2005), ‘The conditions of collective action for local commons management: the case of irrigation

Using the cross-section survey data on the activities of irrigators ’ associations in the Philippines, regression analysis is conducted to identify factors underlying the success and failure in farmers ’ organizing collective actions for maintenance and operation of gravity irrigation systems. It is found that collective action is difficult to organize where: (a) water supply is uniformly abundant, (b) water supply is greatly different between upper and lower streams in lateral, (c) size of association is large, (d) population density is low, (e) the ratio of non-farm households is high, and (f) the history of irrigated farming is short. The possibility is also found that these difficulties can be overcome with adequate supports of state agencies to promote community-level cooperation. The findings call for government to play the active role of enhancing local communities ’ organizational capacity in the process of handing over to them the management of local commons. * This study was prepared at the Social Sciences Division as a part of the IRRI-Japan Shuttle Project. The invaluable assistance from Esther Marciano and Mena Serrano is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to the many NIA officials in irrigation systems office and Regional office in Region 4