The Limits of Participatory Irrigation Management: Using Remote Sensing to Evaluate Agricultural Policy Impact

The Limits of Participatory Irrigation Management: Using Remote Sensing to Evaluate Agricultural Policy Impact | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Limits of Participatory Irrigation Management: Using Remote Sensing to Evaluate Agricultural Policy Impact Samer Talozi, Mohamed Shedeed This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6320370/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Does the transition toward participatory management approaches improve access to irrigation water and lead to greater crop production for farmers? This paper answers this question using the case of the Jordan Valley, where local Water User Associations were established as an experiment in participatory resource management. We use remote sensing techniques to gather data on vegetation density and water content between the years of 2000 and 2018 to evaluate the success of these institutions in tackling existing challenges that limit the supply of water to farmers. Using farm-level NDVI and NDWI estimates as indicators of water access, we find that the WUA policy intervention had little-to-no distinct effect on water supply at the farm level. Participatory irrigation management Decentralization Irrigation Water management Allocation problems Climate Change Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editor invited by journal 05 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 03 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 03 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6320370","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":448935676,"identity":"d7be2dc6-1eda-43d0-93b1-c48c533ce16a","order_by":0,"name":"Samer Talozi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jordan University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Samer","middleName":"","lastName":"Talozi","suffix":""},{"id":448935677,"identity":"7ce978e7-2140-481b-ab6d-e4c57cb8f596","order_by":1,"name":"Mohamed Shedeed","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAxklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCTBiZmBjbwDzGRuI1sLHc4BULXISCURqkZ/dfPDGhwprBjbJx4c/8zDYyG44QECLwZ1jyZYzzqQzsEmnpUnzMKQZE9YikWMmzdt2GKglx4yZh+FwIkEt8jPyv0n//QfUInnGGOiw/4S1MNzIYZNmbABqkeAxADrsAGEtBjfSjC17jqXzsPGkpUnOMUg2nknYYckPb/yosZaTbz98+MObCjvZPoIOgwIeqKVEKh8Fo2AUjIJRgB8AALYAPCoM4NsUAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5161-0166","institution":"The Ohio State University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohamed","middleName":"","lastName":"Shedeed","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-27 12:07:05","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6320370/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6320370/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":81801371,"identity":"33155c1d-391c-4a5c-8e26-0e1b3ab56eff","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-02 05:41:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2744653,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"talozishedeedwrm.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6320370/v1_covered_a75d060c-23de-4d62-8760-8e9309de6960.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"The Limits of Participatory Irrigation Management: Using Remote Sensing to Evaluate Agricultural Policy Impact","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"water-resources-management","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"warm","sideBox":"Learn more about [Water Resources Management](https://www.springer.com/journal/11269)","snPcode":"11269","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11269/3","title":"Water Resources Management","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Participatory irrigation management, Decentralization, Irrigation, Water management, Allocation problems, Climate Change","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6320370/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6320370/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDoes the transition toward participatory management approaches improve access to irrigation water and lead to greater crop production for farmers? 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