ABSTRACT
Before 1994 state organs were heavily involved in the establishment, operation, maintenance and management of smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa (Van Averbeke et al, 1998, p5; Bembridge, 2000, p3; Merrey et al, 2002, p97). Since 1994 the government has implemented a policy of irrigation management transfer (IMT) to reassign these functions from the state or its agencies to farmers (Perret, 2002). IMT is a universal trend motivated by governments seeking to reduce recurrent expenditure on irrigation (Vermillion, 1997, p13; Shah et al, 2002, p64), and by the realization that irrigators must be the primary decision-makers in the management of scheme resources (Thompson, 1991, p15). Adoption of IMT policy in South Africa has been explicit in some parts, such as Limpopo Province (Limpopo Department of Agriculture, 2002, p7), and implicit in others, such as the Eastern Cape (Commission of Enquiry, 1995, piii). In Limpopo Province, IMT has been linked to the rehabilitation of smallholder irrigation schemes.
