| The central question of this research is why users of the irrigation system in Sindh, Pakistan do not organize to collectively manage this vital and scarce resource. The research tests the central hypothesis that recent changes in the agrarian structure of rural Sindh, embedded in hierarchical social relationship of the landlord-tenant relationship, have negatively affected the ability of local users to manage their irrigation system. It utilises an anthropological methodology of inquiry and a political ecology theoretical framework to explore the interconnections among the social, economic, and ecological aspects of farming in upper Sindh, Pakistan.;This research was conducted in Baddu, a mid-size village in the lower basin on the right bank of the Indus River. There was a substantial amount of environmental degradation by waterlogging and salinity, through a combination of perennial irrigation and the intensification of agriculture. In line with traditional rural Sindhi society, the village is organised along lines of vertical dependence with the a handful of large landlords (Waderas ) at the top, medium and small landholders in the middle, and the bottom is occupied by the Haris, the marginal landowners, landless tenants and agricultural labourers.;Agricultural management in the village is very important in terms of determining the agrarian structure for the village and the Wadera-Hari relationship is central to the agrarian structure as well as being the lynch pin to the social system.;There are three categories of constraints that prevent local level users from managing the resource effectively: knowledge, technological and social constraints. In this research, I conclude that it is almost exclusively social constraints that are the cause of poor management of the local irrigation system in Baddu. These are the constraints that affect the way the users are able to organise to manage the resource as a collective entity. These include power politics and social conflicts that may disrupt collective management, the lack of social networks and trust, the absence of people or institutions that could take a leadership role, and social and cultural institutions that may impede effective management of the resource at a local level.;There have been several processes in place over the past several decades in the region that have begun to change the dominant Wadera-Hari relationship. An increasing number of villagers earn some, if not all, their livelihood from off-farm income sources. There has been a slight change in landownership patterns, with several villagers buying land.;There are other emerging social institutions that are taking the place of the traditional role that the landlord played in the village's social structure, for example, the Zat Baithak or ethnic group counsels.;These changes in the agrarian structure and the landlord-tenant relationship have had an adverse impact of the management of the local irrigation system. The changing role of the landlord in the village means that the necessary leadership to ensure effective management of the watercourses will become less prevalent. The gap that has been created by the disintegration of the traditional Wadera-Hari relationship has not, as yet, been completely filled by the emerging trends of ethnic group based vertical associations. Thus, in this interim period, the changes have had a negative impact on the local irrigation system. It may be hypothesized that if current trends continue, then the vertical associations of the Zat Baithak may become more recognized and accepted forms of organizations that fill in the managerial role. |
