Abstract
Indigenous irrigation systems have been a central feature of Asian agriculture since prehistoric times, and reflect technical knowledge with a proven record of sustainability. Modern agricultural development efforts often ignore this indigenous knowledge, replacing traditional infrastructure with new construction, and replacing indigenous management arrangements with state bureaucracies. For reasons of environmental conservation as well as institutional stability, indigenous irrigation systems should be intelligently assisted, rather than mindlessly replaced.
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Additional information
David Groenfeldt, an independent consultant based in Washington, DC, works on the interplay of rural development and natural resource management. His professional training is in economic anthropology (Ph.D. Arizona, 1984), and he has conducted anthropological fieldwork in Northwest India and in various parts of Sri Lanka. From 1984–89 he was on the staff of the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) in Sri Lanka, and headed the Institutes' program on farmer-managed irrigation systems. Since 1989 he has worked with both conservation organizations (World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute) and development agencies (USAID, IFAD, GTZ) on program development, and on specific projects in India, Thailand, and Madagascar.
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Groenfeldt, D. Building on tradition: Indigenous irrigation knowledge and sustainable development in Asia. Agric Hum Values 8, 114–120 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01579664
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01579664