The Iranamadu Irrigation Development Project (IIDP) is an integral part of the holistic arrangement for the transfer of water to Jaffna on the one hand and the rehabilitation of the downstream canal system as demanded by the target group population on the other. It is complementary to the ADB/ADF-financed Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project, which aims at improving the Iranamadu reservoir bund and head works to increase the reservoir’s water holding capacity, part of which would be used for Jaffna drinking water supply. The IFAD financed IIDP would improve the downstream irrigation infrastructure that is in disrepair due to the lack of maintenance and destructions over the last three decades.

Poverty reduction and increase in household incomes above the poverty line is the goal. Twin objectives are...

IIDP is located in Kilinochchi District of the Northern Province, involving 22 GN Divisions. It covers about 8 455 ha of the Iranamadu command area. The target group is the total population of farmers with lands in the command area which is about 7,000 households with 22,095 persons. About 18.5% of these families are women-headed households. The poverty incidence of the population is about 78.5%.

The choice of the project area is determined by the nature of the Project and includes the command area of the Iranamadu irrigation scheme. However, the development of the irrigation infrastructure has spill over effects in terms of improved groundwater availability in an area located up to 500m outside the main canal bunds. Usually after 500 meter distance the charging of ground water is receding making crop cultivation difficult. Therefore, the project area would include both the command area and the area within 500m outside the main canal bunds.

The Project is located in the Kilinochchi District which covers 127 930 ha of which 49% or
62,650 ha is utilized for agriculture, 40% is under forest and the remaining 11% includes other lands. Some 44% of the agricultural area is used for irrigated paddy production.

The land representing the Iranamadu Tank watershed and the command area is approximately 970 km2. The Iranamadu Tank Bund was originally constructed in 1902 and was raised thrice during successive settlement campaigns: in 1951, in 1954 and in 1975 to hold capacities of 88 million cubic meters (MCM), 101 MCM and of the present 131.8 MCM respectively.

The total command area of Iranamadu is 8 455 ha. The area has an important potential for
paddy cultivation and of subsidiary crops such as chillies, onions, groundnuts, green gram etc. In the uplands, perennial crops include mangoes, jackfruit, coconuts, etc. The Kilinochchi district as a whole has 21 208 farming households.