tenant collectives in the gangetic plains – a new model for gender equitable grassroots irrigation...

TENANT COLLECTIVES IN THE GANGETIC PLAINS – A NEW MODEL

FOR GENDER EQUITABLE GRASSROOTS IRRIGATION AND LAND

MANAGEMENT

Fraser Sugden (IWMI Nepal)Dipika Das (IWMI Nepal)Anoj Kumar (IWMI India)

Photo: Fraser Sugden / IWMI

Rethinking the collective – a new model for land and water management in South Asia?


Landlord-tenant relations in the Eastern Gangetic Plains

• Severe inequality in land – particularly in Bihar, Nepal Tarai and NW Bangladesh

• Insecure tenancy (frequent change of tenants)• Poor economies of scale for irrigation due to

fragmentation• High rent (sharecropping predominant) make

investments unfeasible


Madhubani Purnea Sunsari Morang Dhanusha0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

landless labourer tenant part tenantlandowner <0.5ha landowner 0.5-1ha landowner 1-2halandowner >2ha

Agrarian structure in 14 village study (2013-15)

INDIA (Bihar) NEPAL Tarai (ADIVASI)

NEPAL Tarai (MADHESHI)

Madhubani Purnea Sunsari Morang Dhanusha0102030405060708090

% area under tenancy

% area under tenancy in 14 village study (2013-15)

Feminisation of agriculture• Out-migration essential for tenant households to

meet their subsistence needs• Women who stay behind to manage the land

face further constraints in accessing irrigation – Gendered barriers in groundwater markets – Sporadic remittances and loss of daily wage labour

income.– High work burden and challenges of labour

management• Highly vulnerable to climate stress

Solution through agricultural collectives

• Emergence from 2012-14 CCAFS Gender work, early engagement with grassroots organisations in Bihar

• Collective leasing of land• Pooling of labour, costs and profits• Joint ownership and management of equipment

(borewells, pump sets, threshers, zero till machinery etc)

• Feasible so long as collectives remain (i) participatory, (ii) small in size and (iii) homogeneous


Operation of a contiguous plot


Labour management


Potential for shared investments and management of equipment


Knowledge pooling


Innovation from the grassroots up


Improved bargaining power with landlordsPhoto: Fraser Sugden / IWMI

Utilisation of fallow land


Research questions to be addressed for upscaling


1. Option to pool only land and capital and not labour• Two collectives in Bihar, and two in Nepal utilize this

model• Ensures households retain individual responsibility

for performance• Allows existing tenants or even smallholders to be

mobilized, so is logistically feasible – allowing rapid upscaling.

• However, this model is not new, and it does not solve the problem of labour management, particularly for women headed hhs.


2. How to ensure landlords do not take back the land • Landlords frequently change tenants due to fear that

farmers may claim ownership.• Critical challenge is to ensure that the benefits of for

landlords outweigh risks– Cash rent must be equivalent to what was received in

kind by individual farmers, – However, it still must be profitable to collective (can be

achieved through productivity increases)• Developing ties of trust with landlords is important• Technologies must be mobile, so they can be

transferred to a new leased plot


3. Energy questions and appropriate technology• While it is preferable to pilot new technologies

such as solar, costs and forward/backward linkages are a constraint

• Pragmatism is necessary – e.g. use of diesel pumps more efficiently due to better maintenance or use of micro-irrigation.

• Not all technologies are appropriate – e.g. laser levelling and zero tillage piloted in Bihar (via SRFSI), but may not be sustainable without development of service provider model.


Questions for further discussion• Are collective forms of production really redundant

in 21st century? How do we avoid the pitfalls of Soviet era collectives – in particular addressing free rider problems?

• What does the collective farmer group approach mean for the dominant ‘leader farmer’ model of extension in the region.

• How do we coordinate the multiple micro level efforts at collective production being carried out across the region. The concept is not new in South Asia, it has just not yet been up-scaled.

Thank you

Nayabazaar, MorangPhoto: Fraser Sugden / IWMI

tenant collectives in the gangetic plains – a new model for gender equitable grassroots irrigation...

Environment