khesari and betel leaves. These are noted below at Table 9. These are the crops occupying 10% or above land of the polder area. Items of Cost/ Return Land preparation Seed/ Seedling Sowing/ planting Weeding/ crop care Fertilizer/ pesticide Irrigation Harvesting Materials (bamboo) Total Cost Yield (mound) Price Tk/unit Total value of crop Gross return Imputed family lab Imputed land rent Net return
Source:

Local Aman 2,000 2,000 3,000 500 3,000 10,500 30 800 24,000 13,500 4,000 1,500 8,000

HYV Aman 2,000 2,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 4,000 14,000 40 800 32,000 18,000 5,000 3,000 10,000

HYV Aus 2,000 2,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 3,000 13,000 25 800 20,000 7,000 4,000 2,000 1,000

HYV Boro 2,000 2,000 3,000 3,000 2,000 3,000 5,000 21,000 60 700 42,000 21,000 6,000 6,000 9,000

Khesari 400 600

1,000 2,000 15 600 9,000 7,000 1,000 1,000 5,000

Betel leaves 60,000 60,000 120,000 60,000 60,000 10,000 60,000 200,000 630,000 NA 1,300,000 670,000 240,000 60,000 370,000

Calculation based on FGD and KII and Follow up discussion with Mr. Kumud Roy, Teacher and Farmer

Table 10 -

Cost of production and return to farmers (Tk/acre)

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2.5.

Livestock

Until 1980s, Bagirabad people had many buffaloes and cattle. In the 1990s both cattle and buffaloes declined. Cattle rearing became difficult as pressure of flood water increased when polders were constructed in the surrounding areas. Another reason for decreasing livestock is in the 1990s is the introduction of power tiller for tillage purpose hence farmers need to rear cattle and buffaloes declined. After 2000 the opportunity of cattle rearing increased and but it did not increase much because of the decreased need for animal power in agriculture. Power tiller has to a great extent replaced buffaloes and cattle to plough the land. Now people in Bagirabad are rearing cow for milk rather than bullocks for tillage. Buffaloes are still seen but in less number. However, compared to shrimp area, this polder has higher density of cattle and buffaloes and the animals look relatively healthy.

2.6.

Fisheries

Though agricultural productivity and diversification has increased since the construction of the LGED embankment, fisheries has been in decline. In addition, it was mentioned that fish was previously abundant in the canals and wetlands of the area, making it easy to collect fish fries for homestead ponds. However, the participants of the General FGD noted that many species of fish have been lost in the past decade. There is no way but to eat fish by buying/Pulin Chandra, General FGD. According to LGED (2008) wild fish had reduced from 10.6 ton to 1 ton after the polder was built. There is no commercial cultivation of fish or shrimp in the subproject.

2.7.

Drinking water situation

This is a small community of approximately 80 households sharing four deep tubewells. There are no personal tubewells. The existing tubewells were installed through the Union Parishad, though someone also mentioned the Danish donor Danida. Though there are deep tubewells, the respondents complained about the distance of fetching water and would prefer having one deep tubewell per household. In addition, the Labour Contracting Societies (LCS) consisting of landless and/or poor women complained over drinking water scarcity and that they would have to collect water half a mile away. though this could have been stated by the women living outside the subproject area. There is no contamination of salinity or arsenic in these deep-tubewells. Comparatively speaking, the drinking situation in Bhagirabad-Jainkathi is adequate. Iron contamination, has however been identified as a problem by the respondents (General FGD, Jainkathi). They collect water for cooking purposes from the canals during high tide, which is often diluted with mud. There might be an inequality of access to the tubewells as more well off respondents use personal ponds or tubewells for cooking water. This could be examined in more detail in further studies.

2.8.

Employment through Labour Contracting Societies (LCS)

The SSWRDSP approach is based on working with local stakeholders. According to the LGED Community Organiser in Jainkathi, this shaped the formation of Labour Contracting Societies the first three years of the project (1998-2001) to do the earthworks. The LCS workers were paid BDT 120 per day per person, receiving a total of BDT 3600 per month. Bank accounts were opened for every worker by LGED and 40% of their 16

daily wage was deposited in that account as savings. Their working hours where characterised by long weeks and penalties for absence in the form of wage deduction. Only Friday would be a half-day. LGED had published circulars encouraging women, widows and landless labourers from the locality to apply as LCS. The CO revealed that there was political pressure from Ministers, Member of Parliament and the then Union Parishad Chairman to select women with better economic condition rather than the poorest of the poor. We do not care about Chairmans demand. If they do, then they will try to dominate. We used loudspeakers and microphones at the Union Parishad to hire people. We employ women by investigating their condition. Through the LCS work, these women were able to increase their income while the road maintenance was improved. However, there were problems with their wages. During the Rural Employment and Road Maintenance Programme, the concerned LCS were not receiving their wages for three months straight as LGED was not able to obtain the required funds from the government. In the view of Kumud, LCS are not paid according to their daily work, but according to volume of work. This might reflect changes over time. The LCS group interviewed was created in 2006, i.e. 4 years after handover when they re-excavated Chandanbaria canal. During this time 13-14 teams consisting of 300 women from the union (rather than from only inside the subproject) were formed for a period of three months. They were paid by LGED via the WMCA President and Secretary. The KII with the widow in Jainkathi further revealed that during her work as an LCS member, she would earn BDT 200 per day (i.e. BDT 60 more than mentioned by the LGED CO). The LCS FGD however stated that they received BDT 150 per day and BDT 50 was deposited as savings that was returned to them after the project. This is contradicted in the same sentence when saying: We got money according to the volume and nature of work. Those who worked more were paid more. However, according to Shushilan, there has been a shift towards increasingly using male LCS groups rather than women ones. According to the LCS FGD, both men and women received training on re-excavation work from the LGED. They did not feel any safety issues working with men and LGED had also taken care of separate sanitation facilities. Overall, they felt that their livelihoods improved through the increased income generated from this work and that their status in the home had increased. They would have preferred working more like this. Many of them work as sharecroppers on others land (i.e. give some of the produce to the land owner rather than paying for the use of land) and grow betel leaf. Their main problem is lack of water for irrigation, which is caused by the closed Talukdarbari gate. Poor, landless people of our locality have no pond in their houses. Rich people has pond. Aleya Begum mentions that the WMCA received BDT 5 000 for road repairs after 2002. She argues that such work is inclusive and takes into account the opinions of the workers while working, we take decisions collectively. Those who work belong to this locality. They understand how to do road work in a better way. There are contradicting statements of the composition of LCS groups as well as their participation in decision-making and whether or not their livelihoods have improved. It may be the case that poorer women inside the subproject may not reach the numbers required for maintenance work and that people living outside polder are allotted as LCS. Or it may also be the case that more well off people are selected as LCS through political contacts. This will be discussed further in the section on participation.

