Institutional analysis of irrigation management in Uzbekistan using Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Case studies of water consumers associations in Bukhara region

Given the fact that water consumers associations (WCAs) in Uzbekistan were established about a decade ago in a top-down fashion to maintain on-farm water facilities, using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis tool this paper attempted at determining sets of conditions that are necessary and sufficient to achieve an outcome. The study followed the logic of abductive approach, where sets of theories were adjusted based on the empirical field stint. Institutional economics perspective was applied to identify rural farmers’ behavior in the management of common pool resources (CPRs). The study took place in Bukhara region – southwestern part of Uzbekistan – and involved focus group discussions with members of fifteen WCAs using semi-structured interview format. Three sets of conditions (appropriate chairmanship skills [ACS], proper water allocation [PWA], and effective participatory governance [EPG]) were found to be important for explaining the outcome (improved maintenance of irrigation canals [IMC]). The analysis of necessary conditions indicated that neither condition ACS nor PWA nor EPG is necessary for IMC on its own. The same finding was apparent for the complements of the three conditions, ~ACS, ~PWA, ~EPG. In the meantime, the analysis of necessary conditions for unions of conditions (logical OR) revealed that the terms of PWA OR EPG (i.e. PWA+EPG) is necessary to achieve the outcome. However, their presence is not sufficient. The result for sufficiency analysis highlighted that no single condition alone is sufficient to achieve IMC. The results for combinations of conditions showed that the presence of ACS AND PWA AND EPG (i.e. ACS*PWA*EPG) is sufficient for achieving the outcome, IMC. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that when these conditions are present simultaneously, there is a great chance of improving CPR use within WCA territories.