Reforms and Governance of Public Irrigated Perimeters in Niger: Challenges and Prospects

Niger has several public irrigated lands whose governance faces several constraints. That these constraints inhibit their development and their performance. Two successive reforms of agricultural cooperatives governance were initiated to resolve certain challenges. First, the adoption of the uniform act required the conversion of agricultural cooperatives into cooperative societies in accordance with the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. Second, the responsibilitie of the cooperative societies were limited to the production management and the creation of irrigation water user associations to ensure better water governance. This article is a qualitative analysis of the impact of these reforms undertaken to improve the development of public irrigated perimeters in Niger. Fourty five (45) focus groups were conducted to collect information from representatives of agricultural cooperatives, cooperative societies, and Irrigation Water User Associations. The results show that these reforms are accepted by all cooperators. All agricultural cooperatives have been formally converted into cooperative societies and some have accepted the principle of separating production management from water management. However, they struggle to comply with the rules and principles related to the current legislation and democratic governance. Cooperative management has enabled control over irrigation schedules, cropping calendars, crop production cycles, etc. Nonetheless, significant shortcomings have been observed in the efficiency of water mobilization and distribution, the use of agricultural inputs, and dedicated funds for royalty collection. These shortcomings persist as irrigation water user associations struggle to establish themselves. The causes of these dysfunctions are related to negative apprehensions among cooperative members, insufficient capacity building, poor awareness due to lack of sensitization, and insufficiency of financial resources dedicated to the reforms.