Improved Water Institutions for Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in Afghanistan's Balkh River Basin

Abstract

Crop and livestock production in Afghanistan is constrained by weak infrastructure, poor information, and inadequate institutional capacity to manage water to sustain food security and support farm income. Afghan decision-makers currently lack the information and its application to evaluate the economic performance of alternative irrigation institutions. This analysis develops and applies a framework that informs water decision-makers on profitable and food-secure uses of land and water resources in the Balkh River Basin of Afghanistan. Several arrangements for allocating water among a system of irrigation canals are analysed for their impacts on land and water use, farm profitability, and food security at both the canal and basin levels. Findings show that total water supply and institutional arrangements for allocating water shortages have important influences on farm income and food security. The methods used and results found provide a framework for informing decisions on the sustainable use of land and water for improved food security and rural livelihoods in the developing world's irrigated areas.

Acknowledgements

Support by the US Geological Survey (Dr Saud Amer, USGS) and the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1. Personal communication with F. Zaheer about the layout of the Balkh River Basin canal system (July 2009).

2. This allocation is equivalent to the US Colorado River Compact (McCormick, 1994). Its set of rules places the risk on the upstream region of supply variability in natural flows. It allows for a predictable amount of water to be allocated to the lower canals even when overall supplies are highly variable.

3. Personal communication with A. Muhammad, Water Management Officer, AWATT Project, about the analysis of irrigation institutions in the Balkh catchment (July 2010).