ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Expanding groundwater irrigation in Terai is important for Nepal to meet its increasing food requirements and for poverty alleviation. The current government policy, since 2000, aims to help small and poor farmers in investing in group-based Shallow Tubewells (STWs), by providing various support services, instead of a direct cash subsidy. This paper evaluates the outcomes in the two sites among many, where this policy has been implemented through a government project. Poverty alleviation and STW irrigation expansion, the two main goals of the new policy, are difficult to be achieved simultaneously. Although small and poor farmers now have a higher rate of access to STWs, it still fails to benefit the poorest such as tenant farmers and those without legal land entitlement. The process is further slowed down due to small landholding sizes and the time consumed in organizing small farmers. The paper suggests that promoting individual STWs through rural electrification could be a more effective policy for a faster groundwater development and poverty alleviation.
