Department of Irrigation is a government organization, with a mandate to plan, develop, maintain, operate, manage and monitor different modes of environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable irrigation and drainage systems - from small to larger scale surface systems and from individual to community groundwater schemes. Its ultimate aim is to provide year round irrigation facilities and increase the irrigable area of the country to higher limits. This giving a promary input in increasing the productivity of the land and providing a major input to the GDP and eventually improve the standard of living of the beneficiary farmers. Apart from this the DOI also has to carry out river training activities to protect the floodways, floodplains and agricultural lands in the form of river bank protection such that the loss of properties caused by flooding is reduced.

Organizations and Institutions under DOI
There are five Regional Irrigation Directories (Easter Region Irrigation Directorate, Central Region Irrigation Directorate, Western Region Directorate, Mid-Western Irrigation Directorate and Far-Western Irrigation Directorate), District Irrigation Offices, Groundwater Field Offices and several offices in project mode to implement the programs/projects of the DOI. These offices are mainly in the implementation level and implement DOI's different yearly at the field level.

Head of Institution
Mr. Madhu Sudan Paudel
Director General

The Minor Irrigation Program was introduced in the second three-year development plan (1962-65) to provide low-cost irrigation facilities to farmers within a short period of time. The program included the construction of small wells, irrigation tanks and reservoirs, (lift) pumps and other low-cost and short duration irrigation. Although it was planned to provide irrigation facilities to 4,455 hectares by the end of the Plan period under this program, the actual achievement was insignificant.

The Third Plan Period (1966-70) saw the countrywide implementation of the Minor Irrigation Program with the emphasis on the participation of the beneficiaries.

The government investment in irrigation development - especially in the large-scale irrigation systems in the tarai increased tremendously from 1970 onwards. This was due to the increase in the borrowing of international capital in the form of loans and grants for the country's overall economic development. This is clearly reflected in the surge of irrigation development targets in the subsequent five-year development plans- from the Fourth Plan (1970-75) onwards.

Until the middle of 1980s, irrigation development by the government focused largely on the construction of physical infrastructure of canals and structures, and very little attention was given to the effective management of the completed systems. Attention began to be paid to the improved management of government-operated irrigation systems from 1985 onwards. This is reflected in the implementation of a number of management-oriented projects in 1985-89: the USAID-funded Irrigation Management Project (IMP) in 1985, the Irrigation Line of Credit (ILC) in 1988 financed by the World Bank, the irrigation Sector Project (ISP) in 1988 financed by the ADB, and the Irrigation Sector Support Project (ISSP) in 1989 under the co-financing of the UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). All these projects have specifically emphasized the participatory approach to irrigation development and management of irrigation facilities. Further, following the introduction of the Basic Needs Program (BNP) in 1987, the working Policy on Irrigation Development for the fulfillment of Basic Needs' was formulated in the early 1989. This was immediately followed by the promulgation of the Irrigation Regulations (IR) in April 1989. These Regulations placed emphasis on the greater collaboration with water users in all phases of irrigation projects - planning, construction, operation and maintenance. The strategy of increasing farmer participation was mainly based on the recognition that government resources alone were inadequate to meet the country's irrigation development objectives and sustain the management of government irrigation systems after their completion. The government expected to increase the rate of irrigation development and develop maximum farmers'/water users' responsibility in the operation and maintenance of completed irrigation systems. The Irrigation Regulations gave water users, for the first time, a legal mandate to form water users' associations in accordance with the 1976 Association Registration Act. It institutionalized the participation of actual water users in irrigation. In 1989, the action plans and policies for the turnover of small irrigation systems and the participatory management of large irrigation systems were formulated.