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3. CONDITION OF THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

3.1. Condition of the Embankment
The LGED embankment was constructed in 2001-02. Prior to this the Bhagirabad-Jainkathi area was located outside an existing BWDB polder. Through the FGDs and KIIs, it was noted by the respondents that the embankment is in poor condition and particularly weak in the south. It was frequently complained that the LGED construction is too low and too narrow. Currently, water topples over the embankment. As such it is not providing optimal protection from tidal surges. Respondents would prefer a higher and wider embankment paved with bricks. A landless respondent residing outside the sub-project but working inside it mentioned that his village would benefited by also being protected by an embankment. When going into detail, the west side of the polder is a paved road, hence it is in good condition. Also the west side has no parallel canal to be affected by erosion. Other three sides are earthen hence height reduced gradually by rain cuts and easy removal of top soil. These three sides are also vulnerable to erosion as surrounded by Chandanbaria canal.

Embankment condition is comparatively good in the western part but the South part of the polder is narrow, low height, and broken (WMCA)

Figure 2 - Condition of the embankment 18

3.1.1. Emergency response The embankment was damaged both during Aila and Sidr due to increased force of tidal water. As the embankment broke, local villagers worked together to immediately repair the embankment and stop it from breaking. For this voluntary labour is used as well as savings from the WMCA until the LGED could come and repair the remaining parts of the polder. Every time we do not wait for LGED. We have to do our job because if road is broken then people will suffer/(WMCA FGD).

3.2. Condition of the Sluice gates

There were only two sluice gates created by LGED during the SSWRDSP in 1996/8-2001. One was created next to the WMCA office connected to Kalibari khal in the north and the other in the south and connected to the existing Talukdarbari khal. The Kalibari gate (number 1) is active but in poor condition. It has silted up and the shutter is damaged with water leaking through. The Talukdarbari gate (number 2) was constructed on private land and has been forcefully closed by the landowners since 2005. The reason for this was the perceived erosion of Talukdarbaris land as the gate was used as a source of water for the rest of the community (KII with Union Parishad Chairman). At the start of the project, the landowners had assured LGED that they would be able to give some of their land for the construction. If the owners first agreed to give land for the compensation he then regained control after the construction was completed. Due to the actions of the landowners, the Talukdarbari gate is now fully inactive. Both the WMCA and the Union Parishad Chairman have requested the landowners to open the gate, yet this has been unsuccesful. As such, the WMCA is only in effective control of one of the two gates (i.e. Kalibari gate). More of this will be discussed under 4.3 Condition of Canals and 5. Operation.

Figure 3 - Sluice gate condition

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3.3. Condition of the Canals

3.3.1. Siltation During the SSWRDSP project, both Talukdarbari and Kalibari canals were excavated. Currently, the Kalibari canal is heavily silted, while the Talukdarbari canal has fully become inactive as an effect of the closed Talkudarbari gate. Silt often enters through the sluice gates along with tidal water into the canals.
Kalibari khal has been silted and filled up totally. Water logging condition is occurring at the middle point of the khal. As a result, the farmers are not getting sufficient water for their seed sowing. Those who are landless would work in others land, as the khals are filled up. Paddy cultivation is not going on. As a result, the landless are not getting enough work./UP member, Jainkathi Union.

Siltation was overall perceived as a serious problem affecting water distribution, drainage and supply. The UP member further highlighted how the silted condition of the Kalibari canal would negatively affect paddy and fish cultivation and increase food scarcity. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the Chandanbari khal encircling the subproject is increasingly more silted and narrower over time. According to the KII with the widow in Jainkathi, this silt prevents water accumulating in Kalibari khal during ebb time. In the General FGD, one main recommendation was to re-excavate Chandanbari khal so that water flows into the subproject would be improved. All respondents have seen excavation as necessary across Jainkathi village. In addition, the canal is filled with water hyacinths throughout the dry season. 3.3.2. Leasing In many of G3s research sites, privately held leases of canals have been seen as a contentious issue. In Jainkathi, the smallest of our sites, WMCA members, Union Parishad and general people have clearly stated that there is no leasing practice in the area. However, control over Talukdarbari canal is contentious as it runs across Talukdarbari land and is used as private property. Since this landowning family also has closed the sluice gate that LGED had constructed on their land, they have also been able to close the canal. It is now formally seen as a dead canal and has been so for the past 4-5 years (KII with former WMCA VicePresident).

