Human Organization, Vol. 56, No. 2, 1997 Copyright 0 1997 by the Society for Applied Anthropology 0018-72591971020153-5$1.00/1 The Institutional Context of Irrigation in the Bajo Yaque del Norte Project, Dominican Republic TED L. GRAGSON AND FREDERICK V. PAYTON Work on irrigation water management in the semi-arid, northwest Dominican Republic with agrarian reform growers is described. Irrigation agriculture is presented as an institution where communication between users and suppliers is critical for establishingcontrol over the resource and determining the purpose to which the resource is put. Maintaining communication between users and suppliers serves to realize public and private agent objectives, and avoid system decay to a "tragedy of the commons." The discussion of irrigation water management is placed in the comparative framework of national modernization and development efforts. Key words: irrigation water management, agrarian reform, collective choice; Dominican Republic Losers can be induced through the exercise of power to accept loss, but it is easier if they do not have to lose in the first place. Much of the search for a water revolution is a search therefore for ways in which headenders can be better off and see themselves as better off with less water (Chambers 1988: 1 17). I rrigation agriculture is an institution where cultural factors and physical factors are equally important for realizing system objectives (Guillet 1992; Uphoff 1991). Technical expertise ensures water will flow through the structural design features of an irrigation system, while communication between individuals establishes control over the resource and determines the purpose it will be used for. Since individuals in this communicative exchange fill, at any one time, either the role of user or supplier conflict over control and purpose is not uncommon. The principal source of conflict is the dichotomy between public and private agent objectives (Winpenny 1994). Public agents are often charged with ensuring water-use efficiency and equitable distribution of water throughout the system, while private agents seek to optimize personal net benefits. Ignoring or failing to address the latent issue of conflict in the cultural Ted L. Gragson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-161 9. Frederick V. Payton is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Community and Area Development, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA stationed in the Department of Continuing Education, Bainbridge College, Bainbridge, GA 31 71 7. Work in the Dominican Republic reported in this article was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation (#930-0648). An earlier version of this article was presentedat the 1995 Societyfor AppliedAnthropology Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM. domain of irrigation agriculture can result in a failure to meet the objective of either party and a devolution of the system into a "tragedy of the commons" (Ostrom 1990). The institutional view of irrigation agriculture developed in this article derives from tackling problems of modernization and development in the Dominican Republic. The insights may be relevant to work in other Latin American countries given the Dominican Republic has been identified as both epitome and weathervane of events taking place throughout the region (Wiarda and Kryzanek 1982). Background Since 1993 we (the authors) have worked with agricultural reform growers in the northwest Dominican Republic settled in a state-sponsored project called the Proyecto Bajo Yaque del Norte (BYN). The central objective of our project is to assist growers in crafting long-term solutions to economic, social, and environmental problems threatening the sustained used of the BYN. The scope of this project includes more than the management of irrigation water, and relies on the efforts and information of several in-country collaborators as well as our own. However, we limit our discussion in this article to the issue of irrigation water management and use information collected or compiled directly by us. The BYN is the last in a series of irrigation systems drawing water from the Yaque del Norte river running through the Cibao Valley, the most productive agricultural region in the country. Soils in the BYN are suited for the production of a wide variety of crops when properly managed, but irrigation water is needed to supplement natural rainfall. This portion of the Dominican Republic has a semi-arid climate with a mean annual rainfall of 841 mm and a total annual evaporation of 2,308 mm (INDRHI 1975). VOL. 56, NO. 2SUMMER 1997 153