Small‐scale irrigation & the dynamics of water management in Teraï‐Farmer‐Managed Irrigation Systems

International audienceOver the last decades, FMISs in Nepal have undergone various changes that have been presented on a regular basis at these FMIS Trust conferences (Shivakoti et al., 2005; Lam 2010; Pradhan et al., 2015). We might mention—though the list is far from exhaustive—the lack of manpower due to migration, technical innovations, integration of water policies (with, for example, the creation of formal Water Users Association‐ WUAs), more interaction with the Department of Irrigation (DOI), the urbanization process, etc. These are part of a context of change that is affecting different fields: social, economic, environmental, technical and political, which are all interlinked. For example, demographic growth has put pressure on natural resources, so some technical or political solutions have been implemented to address the issue. In this context, I would like to point out two types of dynamics that irrigation systems come up against, this reflection being based on two examples of farmer‐managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Teraï plain. The reason I have chosen to present these two examples is that similar changes have occurred in their respective dynamics of water management. We will have to define and describe these dynamics but, in sum, we can say that they appear to be both a kind of split in the system’s management and a concentration of water management around the village unit. These dynamics may seem contradictory but this is not necessarily the case. It is important to mention these dynamics because they do not provide better water management on a scale of the water stream or even of the irrigation system, and they negatively impact the poorest farmers and their livelihoods