Resumo

EXEBIO GARCIA, Adolfo; PALACIOS VELEZ, Enrique; MEJIA SAENZ, Enrique  e  SANTOS HERNANDEZ, Ana Laura. Deferred Conservation and its Impact in the Maintenance of Irrigation Districts. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.1, pp.71-83. ISSN 2395-8030.

Infrastructure conservation is a priority in the operation of the irrigation districts. In 1993, when the National Water Commission began the transference of Irrigation Districts to the users, the government considered necessary to rehabilitate the hydroagricultural infrastructure. Investment was financed by credits obtained from the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank and the Mexican Government. Now, it is considered necessary to evaluate the investments made. In this document, five irrigation districts were evaluated, in which problems related to deferred conservation of infrastructure were detected. The results of this evaluation shows that the analyzed irrigation districts has been progressively deferred the conservation process, those are adverse to the irrigation districts and negatively affects the operation of irrigation districts and, consequently, the agricultural production. The reduction of investments in conservation of infrastructure is a consequence of the lack of administrative and financial experience that are facing the user association in the country; in order to reduce the deferred conservation it is necessary to establish quotas for irrigation services, adequate to the necessities of each irrigation module and district. In addition, the participation of the National Water Commission is required, not only to obtain a higher investment to conservate the hydroagricultural infraestructure, but also in the establishment of mechanisms to follow up supervision and evaluation of the conservation programs of irrigation modules.

Palavras-chave : investment; maintenance; infrastructure; irrigation module.