Irrigation Systems Management
SHELADIA was responsible for organizing farmers into a three-tiered group. SHELADIA accomplished or facilitated the following: formation of six system-level organizations; membership campaigns including promotion and information services; trained Farmer Organization officers in Financial Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Budgeting and Accounting; legally incorporated 138 mid-level FOs, which then became eligible to undertake public works contracts (many did so successfully with contract value limits being raised from Rupees 25,000 to Rs. 250,000 and finally to Rs. 750,000); established FO operating principles and strict performance standards, including election rules, sanctions for non-paying members, establishment of a consistent internal decision-making process for transparency, division of responsibilities among committees, payment for services, etc; about 150 FOs opened bank accounts for their “Development Funds” (essentially dues, operating profits, and proceeds from contract work); the majority of FOs at the mid-level were successful in obtaining credit from rural banks to finance the bulk purchase of inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, seed); five commercial loans were obtained for small agro-processing facilities by particularly well-performing FOs.