Based on a project in which IWMI assessed the training needs of the farmers under the Farmer Managed Irrigated Agriculture (FMIA), the study highlights the importance of training in areas such as; effective communication strategies and conflict resolution, equitable water distribution, optimum use of water, financial management and developing a business plan.

This paper reviews the conditions and progress towards empowerment of farmer organizations under the Farmer-Managed Irrigated Agriculture Project in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. It discusses the conditions necessary to achieve the goal of an empowered and vitalized farmer organization, the issue of legal status, skill-building activities to build the capacity of the members to manage their own affairs, and institutional issues.

In the context of the institutional reform of Pakistan’s irrigation and drainage sector, a study f farmers’ perceptions of the experience of social mobilization for participatory irrigation management was carried out. To test the viability of farmers’ participation in irrigation management, he Pakistan Program of the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI1) had organized the Water User Federations (WUF) and 80 Water User Associations (WUA) at the Bareji and Heran Distributaries and the Dhoro Naro Minor of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) Project area in the indh Province between 1995 and 1997.