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4. OPERATION OF THE SLUICE GATES

4.1. Role of WMCA and farmers
The Talukdarbari gate was created on land under private ownership and is operated at the behest of the landowner. As a result it has been blocked and rendered inactive. The WMCA only has control over the Kalibari gate where the WMCA holds the ultimate decision-making power over operation, i.e. opening and closing, of the sluice gate. Though WMCAs should have sub-committees, such as a gate-committee, the Jainkathi sub-project is distinctively small. As such, the general membership is small and flexible, with no designed gate committee. One of the WMCA executive members is a shopkeeper cum paddy farmers who holds the key to the gate and opens it at the instruction of the WMCA executive committee and of different farmers. Sometimes the villagers may open the gate themselves with the key if he is unavailable. As such operation is conducted through voluntary labour and there is no formal payment system for it.

4.2. Opening and closing of the gate

As mentioned, the duration of the opening and closing of the Kalibari gate is flexible. However, in general it is open during the rainy season and closed at the Bengali month of Kartik (September-October) and opened again in Asharh (June-July) in order to restrict salinity intrusion that may negatively affect Rabi crops. During the closed time, restricted opening is done based on local needs. Monthly meetings are held to discuss farmer requirements and the gate is opened accordingly for both letting water in and for flushing it out (UP member and WMCA EC). The KIIs with the Union Parishad member, Chairman (not WMCA member), older widow and Woman WMCA EC indicated that everybodys opinion is considered when deciding to open and close the Kalibari gate,. The Union Parishad Chairman even mentioned that had they not acted to everyones interests he would have received complaints as the UP Chairperson. To conclude, a range of different stakeholders found the WMCA responsive to local needs and interests trying to find the best solutions in regard to operation of the Kalibari gate.

4.3. Conflicts in the operation of the gate: Inundation of lowlands

In other areas we have seen various conflicts in the operation of the sluice gates based on different needs of agriculture and aquaculture. In Jainkathi this seems to be minimal, as everyone seems to be engaged in paddy and Rabi cultivation. However, the Union Parishad Chairman revealed, there are dishonest fishermen here. They open gate forcefully to fishing. However, this was the only instance this was mentioned and could be a case in other areas under his jurisdiction beyond Bhagirabad-Jainkathi. Rather there seems to be issues in terms of paddy versus betel leaf, where excess water in low-lying land may damage betel-leaf crops. In general, the major conflict in regards to the Kalibari gate is that between high and low-lying lands, where the farmers of the low-lying areas are negatively affected by the level of water which is required by the people of high land. The result is that the low-lying areas are inundated with excess water for water to reach the highlying areas. In addition, the farmers of the high-lying land struggle to retain this water. To solve this issue, the WMCA members play an active role in facilitating discussions with the active parties. According to the Executive Committee member Jagdish, they only open the gate for 1-2 days for water to reach the high-lying lands and use a pipe to remove the excess water in the low-lying lands. He suggested that inlets are needed for drainage purposes. Other WMCA members have in their KIIs suggested increased numbers of inlets and an 21

additional sluice gate to facilitate drainage. It would be good if inlet is constructed along with drain at the side of it. People, who own high land beside inlet, can construct embankment (Beri) and construct drain then it would be good. It has also been mentioned by the former Vice-President of the WMCA that another sluice gate will be constructed southeast of Kalibari canal to solve this problem. The Talukdarbari gate is closed and the adjacent canal has become inactive as a result. Though the local people and WMCA informed the Union Parishad and LGED of this, no resolution has materialised. Rather, it seems to have been met by silence. The main issue is that the gate itself has been built on private land, while the landowners see the canal as their private property. The remaining area is suffering from the lack of sufficient structures to regulate excess water and to draw in sufficient water when needed. It was suggested that when a new sluice gate is constructed, the emphasis was on constructing it on government i.e. public, land. In this area, 50 acres of agricultural land had been washed away under tide water, KII with Paddy farmer, Jainkathi. Such a gate would resolve the problems caused by the forceful closing of Talukdarbari gate according to the farmer and WMCA member. According to the WMCA, they have submitted a request for LGED on additional infrastructure; this is discussed in the next section on Maintenance.

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5. MAINTENANCE OF PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The LGED handed over the responsibilities of the infrastructure it built to the WMCA in 2002. Below is the table dividing up the funding and implementation responsibilities of the WMCA vis--vis LGED.
Category Additional infrastructure Emergency maintenance Theft and wilful damage to infrastructure Periodic maintenance Routine (annual) maintenance Description Additional regulators or bridges, extension of khals or embankments, construction of (brick) reference sections along khals, construction of masonry pillars to inform operations, brick paving to embankments Due to abnormal exposure condition such as floods, cyclones etc. Stolen parts on regulators, cuts and pipes etc. Source of Funding 100% GoB

100% GoB Matching fund: 50% GoB and 50% WMCA

Sediment removal from khals, re-sectioning/modeling and sodding of embankments, tree planting, repair of failed brick paving every 3-6 years Gate greasing and re-painting, embankment raincut repair and surface re-grading and removing plants from khal.

