Subsidies in Watershed Development Projects in India 333Supporting community organizations
Informal village groups can potentially serve as a focal point for efforts to resolve
local disputes and mobilize farmers into action. Experience in India suggests that
participation in local groups can build villagers’ confidence to work collectively, to
establish thrift funds to generate capital, to consider new investment opportuni-
ties, and generally to become more active (James Mascarenhas, OUTREACH,
personal communication; Parthasarathy, 1994). Active local groups can stimulate
psychological incentives that previously were stifled by cultural or political con-
straints. These potential strengths of local groups have nothing to do with external
finance. In fact, they present an alternative, more sustainable way to improve the
welfare of rural people.
Farmer-to-farmer extension is an offshoot of community organization. Once
villagers organize, skilled farmers can serve as extension agents to spread informa-
tion to their neighbours. They may have more credibility than traditional exten-
sion workers because they face the same circumstances as the people they serve.
Farmer-to-farmer extension has had favourable results in many countries.
Two principles from these experiences are worth highlighting. First, every
community is different, so there can be no single blueprint for designing commu-
nity organizations. Second, external funds donated to community organizations
should be forthcoming only to groups that have already established themselves and
demonstrated that they are serious. The funds should be small and should support
the costs of organizing, gathering information and spreading awareness; they
should not finance giveaways.
Box 17.6 Spreading the benefits of natural resource management
A classic example from India is the famous Sukhomajri watershed project, in which
landless families received rights to irrigation water in exchange for protecting the
irrigation tank catchment area. These families could then sell their water share or
use it on leased land (Patel-Weynand, 1997). More recently, the National Tree Grow-
ers’ Co-operative has adopted a similar approach, giving all households a share in
the returns to protecting trees in common forests. Another example from India con-
cerns current efforts in Andhra Pradesh to convert irrigation tanks to percolation
tanks (Gangi Reddy et al, 1994). Under certain circumstances there can be substan-
tial benefits from tank conversion, but they are not evenly distributed, so possibly
some people who stand to lose have an incentive to sabotage the effort. Success in
tank conversion projects therefore requires organizing all the people affected by the
tank to ensure that the benefits are distributed in a way that satisfies all of them. No
external finance is needed.