Publication:

THE PLIGHT OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION FARMING IN MALAWI: LESSONS FROM WOVWE RICE SCHEME, 1964-2007

Despite the long history of existence and indeed the general significance of small-scale irrigation farming in improving the socio-economic status of peasant households in Malawi, both the past and present challenges of small-scale irrigation schemes have not been adequately documented. This study explores the challenges of small-scale irrigation schemes in Malawi in light of modernisation and neo-liberal ideas which gave rise and sustained both the management and operations of the schemes from 1964 to1994 and 1995 to 2007 respectively. Using the case study of Wovwe Rice Scheme in Northern Malawi, the study argues that the challenges of Wovwe Rice Scheme could not be simplistically explained through the manner in which it was established let alone through the top-down management style. Some challenges do not necessarily fit into such broad explanations. The study demonstrates that even a change in the management style of the scheme from the mid 1990s did not necessarily arrest all the challenges of the scheme. Some new challenges emerged which neither government officials nor farmers envisaged. Such challenges equally undermined the success of the scheme at a time when neo-liberal ideas of irrigation reform were employed. The study shows that between 1968 and 1994 the general set-up of the administrative structure and the lopsided pricing policies of peasant crops implemented from time to time undermined both the operations and utilization of the scheme. It also demonstrates how over-reliance on both mechanized technology such vi as power tillers and seasonal credit undermined peasant attempts to make long-term investments in rice industry. The study also documents the socio-economic impact of the scheme on peasants during this era, observing that the scheme brought about economic differentiation among the peasants. By tracing the causes of this differentiation, the study demonstrates the need of taking into consideration the economic background of peasants before implementing any project aimed at improving peasants’ welfare. The study also documents how administrative, economic and ecological challenges undermined the management of the scheme between 1995 and 2007, a period when farmers became actively involved in the management of the scheme. In so doing, it opens a new chapter on the forces undermining the management of the schemes in light of neo-liberal ideas of irrigation reform. Administratively, the study observes that Government’s desire to save its resources by quickly withdrawing its staff from the scheme without recognizing the negative effects such an action would have in organizing farmers into a stable and capable Water Users’ Association (WUA) for sustainable management of the scheme had adverse effects both on management and maintenance work in the scheme. Economically, far from the general optimism that market liberalization would bring about positive results, the study shows that market liberalization in fact negatively affected peasants in the scheme. Ecologically, this period was characterized by floods and water shortages which in turn gave rise to a number of social problems. The study also documents the achievements of the Wovwe Water Users’ Association (WWUA). In so doing, it highlights the unprecedented role WUAs could play in developing scheme areas into nuclei of rural towns, one of the principal objectives for which the schemes were established.