Matching fund: 50% GoB and 50% WMCA

100% WMCA

Table 11 -

Maintenance of the infrastructures and funding

The request for an additional sluice gate would be funded 100% by LGED, and so would Emergency maintenance and brick pavements of the embankment. Minor maintenance such as greasing and re-painting of the gate would be funded 100% by the WMCA, while wilful damage and periodic maintenance such as the much needed canal re-excavation. However, for this the WMCA must bear 50% of the costs. In this subproject, it is thus clearly the LGED and the WMCA who are responsible for maintenance. The Union Parishad is not active. The respondents even mentioned that they did not want to have the Union Parishad involved as that might mean them losing the support of LGED. LGED has done much good work. They sanctioned money twice for embankment (badh). We are in a better position because of them Kumud, WMCA Secretary (and former President). The WMCA sees itself as representing the interests of the people living in the subproject area and the entity responsible for contacting the LGED. A budget is prepared estimating the repair costs for the sluice gate, embankment and re-excavation of canal by the maintenance committee. This is then approved by the WMCA and submitted to LGED Upazila office each year. They in turn submit this proposal to the IWRM unit in Dhaka (the Head Office). The Head Office examines the budget and approves say for example, 5 lakh taka budget of 10 lakh taka. Then we [WMCA] ourselves decide what and how we can do with this money/Former Vice-President, WMCA. According to the WMCA members themselves, the main responsibilities of the cooperative involve maintenance and repairs of damaged embankment/road, sluice gate, and to ensure whether paddy farmers are getting sufficient water for their cultivation. They mentioned how they were active in repairing the embankment during Aila and Sidr, and how they repaired the broken Kalibari gate (which is still damaged by a broken shutter). The committee is conducting the maintenance activities of the embankment, roads inside the polder properly until LGED is conducting any project in this polder/UP Member and WMCA Executive Committee member. The paddy farmer even mentioned that the WMCA repairs the roads and excavated the canals. However, based on the WMCA FGD, this seems to occur only when there is allocated LGED funding for it. In 2007, 5 years after the formal handover, the WMCA excavated the Kalibari canal 23

through local workers. This helped to temporarily resolve drainage congestion and improve agricultural productivity while also giving employment to local workers. However, it was also stated that both the depth and width of the canals have to be increased to improve retention capacity and navigability. Siltation rate is high and the canals are increasingly becoming smaller and non-navigable. Five years before speed boat, trawler, and boat were ran through this river. But now trawler, boat they all get stuck. These can pass if canals are filled with water otherwise not. Water level rises up to the road/Woman WMCA EC member. Another issue is that funding for excavation is allocated during the rainy season starting in the month of Choitro (March-April). Excavating during the rain is a suboptimal situation and it was suggested that any excavation work should start in Magh (January-February). Another problem is that the earth is cut during the low tide and by high tide the excavated earth tends to wash away. However, though the WMCA is to fund half of the periodic maintenance and re-excavate the canal, this is not taking place despite the cooperative existing 10 years after the project ended. In addition, requests have been made to the LGED to pave the embankment with bricks, to make it higher and wider, as well as to repair the broken shutter of the Kalibari sluice gate and create additional inlets. As the previos table above illustrates, these things are to be fully covered by LGED and have not yet been resolved. When the WMCA submits a proposal, only half of the funds requested are allocated. As one respondent put it:
Our regular maintenance work is hampered due to lack of money. Now our road has to be raised by three feet, so that tidal water cannot cause flooding by overflowing the road. We need money to clean water hyacinth, repair damaged gate etc. We need at least one lakh taka to repair the broken gate./Former WMCA president .

The WMCA should be able to remove water hyacinths, but field observations showed that Kalibari khal was filled with them. However, the repainting and greasing of the gates seems to be taking place, the main problem is that the shutter is broken. The handover agreement does not clearly address whether this cost should be borne by LGED or the WMCA, though experiences in BWDB polders indicate that usually the implementing agency takes responsible for this.

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6. SSWRDSP: PROJECT PROCESS AND RESULTS

6.1. Small-Scale Water Resources and Development Sector Project
The formal project and construction work started in 1998, while the mobilisation and community interactions started in 1996. During this time, the UP member along with the people of the area held meetings and discussions on how to construct the embankment. The local community then submitted a proposal to LGED via the Upazila-level Executive Engineer. This proposal included the construction of embankment, regulator & Pipe sluice and re-excavation of existing khal for drainage of local runoff. The proposal was reviewed and revised by the LGEDs technical team based on an Independent Participatory Rapid Rural Appraisal, information and data supplied from the field and on results of standard socio/technical analysis. No revisions on the concept or boundary had been changed (LGED, 2008). In total approximately BDT 20 lakh was spent on re-sectioning 1.85 km embankment, re-sectioning Kalibari khal (1.2 km) and creating a 2-vent sluice gate in Kalibari and a 1-vent sluice gate in Talukderbari khal. According to the FGD with the WMCA LGED constructed the Beribadh (embankment) following the opinions of the local people, i.e. WMCA and its general members. In April, 2002 the LGED formally handed over the responsibilities of the sub-project to the WMCA.

