Benchmarking of irrigation projects in Malaysia: Initial implementation stages and preliminary results

Malaysia has set itself a target of 65% self-sufficiency level in rice production by the year 2010. Taking the population growth into account, each of the eight granaries has to increase its present output by about 50% in the next seven years. For the agricultural sector to achieve the new target, efficiency has to improve. An important first step in this direction is through the greater efficiency in water utilization for irrigation. As part of its strategy to improve productivity, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage has embarked on an effort to introduce benchmarking to the rice growing schemes. Benchmarking in irrigation is a useful tool in the management of water. It enables evaluation of resource utilization, to evaluate performance against a target, as well as to compare against others. As a management tool, it is indispensable in the decision-making process. This paper recounts the steps that were taken in the implementation of the benchmarking exercise, the progress achieved, as well the pitfalls that were encountered. It notes that while some headway has been made, much work remains to be done before a set of reliable benchmark indices for rice growing in the country is available. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.