Analysis of Livelihood Asset Pentagon to Assess the Performance of Irrigation Systems

Abstract

There has been a growing consciousness for the need for a framework that is holistic and comprehensive in the assessment of irrigation system performance. This paper presents the results of statistical tests conducted on the analytical framework developed in Part 1 of the paper to examine whether or not it addresses the important issues of system performance. Information collected from two farmer-managed irrigation systems of Nepal was used to test the validity of the framework. The empirical evidence shows that the framework is valid in identifying and fitting conventionally-overlooked livelihood assets and that it demonstrates differences in farm households' access to these assets resulting in varying performance of irrigation systems.