6.2. WMCA formation

According to the WMCA FGD, there were 80-85 general members and 12 Executive Committee (EC) members when the WMCA was first formed. Elections of the EC are held every three years and the positions seem to rotate among a similar group of people. This composition seems to be working on consensus basis. They further stated that anyone who is benefited by the WMCA could become a member, including landless and women. As such, the WMCA stated that there are currently 25-26 female members and 15-16 landless people, i.e. comprising half of the total number of WMCA general members. The General FGD (consisting of WMCA general members) instead stated that there were a total of 10-20 landless and women members in the WMCA. In terms of the Executive Committee, the Union Parishad played a substantial role in the subproject formation and was the first WMCA President. He then resigned after 3 years and was replaced by a school teacher (5 acres) who is now the WMCA Secretary. The current President is a farmer (5 acres) and is supported by the village doctor (1 acre).
Presently, I am the president. I do not take decision alone rather decisions are taken during the meetings where we discuss with everybody. All the members of the EC discuss among us, call for people and further discuss with them about what to do and how to do it. Based on these discussions we plan our work. /Current WMCA President

Though there were several women present in the WMCA FGD, few of them spoke during the session. The participants of the General FGD, both male and female, were all members of the WMCA. Nevertheless, the respondents in Jainkathi indicated a sense of collective cohesion where work is done through consensus. Though the Union Parishad is not formally engaged in the SSWRDSP, there is a continuous linkage between the WMCA and UP by having the UP member involved in the WMCA EC. The current UP member, was previously a WMCA Secretary and is still a part of the Executive Committee. It was also mentioned that prior to LGEDs involvement, the Union Parishad had engaged in canal re-excavation through a rural works program. but the local people preferred LGED to the Union Parishad as the UP was seen as not consulting 25

the local people to the same extent a the LGED.

6.3. WMCA Meetings: durability over time?

The WMCA was created based on meetings and discussions. It is also a cooperative based on membership contributions and savings where the WMCA can disburse loans to its members. As such, meetings fill a double purpose, to discuss the activities of the WMCA, as well as provide an opportunity to collect monthly contributions from its members. Different statements are given on how often these meetings are held now that 10 years has passed since the SSWRDSP ended. According to a woman WMCA member, When a meeting date is fixed, we come, deposit money and leave. In meeting we discuss about everything Mursheda, Housewife. Similarly, Aleya argues that everyone attends the meetings and few people miss them, i.e. 78 members would be attending each month. However, the accuracy of this is difficult to verify since contradictory statements are being made. Some people say they meet at a set day of the month, others say it is based on a certain date or that meeting is flexible. Aleya even contradicts herself by also stating that people are participating less and less in meetings, this will be discussed later on. The current UP member also mentions that the Executive Engineer comes from LGED every month to participate in these meetings. However, it is more likely that it is the Community Organiser, as the meetings are about savings related activities of the WMCA. The WMCA Secretary further mentioned that there are also Upazila-level meetings each month, as well as quarterly meetings at the District headquarters where the WMCAs can participate and express their opinions, along with the LGED. This would then suggest that the WMCA on its own initiative participates in the Upazila Development Coordination Committees (UDCC).

6.4. Sub-committees and Training

When the WMCA was created, it formed three sub-committees (i) Maintenance committee; (ii) Loan committee and (iii) Managing committee. The maintenance committee is responsible for gate maintenance and the loan committee is in charge of the committees loan activities and provide a proposal for the managing committee to approve. The Managing committee is in essence the Executive Committee consisting of 12 members and office bearers. They supervise overall water management in the subproject and take the final decisions regarding operation of sluice gates, maintenance of infrastructure and loan decisions. According to the former WMCA Vice-President, the maintenance sub-committee does all the maintenance work such as discussing how to remove the water hyacinths from the canals and to prepare a project work scheme for conducting the required maintenance works; though it is not clear whether these discussions lead to any actions. Mr Sunil has a tailoring shop close to the Kalibari sluice gate and looks after it as a member of the maintenance sub-committee. LGED focused on training and coordinated with the Department of Agriculture on training on agriculture to the WMCA. These were held in Faridpur, Madaripur, Khulna and Barisal. According to the LGED CO, when different government extension agencies want to gain access to an area to conduct training, they usually contact the LGED and make use of the WMCA as a contact with local people. The WMCA has received training on running a cooperative from the Department of Cooperatives via LGED at the project onset. As a result they know how to keep accounting over membership contributions and loans disbursed and repaid.

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6.5. WMCA as a cooperative: the role of microcredit and loans

