Farmers managed irrigation districts in Japan: Assessing how fairness may contribute to sustainability

This article examines irrigation management conduct within Japanese Water Users Associations (WUAs), named Land Improvement Districts (LID), which are regarded as a successful case of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The authors conducted field and questionnaire surveys in sample LIDs focusing on the social function of LID and village communities. Among many factors, the authors paid special attention on how fairness contributes to the sustainability of WUAs. The results of the surveys proved that farmers operate the irrigation facilities in a self-serving way and have their own rule of fairness, such as upstream superiority, based on the long-term traditional experiences of irrigation systems management. The result of questionnaire survey proved that farmers do place high priority in fairness in various ways. The application of fairness to irrigation management is quite new and it is worthwhile to try this approach in other country's case studies.