A participatory irrigation management policy has been adopted by the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation over the past two decades to support agricultural productivity, decrease open-channel conveyance losses, and increase agricultural water distribution equity. Two recent projects that dealt with the introduction of this policy in the Nile Delta through improvement projects are the irrigation improvement project (TIP) by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Bahr El-Nor, and the integrated water management districts (IWMDs) by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in El-Ibrahimia. The implementation of these projects and their associated policies promoted the evolution and sustainability of these policies. An analysis of case studies for these projects, taking into account four dimensions of improvement and sustainability, shows that farmers were reluctant to accept the policies because they lacked training on various irrigation system improvement techniques, as introduced through the projects. Thus, the current focus should be on the reform of irrigation system improvement policies so that they are more realistic, and ultimately more successful, supporting agriculture and encouraging Ministry personnel to adopt and support participatory water management as implemented in the targeted Egyptian irrigation projects. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

participatory irrigation management; water user associations; irrigation improvement; irrigation policy; Nile Delta

• Journal Article

• Ag Water Conservation Policy
• Irrigation Water Conveyance and Delivery