Impact of irrigation management transfer on Çine Topçam and Karpuzlu Yaylakavak irrigation associations

Improving the water use efficiency is the main target in agriculture sector which holds the greatest share among the water user sectors. The most important step taken is the turnover of Management-Operation-Maintenance responsibility of irrigation systems from state to the water user organizations. The turnover process of irrigation systems in Büyük Menderes Basin, in which the Çine-Topçam and Karpuzlu-Yaylakavak irrigation associations are enclosed has almost completed. The external performance indicators proposed by IWMI and other indicators proposed by different researchers have used in the performance evaluation of irrigation districts. By the end of the study it was determined that; the irrigation ratio varied between 31.2-42.0%, sustainability of irrigation area as 102-119%, net water supply ratio as 2.622-2.883, total water supply ratio as 0.798-0.840, annual irrigation water delivery per unit command area as 5435-5805 m³/ha, gross value of production per command area as 446-478 $/ha, gross value of production per irrigated area as 1124-1417 $/ha, gross value of production per unit irrigation supply as 0.08-0.09 $/m³, gross value of production per unit water consumed as 0.18-0.23 $/m³, total MOM costs per unit area as 35.4-74.9 TL/ha and staff intensity as 192-462 ha/personel Key Words: Irrigation management transfer, performance evaluation, performance indicator, irrigation association, Büyük Menderes Basin