Evaluation of the Pilot Project of Irrigation from Nam Kata (PPINK), Laos

The project objective (CLA1081) was to fight poverty and increase agricultural production in the target villages of Bualapha district, Khammouane province, through:

• The Nam Kata Irrigation System constructed and operational;
• IImproved farming systems in the target villages;
• MAF disseminating the project approach and lessons learnt in future similar projects.

Many lessons have been learned; including:

• An inadequate understanding of a preceding irrigation system often leads to the failure to apply the lessons learned from it in improving;
• Insufficient quality, detail, and consideration of local context in a feasibility study, as well as in subsequent survey and design work, can result in later challenges in the functionality and utility of the irrigation system Similarly, an unacceptable feasibility study should not be approved Furthermore, survey and design work that is challenging for stakeholders to review and provide input on should also be rejected.