ABSTRACT
Mutual complaints between farmers and agency personnel are endemic in irrigation management. In any irrigation system where agency personnel are involved in management, it is important that the main system managers accept the legitimacy of farmer participation if this is to become effective. Any government agency, not just one involved in irrigation, will have certain professional self-images, standard operating procedures, institutional doctrines, typical incentives and career patterns that shape the behavior of its personnel. The National Irrigation Administration in the Philippines embarked on its innovative course after the government directed that agency to begin recovering the costs of its capital investment in improving communal irrigation schemes. Bureaucratic competition can create incentives to innovate. One "division of labor" approach to farmer participation is to assign to water users certain responsibility for organizational matters, reserving all technical decisions and evaluations to the irrigation agency staff.
