Irrigation in Peru
The coastal region, an arid but fertile land, has about two-thirds of Peru's irrigation infrastructure due to private and public investment aimed at increasing agricultural exports.
The Highlands and Amazon regions, with abundant water resources but rudimentary irrigation systems, are home to the majority of Peru's poor, many of whom rely on subsistence or small-scale farming.
The Peruvian Government is undertaking several programs aimed at addressing key challenges in the irrigation sector like increasing water stress, competing interests, deteriorating water quality, poor efficiency of irrigation, drainage systems (including low technology systems and underutilization of existing infrastructure), weak institutional and legal frameworks, low cost recovery (i.e., operation and maintenance costs above actual collections), and vulnerability to climate variability and change, including extreme weather conditions and glacier retreat.
Agriculture in Peru dates back more than 5,000 years when the Chavin culture built simple irrigation systems and canal networks north of Lima.
By the 15th and 16th centuries, the Inca Empire boasted an advanced irrigation systems, supplying water to 700,000 hectares of diverse crops in the fertile coastal zone.
For the next 300 years, Spanish colonialists shifted the country's focus to mining, which caused a reduction in agricultural production to 300,000 hectares in the coast.
[1] The 20th century began with an important institutional development in Peru's irrigation sector with the creation of the Mining and Water Engineering Body (1904) and the Hydrological Service (1911).
In 1989, the decree 037-89-AG (Decreto Supremo) decentralized operational, maintenance, and management of irrigation systems to water user boards (Juntas de Usuarios-WUBs).
However, low tariffs and collection capacity produced insufficient financial support for WUBs to maintain and develop irrigation systems.
[7] Two-thirds of agricultural GDP is produced on the Pacific coastal strip, a region totally dependent on irrigation due to low rainfall.
Irrigation plays a fundamental role in increasing agricultural production and diversification, rural employment, and food security.
For the first time in three decades the state has money to invest and —with the help of the World Bank-the government has drawn up a new anti-poverty strategy which includes ramping up social spending and agricultural development while trying to target more closely on the poorest areas, most of them in the southern Andes.
[12] The dry Pacific basin, with 37 million cubic meters (m3) available per year, contains just 1.8% of Peru's water resources.
[13] Loss of habitat, water pollution and downstream effects have been scarcely looked at, because insufficient economic resources have limited the involvement of institutions responsible for environmental preservation.
Excessive deforestation in upper river basins due to nomadic agricultural practices is causing erosion problems in the Sierra, where 55-60% of the land is affected, and is increasing the amount of soil transported downstream.
[7] Peru's Constitutional framework establishes sole ownership and managerial responsibility of water resources by the national government.
[7] The institutional reforms of the past decade reduced the technical tasks under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) and created numerous semi-autonomous executive units and special programs at the national, regional, and local levels.
[18] There are also the usual legal considerations that need to be checked when developing PPPs in any sector, such as legal restrictions on the type of PPP arrangement that can be entered into, relevant procurement rules for entering into PPPs, existence of restrictions on foreign investment, taxation and potential for tax holidays and the ability to assign rights such as security and step in rights to lenders.
WUBs face several challenges: (i) increased pressure of water resources due to competing demands, (ii) deteriorating irrigation infrastructure, (iii) lack of financial sustainability, (iv) lack of technical capacity to manage irrigation, and (v) ambiguous role of Juntas, Commission, and Committees among themselves and with the Government.
[17] In 2003, the Peruvian Government approved a National Irrigation Strategy (Politicas y Estrategia Nacional de Riego en el Peru) Resolucion Ministerial N 0498-2003-AG.
The strategy had been prepared by a multisectorial technical commission consisting of representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture; Housing, Construction and Sanitation; Economy and Finance; and the National Association of Users of Irrigation Districts.
The National Government has been investing in major irrigation infrastructure, mostly located in the coastal region although it plans to extend its efforts to the highlands as well.
[24] The effects of climate change in Peru can be seen in more extreme weather conditions and El Niño Southern Oscillation causing droughts and floods,[2] and the retreat of Andean glaciers.
Glacier retreat in the Andes has important repercussions on Peru's water resources, including irrigation production and hydropower generation.
[17] This trend will continue, and it is believed that the increased runoff will cause Peru to suffer from severe water stress over the next 20 years.
[27] PSI (Proyecto Subsectorial de Irrigacion) is delivering positive results on the Peruvian coast, combining financial support and capacity building with regularization of water rights.
Part of the success comes from the Government and WUBs sharing investment responsibilities for irrigation infrastructure improvements through a cost-sharing system.
The capacity-building aspect of the Peruvian model includes strengthening the operation and maintenance requirements of the systems, and improvement of financial performance through increased volumetric metering, water tariff structure, and collection rate.
The PSI encouraged women to participate and water management in trainings through some pilots held in the Highland municipalities of Cajamarca, Junín and Arequipa with the support of the World Bank (a US$30,000 donation from the Gender Action Plan).
[29] The pilots did a diagnosis on the audience; established the baseline, objectives, and indicators; developed a program for male and community sensitization; and obtained quantitative and qualitative results on women participation and leadership.