SSWRDSP is based on the idea of the water management committee obtaining a legal status through registration as a cooperative. This would also include membership contributions, saving and income generating activities such as microcredit/loans. The Bhagirabad-Jainkathi WMCA was registered with the Department of Cooperatives through the assistance of LGED and the Union Parishad Chairman (WMCA President). They then submit an annual Audit Report to the Department of Cooperatives at the District level (though they noted that the Upazila level Cooperative Officer used to hold this task previously). WMCAs can have several income sources, membership shares, membership savings (or fees), leasing of canals and interests on disbursed loans. In the Bhagirabad-Jainkathi WMCA, members are expected to pay an upfront contribution of BDT 10 to become a WMCA member. Then they were to deposit BDT 22 each during the monthly meetings as a share saving. LGED has divided the data into shares and savings, though the shares are substantially lower than the savings. The BDT 2 per member is used for miscellaneous costs of the WMCA such as tea, breakfast, mobile bill, minor travel costs etc. The WMCA does not engage in leasing of canals, but focuses solely on micro/credit and loans that it disburses from its savings. The interest rate is kept at 3% and the savings are kept in the WMCA bank account. According to the woman WMCA EC respondent, the loans are taken to meet different emergency needs, often for agricultural purposes and to initiate fish cultivation. The respondents gave varying answers to the size of the loan, ranging from BDT 4 000 -6 000 per year and person (former WMCA Vice-President) and BDT 10 000 -12 000 per year and person (Woman WMCA EC member). The amount should be paid back to the WMCA within 1 year. The woman WMCA EC respondent argued that loans are repaid timely and regularly through the monthly meetings and that this is due to the practice of only given loans to those that are able to repay. We do not give loans to hard core ultra poor. However, the current WMCA Secretary states that default of loans has been more common than repayment. This in turn has led to depleted share savings funds and less disbursement of loans in his view. In 2008, the total budget for requested maintenance activities reached was BDT 161 000, the funds available were BDT 33 500 and the actual expenditure was BDT 15 000 (LGED, 2008). This is corroborated by the WMCA Secretary who said that after the damages caused by Aila, they had BDT 30 000 35 000 available and spent their funds to repair the embankment and gate, with BDT 15 000 remaining. The WMCA now holds approximately BDT 30,000 as share savings. According the UP member, LGED has only contributed financial support once to repair the sluice gate and excavate the canal in 2007. ...but we had to write for this financial support so many times and also we had rush to so many offices for this. We made resolution and submitted it to the LGED office and after that LGED provided us money through bank cheque. There seems to be some sort of dependency for external funding for maintenance, where the WMCAs own funds are seen as insufficient. In 1998, the re-excavation of Kalibari khal cost BDT 31 391 for 1.2 km. This would entail that 50% would have to be covered by the WMCA (15 000) and 50% by LGED as this is periodic maintenance, i.e. half of the WMCAs current savings, including the loans disbursed. In addition, the local people want the embankment to be higher and wider with brick pavement. They require more inlets and an improved drainage structure. The current regulator needs to be replaced. In terms of the handover agreement, these costs should be borne completely by LGED. As such, the income from the 3% on loans will not be sufficient to cover this without LGED support. This is exacerbated by the declining interest in paying the monthly contributions voiced by different members of the WMCA EC. Everybody is not willing to pay the monthly instalments. Many people say that why we should pay 22 taka, we do not see the results of this money/Woman WMCA EC member. In their view, new LGED rehabilitation project would spark renewed interest in the WMCA as it would also provide employment opportunities. 27

We want a new project for local development and local people would be able to work to develop the polder. Then we could ask for explanation to them if they would not pay monthly instalment regularly. Now rainy season is coming. So, the embankment risks to be damaged in several places. We need huge amount of money; how we will manage such big amount? If LGED allocate money then we will be able to hire female workers to repair the embankment and re-excavation of canal. Then both Samity and female workers will be benefited, if money will come./Woman WMCA EC member

In the General FGD, a farmer (1 acre) and artisan who are both WMCA members, mentioned that local people would repair the embankment with earth if they see that it is breaking. The WMCA may give some funds, but usually Water committee (WMCA) helped us by providing BDT 1 000. UP member on behalf of the committee gave BDT 500. We managed rest of the money. These repairs seem to be patchy. Shushilans field observations note that the height and width of the polder is uneven, some are wider, others are narrower the embankment constructed by LGED is in very bad condition. Though the WMCA is active in micro-credit, it seems that this is not sufficient to address major maintenance concerns. Even minor repairs such as removing of water hyacinths do not seem to be taking place. The loans are used for livelihood improvement and are not directly related to maintenance, though the WMCA members themselves say that they do repair gates and re-excavate canal. However, considering the siltation of the canal and the broken Kalibari gate, this may not still be the case ten years after the project has ended.

6.6. Perception of WMCA

Most of the respondents, no matter occupation or social class were one way or another involved with the WMCA. The only exception being the respondent residing outside the sub-project but working on betel leaf cultivation also inside the subproject. The general perception of the WMCA is positive with people happy over the agricultural productivity since the construction of the embankment. The WMCA is seen as doing a good job in the operation of the only sluice gate it has control over, Kalibari gate. The KII with the Paddy farmer cum WMCA member mentioned that the WMCA is conducting maintenance activities and performing well. The KII with the widowed farmer cum WMCA member also found that the WMCA is performing well and that she can contact them for any support or problem. Shushilan had observed that there does not seem to be any corruption in the WMCAs activities. One respondent stated that the current president is a good man and that no one wants him to resign. But we want him, because he understands these issues very well. He does not want to continue because according to rule president has to change after one year. But we dont want him to resign. Jainkathi is a small community and every one of the respondents seemed loyal toward the WMCA. The only negative comments came from an outsider, the Union Parishad Chairman who accused the WMCA to be elitist and lacking accountability. If I have to value their performance, then I would reform this committee with real farmers through discussion with existing members. The cooperative has lack of accountability. Where there is less accountability, there is more corruption. There is no regular monitoring of their activities. We have not observed any bad effect of their activities. But amount and volume of work is comparatively less than allocated budget/ Union Parishad Chairman. As such, it is difficult to determine whether or not the WMCA is functioning well or not. Though successful with the operation of the Kalibari gate, it has not power over the Talukdarbari gate. It has been unable to ensure repayment rates and members monthly contributions after the ending of a project and though active in seeking funds from LGED, maintenance of the sub-project is arguably underperforming. The question is whether or not this can be attributed to the WMCA itself, or its structure and perhaps over-stretched mandate? In addition, the women LCS respondents state that the WMCA is now inactive and only consist of rich leaders. They also recall the 28

inclusion of landless representatives at the onset when they also participated we felt they would value our opinion, but were not able to confirm that such a representative is still part of the WMCA.

