Farmers' participation and the Hare irrigation project

From the very beginning, the expected participation of the farmers was not promoted in the Hare Irrigation Project, a small scale irrigation scheme near Arbaminch under Gamo Gofa region of Ethiopia. After through study, it was found that the basic reason for non-participation is the top-down approach followed during investigation, design and construction stages of the project. Due to strong resistance from the local farmers, the tertiary and quaternary canals of the project are yet to be constructed. The above issue and its related aspects have been described in this paper.