Files
Abstract
Water and watersheds are difficult to separate for management purposes.
Providing irrigation as a supplement to rainfall for crop production requires considerable
collective action at the watershed level to mobilize labor and other resources, as well as
to make decisions and implement the distribution of benefits. Small- scale water
harvesting irrigation systems in Mexico have endured for centuries. They now face
considerable challenges with changes in the ejido property rights over land and water, the
growing importance of alternative sources of livelihoods, and increasing scarcity and
competition for water within the river basins. Two case studies of water harvesting
irrigation systems in the Lerma-Chapala Basin illustrate the response of communities to
these challenges. In the first community, earlier collective action to build the irrigation
reservoir provided a platform to address catchment resource use. Water here was less
scarce than in the second community, allowing for good crop productivity through
sufficient irrigation. Water scarcity in the second community increases crop risk;
expected sorghum yields during the period of field study did not justify harvesting costs
and the crop was used as stover. Members of the second community increased their
dependence on off- farm income sources, but still responded collectively to external
forces claiming the water.