6.7. Participation, Gender and representativeness

The key source on the participation of women members in the WMCA came from Aleya Begum, wife of founding WMCA President and former Union Parishad member. She stated that she joined the committee based mainly on her own interest and with some inspiration and motivation from her husband. He resigned but left me in the Samity because otherwise this Samity wont survive. The KII with her overall reveals a very confident attitude towards her own role in the WMCA and keeping an interest to it alive. Besides Samity office was constructed at my door. If I am not present then they (poor people of the locality) dont give importance. Poor people listen to me, my word is important to them. Local people also want me because poor people listen to me. However, it is not clear whether or not other women hold the same level of interest, as it seems she seems to be of both higher and economic standing than the rest of the community. Though there are only 80 general members in total, the Executive Committee still consists of the standard 12 members, where half are male and the other half are female. According to Mrs Aleya Begum, men are elected to the important posts such as President, Secretary and Cashier as they can travel to distant places while women cannot. It is therefore the women themselves that want the men to hold these positions. In her opinion they are doing their work appropriately, informing and including everyone to meetings and there is no problem of capture. However, she also mentions There are no landless or hardcore poor in the committee as everybody does not understand everything. Among the members some are school teacher, tailor, job holder, and farmer. As such, there seems to be a partial exclusion of certain groups in decisionmaking and it is not clear whether or not this is actually linked to the usage of water and to water management decisions. According to the LCS women interviewed, they were members in the beginning but there funds were never returned to them, i.e. there was a belief that the monthly contributions were savings to be returned. We did not get back our money. So we never again involved with that committee./ Bimala, LCS. They also mentioned that women working with earthwork are not members of the WMCA, nor have they been actively been invited as such. Male are participating, so its not necessary for us to participate. My son is a member of this committee/Bimala, LCS. Similarly, the Woman WMCA member, whose husband was the UP member that initiated the subproject, argued that women prefer to vote males as office bearers as they can travel more easily than women. Arguably, there is still a perception that men rather than women should participate in water management.

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7. CONCLUSION
7.1. Irrigation scarcity and silted canals
One main concern expressed is the high siltation rate of the canals, both inside and outside the Jainkathi subproject. The canals in our locality are filled up. In the future we will suffer from water scarcity. The canals are a key source of irrigation water, and it was noted that with access to irrigation facilities and agricultural inputs, more Rabi crops can be cultivated. There is enough potential of growing sunflower, water melon, balsam apple etc. commercially. But we are unable to do it due to lack of fresh water. Also, the quality of soil has severely degraded due to excessive use of fertiliser. We can use young plants of pulses as green fertilizer to some extent. The key recommendation to address this problem was to have the WMCA excavated the canals through LGED funds. The earth from the canals could then be used to strengthen and heighten the embankment, while sufficient water for agriculture would be obtained. In addition, periodic excavation was seen as a way of boosting local employment. Poor people of the locality will have employment opportunity continuously for several months. One main problem here is that the LGED built the Talukdari gate on private land and this has made the second internal canal, Talukdarbari canal, inaccessible for the rest of the community. Excavation of this one is not possible as LGED does not have legal rights to the land. As such, any construction by LGED must be made on public land to make it beneficial for the wider community or in the legal holding of LGED. It is also not clear whether or not the Talukdarbari people have taken control of the canal that is flowing across their land, or if it is theirs in the legal sense. Such issues may heavily impede the maintenance and water distribution of these canals.

7.2. WMCA as a governance structure

The Bhagirabad-Jainkathi subproject is the smallest of all G3s research sites. In terms of operation of the sluice gate, it seems that the decision making of the WMCA corresponds with the needs of local people, at least for Kalibari gate. The Union Parishad Chairman located outside the sub-project mentioned that though he would receive complaints for BWDB polders, none from Jainkathi has complained over the operation of Kalibari gate. The WMCA members, who incidentally are the same as local people interviewed outside the WMCA FGD, point out that they are benefitted by LGED as they are a small sub-project and BWDB cannot supervise properly. One could argue that since the hydrological unit is so small social cohesion is easier to accomplish, i.e. that size matters. However, even in Jainkathi, the male influential elites comprising of nonfarmers seem to hold the major power-positions in the WMCA. Though they are educated and can speak with various government officials, it is not clear if they are also the ones who would engage in minor maintenance, i.e. remove vegetation from canals. Landless do not seem to be members of WMCAs, though they are used as day labourers and for LCS. The landless respondent was actually residing outside the subproject and stating that his inability to afford living inside the subproject makes him ineligible to fulfil the WMCA criteria of residing in the subproject. This fits with Aleya Begums statement that there are no landless in Jainkathi. As such there is a class division with those who can own land inside the productive subproject and those living outside it without electricity, tubewells and protection from tidal surges. It appears that landless reside outside the subproject due to high land prices inside the polder and are therefore not qualified as members.

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7.3. Sustainability or dependence?

It is impressive that the WMCA exists ten years after LGED handed over the SSWRDSP Phase I project. Yet it is not clear whether or not this can be compared with BWDB, where after the project both the team and agency have left. LGED has maintained institutional structures that have provided support to WMCAs. Arguably this, rather than the concept of WMCA is what has contributed largely to their continued survival? Nevertheless, Shushilan observed during their field visits the very poor condition of the LGED road, despite active WMCA and active LGED staff. If SSWRDSP is sustainable, why is the state of maintenance so backward? Not even minor works such as removal of hyacinths and vegetation is taking place and they have not been able to resolve the conflict of the gate placed on private land, that blocks access to water for high elevation land. The FGDs and KIIs revealed that the local people are waiting for LGED to come with a new project in Jainkati. They have money in accounts but canal is silted and sluice gate broken. The WMCA is becoming increasingly inactive as there are no project-funded activities taking place. Though annual O&M plans are submitted to the LGED each year, the WMCA requests are not matched by the funding allocated by LGED. When asked what they [local people] would do if LGED would no longer provide funding, the WMCA President suggested that they should undertake bamboo tree planation on behalf of the WMCA. The proceeds could them be used for maintenance of the polder. If the govt. does not provide us financial support, than we have to carry out the activities with our own money which we deposit to the WMCA.

