World Bank-Assisted Community-Based Development Project for High-Value Crop Production: Failures and Successes

The government of Punjab has recently implemented a World-Bank-assisted community-based development project for the enhancement of farm productivity in water deficit areas of the Punjab province for 11 years. This paper describes a case study from the Faisalabad division, wherein drip irrigation in conjunction with tunnel technology has improved crop and water productivity of fruits, vegetables and cash crops, optimizing farm incomes. Not only crop yields were optimized, but also there were savings on water (30-45%) and other inputs, reduced incidence of pests and diseases (15-20%), early spring production by 35 days and higher quality of produce, which substantially increased farm incomes (19-41%) along with some environmental benefits. A conservative estimate showed a reduction in unemployment by 5% in project areas. Despite these impressive achievements, a post-project survey showed that 93% of beneficiary farmers abandoned drip irrigation systems, soon after project closure. It emphasized that in the Thal area, only a 4% system rolled back, suggesting the better suitability of the high-efficiency irrigation system for water conservation and productivity enhancement in sandy areas. Post-project farmer-participatory rural appraisal (PRA) shows that drip irrigation was rolled back due to multiple constraints. For example, unsuitable/inefficient design, clogging of drippers/drip lines, non-availability of spare parts, poor response of troubleshooters and top-down approach of the project, prompting better planning and implementation, in the future, for similar projects.