FROM CENTRAL CONTROL TO SERVICE DELIVERY? REFLECTIONS ON IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION EXPERTISE 1 MAURITS W. ERTSEN * Water Resources/Water Management Group, Department of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands ABSTRACT The demand upon irrigated agriculture to modernize to improve productivity is increasing. This paper defines some of the key challenges the irrigation experts face in responding to this societal demand on irrigation, with a focus on water delivery. Histories of management and design in irrigation engineering still influence current perceptions of irrigation, although new ideas from research have influenced the ways irrigation management has developed in the last thirty years. Currently, modernization of irrigation is understood as transforming irrigation management to enable it to serve demands of farmers. The position of irrigation experts changed from being the main responsible of an entire production system to being a service oriented manager. Taking into account farmer demand and responses to water deliveries is still a challenge for many agencies. The paper argues that, even though farmer interventions are not always appropriate, farmer interventions are to be taken as standard in irrigation. Engineers should ensure that systems deliver what is asked for, through selecting physical components within a clearly defined operational strategy. Such a service-oriented approach asks for irrigation experts with high technical qualifications in hydraulics and hydrology. KEY WORDS: modernization, engineering knowledge, farmer intervention, service delivery 1 This paper has been written as a combined response to three different demands to the author. A first demand came from the editors of the journal to prepare an overview on irrigation management, at the occasion of the 5th World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul in 2009. A second demand came from the current chairman of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, Peter Lee, who asked during an ICID meeting in Sacramento, USA, in October 2007, what ICID could do more on modernization than the Food and Agricultural Organization had proposed in its MASSCOTE approach (Renault et al 2007). The third demand cannot be attributed to a single person, but comes from the re- merging attention for irrigation development, especially in Africa, within the international community (World Bank 2007). * Correspondence to: Dr. Maurits W. Ertsen. Water Resources/Water Management Group, Department of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology. P.O. Box 5048, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands. E-mail: m.w.ertsen@tudelft.nl