Walkthrough survey along the river, Sunday 15th of March

Getting up early we were out of the room at around 810. A car from the irrigation department was waiting and a nice driver. We were of to drive along the entire distributary 54 –a jumping 43 km. In addition we also drove down the three minors, choosing the three villages were we want to conduct the household survey. We picked up the first division officer, who had records and details on the first part of the river. The sun was shining and the heat sneakishly entering the car…(still early in the morning)

Just to give you a small insight to some of the findings:
There were no problems in the upper part of this distributary, as is the case in most distributaries. The head reach has plenty of water, lots of land per farmer and generally a good living standard. The problems accumulate towards the end of the stretch. This due to a typical neglect for understanding that excess water use in the upper part, by for example violation of cropping pattern, has dramatic consequences for the tail end. See the pictures. This is absolutely the case in this distributary. The distributary is designed to have a healthy flow for 43 km, but there is almost no water at around 30 km down the distributary. This affects many villages, and farmers obviously. We have chose minor 18 in the tail end. As we drove along it, the car suddenly stopped. There was a large gap in the road and in the minor. The farmers must have been so frustrated that they had destroyed the actual minor by making a huge hole in the structure. This to try to lead the little water there is in the minor, to their plots. It so truthful to see it in person – how the farmers choose to deal with the fact that they receive no water. As the government has promised the tail end water, it is their job to provide it. But as there are many factors along the distributary that also affects the outcome in the tail end, they manage to get away with almost laughing at our comments on how bad it is that there is no water n this particular part. It’s such a shame that the farmer’s collective action is destructive methods. But I hope to uncover why that is. I will be interviewing and interrogating from Thursday an onwards to find out if they have tried to impact and have a say in other ways too.

At one point we got stuck by the way. The mud captured the back tyre and the driver – well let’s just say he just made it worse. We called for a tractor that came to our rescue after an hour. We rested in the shade of a tree. I have to say – it is the first time I have felt such a difference between heat and shaded heat. It was unbelievable. Felt like 10 degrees cooler in the shade and so pleasant. I am so glad to have experienced that beautiful difference. I now understand why all animals magically flock around their Sheppard’s, sitting in the shade of a tree having their lunch. The exhaustion was indescribable, resulting in me I sleeping without dinner…