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ANNEX 1: INSTITUTIONS IN WATER GOVERNANCE

i) Government Agencies
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) is a public sector organization responsible for planning, implementation and O&M of local level rural (as well as urban) infrastructure development programs. LGED works closely with the local stakeholders to ensure peoples participation and bottomup development. The organizational background of the LGED can be traced back to early sixties when implementation of works program (WP) was started. To administer WP nationwide, the Works Program Wing (WPW) of the Ministry of Local Government was created in 1982. It was reformed into the Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB) in October 1984. LGEB was upgraded as the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in August, 1992. LGED approach is to assist local government bodies Union Parishad and Upazila in the rural areas and Paurasova (municipalities) and City Corporations in the urban areas to develop and maintain infrastructure. Concerning polder areas, LGED role is taking up of small scale participatory projects in sub-polders not exceeding 1,000 ha area. Four of the nine sample study polders have on-going LGED projects. LGED has offices down to Upazila level. Since the SSWRDSP entered Jabusa Beel in the late 1990s, LGED has been the main implementing agency in water management in the area. The Union Parishad is not involved. The WMCA submits formal and written requests for any financial support regarding the maintenance and rehabilitation of the water infrastructure. Union Parishad: a Local Government Institution Rural governance in Bangladesh comprises of a three-tier local government system of which Union Parishad is the grassroots local government institution and its immediate upper tier is Upazila Parishad. BhagirabadJainkathi subproject lies in Jainkathi union in Patuakhali Sadar Upazila. The Union Parishad is not directly active in the operation of sluice gates or the maintenance of the embankment and canals. However, they have been active in installing deep tubewells and provided support during emergencies prior to any other government agency. According to one respondent, the UP provided rice and lentils during Sidr and gave 10 kg rice per person and paid out compensation of 5000 taka for the people whose houses had been damaged. They also arranged tin for house construction. Such funding is given as disaster relief. A complaint from both Union Parishad Chairman and Union Parishad member is that they do not have sufficient independent funds. Their budget consists of a set allocation from the Upazila Parishad and tax revenue on income, where they earn approximately 3-3.5 lakh taka annually in tax revenue from the latter. According to themselves, they spend 20-25% of their annual budget on agriculture and water for agriculture. However, since the Bhagirabad-Jainkathi subproject is so small, it is not evident that the allocation reaches this area. Funds are generally not allocated for direct water management activities. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is responsible for the dissemination of agricultural technology, information and relevant services to farmers and other stakeholders down to village level. It is the largest department under the Ministry of Agriculture having their extension officer down to village level (one extension officer called Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer for a cluster of villages called Block). In Bhagirabad-Jainkathi the DAE and SAAO are seen as very active. The SAAO visits the union; goes to the field and advises farmers about proper irrigation in the field. In addition, the DAE organizes demonstration plots for paddy and sesame as well as provides the cost of seeds, fertilizer and other things. In addition, if the crops of the paddy farmers are affected by the insects, the DAE organizes different types of training on this 32

issue to the farmers. Department of Fisheries The Department of Fisheries (DoF) is responsible for the dissemination of fisheries resource conservation and aquaculture technology and is situated under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. DoF provides training on fisheries and how to do combined cultivation of paddy and fish. They provide support to fish cultivators in the area and assist them if there are any problems. According to the respondents in BhagirabadJainkathi, the DoF has been active in other areas of the union in terms of training and pond renovation. It has, however, not conducted any activities on fish cultivation in the sub-project. Interagency Coordination The Union Parishad Member interviewed in Jainkathi emphasised the importance of interagency coordination to improve water governance. Agriculture, fisheries, livestock and public health departments are linked with the present water management activities. I think more integration and cooperation is necessary in order to improve the water management sector. It was suggested that when different agencies are preparing proposals in a Union Parishad, the UP should be involved in this process and consult the UP chairman and other elected representatives for a needs assessment. He argued this would allow them to give inputs that allow future activities to be tailored to the demands of the locality.

ii)

NGOs

NGOs: Grameen Bank, BRAC, DANIDA, ASA, Shushilan, Codec, WAVE Foundation, Save the Children, Manab Kallayan Shangstha, Paddakhep, Palli Pragoti Emergency: During Aila and SIDR different NGOs contributed with humanitarian assistance. They provided tin, cows, goats and in some instances helped reconstruct damaged housing. Agriculture: BRAC is the NGO that has worked most on agriculture in the area under a specific project. It has been running the past three years and aims at cultivating sunflower and paddy, where BRAC has provided sunflower seeds. BRAC has also provided investments for Mugh dal (variety of lentil) and sesame. Drinking water: DANIDA provided two deep tube wells in this area. Save the Children works for the development of Sanitation and water. All of these NGOs are working in sanitation and microcredit sector. Micro-credit: Most of the NGOs are engages in microcredit and lending activities. Grameen Bank is the major lender with an office at the end of Bhagirabad village. It is currently running two project that were mentioned, one is the One House One Farm where they provide loans for cow rearing. The other is to provide loans for agricultural activities and pump machines. Water management: DANIDA, WAVE Foundation and other NGOs have conducted road repair and canal excavation activities through hiring earth workers. The general perception is that the quality of their good is very good. The Union Parishad Chairman even stated that he believed that it would be good if NGOs would take more responsibility for water management rather than only providing loans. He suggested that LGED and these NGOs can work together and supervise each other.

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