TITLE:
Irrigation Water Piracy by Off-Plan Operators: What Impact on the Operationalization of the Irrigation Water Users Association for the Konni Hydro-Agricultural Development Project in Niger?
AUTHORS:
Saidou Abdoulkarimou, Illou Mahamadou, Saley Makama Mahaman Sani
KEYWORDS:
Konni (Niger), Hydro-Agricultural Development, Irrigated Agriculture, Farmers, Water Piracy
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.18 No.10,
October
27,
2026
ABSTRACT: A continental country in West Africa, Niger is characterized by particularly arid climatic conditions due to the fact that more than 3/4 of its surface area is located in the Saharan and Sahelian zones. Knowing that the agro-climatic characteristics of the country do not allow the establishment of intensive agriculture (arid climate, sandy or clay-sandy soils and poor in nutrients and organic matter), the Nigerien authorities have focused from the outset accession of the country to independence in 1960 on the development of water resources. Irrigation became the priority investment sector after Niger gained independence in 1960. With the financial and technical assistance of its development partners and hastened by the emergency of famines, hydro-agricultural developments developed rapidly during the 1970s, a period marked by significant droughts which raged throughout the Sahel sub-region. The two areas of the Konni hydro-agricultural development were carried out respectively in 1979 and 1982 and are irrigated from 2 dams (Mozagué 32 million m3) and Zongo (12 million m3). A 15 km supply canal carries water from the Zongo dams to the Tchérassa buffer reserve where it is stored before being distributed to the development through various canals (primary, secondary and tertiary). If the Konni hydro-agricultural development is located on the territory of the commune of Konni, all of the irrigation equipment and infrastructure which stores and conveys water is located in the rural commune of Tsernaoua. Seven administrative villages are crossed by an open canal which facilitates piracy, not to mention the illegal withdrawal of water by local populations for various users including, among other things, the practice of off-season crops. By practicing irrigation using water from dams, non-development operators who do not pay hydraulic fees and do not contribute to the operation of the association of Konni irrigation water users constitute a real bottleneck for this young association whose failure would jeopardize the very existence of the Konni hydro-agricultural development. The results of this study show that sometimes more than 200 ha of agricultural land on average per year are not exploited by producers in the Konni development due to lack of water pumped upstream by operators outside the development of the commune of Tsernaoua. By carrying out a cross-analysis between the areas lost due to water piracy and the amounts of royalties to be paid to producers, the shortfall for the AUEI of Konni amounts to more than 5,000,000 F CFA for an area estimated at 200 ha. The study revealed a lot of frustration and incomprehension on the part of other populations in the two municipalities. If for the operators of the Konni development, the water from the dams is their property, on the other hand, the operators outside the development think that they have the right to use even for agricultural purposes this water from the Maggia which has always crossed their lands hundreds of years ago. The effects of this complex situation negatively impact the operationalization of the Konni AUEI.