Description:
Irrigation systems are micro-societies with clear technical and social dimensions. Chicanery at the Canal is a monograph on a medium-sized irrigation system in Western Mexico. It introduces the reader to the often fascinating practices of farmers, leaders, field officers and engineers, and shows how they cope with each other and with the constraints put forward by the canal system. Through this account, the author attempts to clarify the formal and informal organising processes in irrigation systems.

The publication links up with recent trends in transferring management responsibilities to water users’ organisations. It describes in detail which forces emerge when water users start participating in the management of a government-operated irrigation system, and analyses how practices gradually change. This allows the author to elaborate a model for diagnosing irrigation organisation and to propose a practical intervention strategy.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preface......XI

1. Irrigation and interaction: an introduction......1

2. Crops and commerce, water and works: the valley’s agricultural development, 1850-1985......16

3. El Perado: characterising the irrigation system......51

4. Tender the waters: a case study of the canalero......76

5. Cleaning canals and making up our minds: managing maintenance and farmer response......104

6. The making of the irrigation plan: an institutional chronology of decision-making......135

7. Irrigation and intervention: the case of the Water Users’ Association......159

8. Decentralishing irrigation management, farmer participation and changing practice......180

9. Irrigation, intervention and change: a conclusion......202

Appendices......215

Summary / Samenvatting / Resumen......235

Notes......247
References......261
Curriculum Vitae......268