Senegal - Irrigation and Water Resource Management

Senegal Irrigation and Water Resource Management

Evaluation du Projet Irrigation et Gestion des Ressources en Eau au Sénégal : Rapport de Conception

Independent Impact Evaluation

ID Number DDI-MCC-SEN-IWRM-2016-v01

Topic	Vocabulary	URI
Agriculture and Irrigation

Irrigation, Difference in difference, Senegal, Agriculture, Resource Management, Propensity Score Matching, Land tenure security

Name	Abbreviation	Role
Millennium Challenge Corporation	MCC	Review of Metadata

2016-12-01DDI-MCC-SEN-IWRM-2016-v01Senegal CompactNOTE: IMPAQ only collected the baseline data and ultimately did not execute the program detailed below. Their program information, and other information within this metadata, is presented for transparency and understanding of the baseline data, but not the final report, which will be produced by Mathematica. IMPAQ: MCC is investing to help improve agricultural sector productivity in the Senegal River Valley (SRV) in the northern part of Senegal, in particular in the Delta of the Senegal River and in the Podor District. This region has the potential to benefit from intensive irrigation interventions because of: 1) Long experience with irrigation schemes in the Valley; 2) Strong support from the Government and the Société National D'Aménagement et d'Exploitation des Terres du Delta du fleuve Senegal et des Valles du fleuve Senegal et de Falémé (SAED) ; 3) Capability of farmers' association to manage large irrigation schemes. The agricultural potential of the SRV has been constrained by the poor quality and limited capacity of existing irrigation and a lack of appropriate drainage systems which raise soil salinity that in turn contributes to low agricultural yields. To overcome these constraints, the IRWM project is investing to improve the: 1) Quality and capacity of the irrigation system and reduce the risk of abandonment of land; 2) Land tenure regulations to secure the land rights of farmers and mitigate conflicts that might arise from ambiguities about property rights. The IWRM Project will also enhance the capacity of local institutions responsible for allocating and managing land rights. Specifically, the IWRM Project consists of the following activities: 1) Delta Activity 2) Podor Activity 3) Land Tenure Security Activity 4) Social Safeguard Measures Mathematica: On September 16, 2009, MCC signed a $540 million Compact agreement with the Republic of Senegal. The Compact, which entered into force on September 23, 2010 (meaning the five-year timeline for implementation began and Compact funds were formally obligated), aimed to “enable improved agricultural productivity and expand access to markets and services through critical infrastructure investments in roads and irrigation sectors.” The five-year agreement consisted of two projects: (1) the Roads Rehabilitation Project, which aimed at expanding access to markets and services by reducing transportation time and costs through improvements in strategic roads, and (2) the IWRM Project, which aimed to improve the productivity of the country's agricultural sector by improving the quality and reach of irrigation in agriculture-dependent areas in the north. The Compact was completed on September 23, 2015; implementation activities and funding, which totaled $432 million, ended at that time. This evaluation covers the IWRM Project. In line with Senegal's 1998 Master Plan for poverty reduction and agricultural development in the Senegal River Valley (SRV), the IWRM Project was designed to address the poor quality and lack of existing irrigation and drainage infrastructure, increase the volume of irrigated water in the SRV, develop newly irrigated land, and eliminate the risk of abandonment of existing irrigable land to increase agricultural productivity. The project also aimed to enable a secure land tenure environment for all those living and farming in the region directly affected by the project by supporting the third phase of Senegal's decentralization policy, adopted in 2013, which shifted land governance authority to local governments and aimed to integrate decentralization into local land governance (World Bank 2015). The IWRM consisted of four activities: (1) the Delta Activity, (2) the Podor Activity, (3) the Social Safeguard Activity (which was not implemented), and (4) the LTSA. This evaluation covers the Delta Activity, the Podor Activity, and the LTSA. The problems the project aimed to address were low agricultural yields and abandonment of land due to poor existing irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the Delta region, nonexistent irrigation infrastructure in Ngalenka, and low investment in the areas due to the insecurity of property rights and the high potential for land conflicts. The IWRM Project endeavored to reach 268,000 beneficiaries, increase household income by 35 percent and improve food security 10-20 years after the start of the project.Agriculture and Irrigation (Ag & Irr)IMPAQ: The IWRM project interventions have the potential to unlock agricultural (and non-agricultural) economic capacities and resources, thereby contributing to reducing poverty in Senegal. Land productivity is significantly higher for irrigated land when compared to rain-fed land. Thus, water management and irrigation activity should provide more reliable irrigation sources to farmers and a potential to improve agricultural productivity and agricultural incomes. Under the assumption that farmers are willing and able to pay for rehabilitation of tertiary channels and land in n'gallenka is fully allocated and land rights in delta are formalized, we should observe an expansion in irrigable land and more land area placed under production in the short term. At the same time, we expect the land tenure activity to formalize land tenure rights and improve the efficiency of local land institutions. Because the lack of formal land tenure rights is a major component of land insecurity, formalizing land tenure rights should increase farmers' feelings of security, which in turn should lead to greater investments in land. Formal land tenure rights, coupled with better and more efficient institutions and land management tools, should help reduce the incidence of land conflicts (medium- and short-term outcomes). The impact evaluation of the interventions will estimate the effectiveness of the interventions in achieving project goals. Mathematica: Irrigation and Water Resource Management Project IWRM Project Logic Assumptions (Delta/Podor) - INPUTS o Budget. Construction works budget is sufficient. - OUTPUTS o Budget. Government of Senegal covers any cost overruns. o Maintenance Action Plan. Irrigation Maintenance Action Plan is approved by GoS and institutional framework activities complete. - IMMEDIATE OUTCOMES o Tertiary Canals. Farmers are willing and able to pay for rehabilitation, expansion and upkeep of tertiary canals and water. In the Delta - collection fee issues have been resolved and system is being managed well (maintenance action plan implemented). In N'gallenka, the government contributes to tertiary canals. o Binding Constraint. Adequate primary Irrigation infrastructure was the biggest constraint. There are no other significant constraints/barriers to increased production (subject of the Ag Sustainability Plan). Particularly, barriers that local rice faces on the domestic market have been addressed, and there is a market for all crops grown. o People know or have access to information on how to use irrigation and grow HVA. o IWRM meets LTSA. Land of N'gallenka perimeter is fully allocated and farmed by trained producer groups holding formal land rights; Delta producers possess formal and up-to-date titling documents; land dispute resolution system is functioning. - INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES o Sustainability. Farmers continue to pay for water and fees are used for maintenance. o People have access to agricultural inputs. o Post-harvest infrastructure and access to markets are not a constraint - rural road system is adequate to carry inputs and outputs. o Interaction with other Donors. Other programs/donors/ investors are filling gaps in farmer training (what about technical assistance?), credit, etc. o WHAT about an assumption that the rice/tomato/onion meets quality/market standards and that these are in fact being absorbed by market????? - IMPACT o Binding Constraint. Irrigation was the constraint to growth. o Increases in farm income will lead to increases in household income. o Maintenance, land management, allocation and dispute resolution, and fee collection are all continuing to operate. o Baselines/Targets. Pre-compact assumptions about baseline were correct. o There are no other major constraints to ag sector growth (particularly volatility in GoS policy for the agricultural sector, including the interface of imports and domestic production, and ethnic barriers to trust and investment between Dakar and SRB).Beneficiaries are defined as households, owners or shareholders of farming enterprises and households that have individuals employed in the operation of enterprise farms. The IWRM Project was estimated to benefit approximately 22,390 households, or 269,260 individuals, through their work in agriculture. Based on the average farming revenue explained above, and assuming that households would cultivate an average of two hectares of irrigated land, average post-investment revenues were estimated to be US$4,470 PPP, which is a US$1 PPP per person per day increase in income. It was estimated that approximately 20 percent of beneficiaries of the IWRM Project were extremely poor, 15 percent were poor, and 42 percent were near poor. MCC also estimated that the project would provide employment for 8,880 households or 104,950 individuals. Assuming an average provision of 335 labor-days per household, these households would, on average, earn around US$1,740 PPP per year.