149
© The Author(s) 2016
R.F. Hüttl et al. (eds.), Society - Water - Technology, Water Resources
Development and Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18971-0_11
Chapter 11
Where Water Meets Agriculture:
The Ambivalent Role of Water Users
Associations
Timothy Moss and Ahmad Hamidov
Abstract This chapter investigates the role of water users associations (WUAs) in
managing the Fergana Valley’s irrigation system at a local level. WUAs were established in the Uzbek section of the Fergana Valley only from the early 2000s onwards
and are generally not regarded as having been effective to date, although individual
instances of modestly successful WUAs indicate their future potential as viable
entities for collective modes of water management. This chapter begins by explaining the origins, purpose and structure of WUAs in the Fergana Valley as set out in
policy guidelines and then contrasts this with a study of how they are working in
practice. In the concluding section, the effectiveness of WUAs in the Uzbek section
of the Fergana Valley is assessed in terms of criteria derived from the literature. This
chapter reveals that Uzbekistan’s WUAs lack the funding, water user representation
and resources to tackle the major structural problems confronting Fergana Valley’s
post-socialist irrigation system. Their heavy dependence on powerful institutional
regimes for irrigation and for agriculture also severely restricts their action. There
exist important exceptions, where WUAs are exploring innovative ways of coping
with the enormity of their tasks, in isolation and in collaboration, but these represent
only a small minority of WUAs in the region and are, to a large extent, dependent
on temporary donor funding.
Keywords Water users associations • Water governance • Institutions • Path dependency • Transformation • Fergana Valley • Integrated water resources management
• Participation • Irrigation • Education
T. Moss (*)
Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) ,
Flakenstraße 28-31 , 15537 Erkner , Germany
e-mail: MossT@irs-net.de
A. Hamidov
Department of Agricultural Economics , Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ,
Philippstraße 13 , 10099 Berlin , Germany
© The Author(s) 2016
R.F. Hüttl et al. (eds.), Society - Water - Technology, Water Resources
Development and Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18971-0_11
Chapter 11
Where Water Meets Agriculture:
The Ambivalent Role of Water Users
Associations
Timothy Moss and Ahmad Hamidov
Abstract This chapter investigates the role of water users associations (WUAs) in
managing the Fergana Valley’s irrigation system at a local level. WUAs were established in the Uzbek section of the Fergana Valley only from the early 2000s onwards
and are generally not regarded as having been effective to date, although individual
instances of modestly successful WUAs indicate their future potential as viable
entities for collective modes of water management. This chapter begins by explaining the origins, purpose and structure of WUAs in the Fergana Valley as set out in
policy guidelines and then contrasts this with a study of how they are working in
practice. In the concluding section, the effectiveness of WUAs in the Uzbek section
of the Fergana Valley is assessed in terms of criteria derived from the literature. This
chapter reveals that Uzbekistan’s WUAs lack the funding, water user representation
and resources to tackle the major structural problems confronting Fergana Valley’s
post-socialist irrigation system. Their heavy dependence on powerful institutional
regimes for irrigation and for agriculture also severely restricts their action. There
exist important exceptions, where WUAs are exploring innovative ways of coping
with the enormity of their tasks, in isolation and in collaboration, but these represent
only a small minority of WUAs in the region and are, to a large extent, dependent
on temporary donor funding.
Keywords Water users associations • Water governance • Institutions • Path dependency • Transformation • Fergana Valley • Integrated water resources management
• Participation • Irrigation • Education
T. Moss (*)
Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) ,
Flakenstraße 28-31 , 15537 Erkner , Germany
e-mail: MossT@irs-net.de
A. Hamidov
Department of Agricultural Economics , Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ,
Philippstraße 13 , 10099 Berlin , Germany