Increasing population and demand for food, combined with finite land and water resources makes developing and monitoring the performance of irrigation systems inevitable in the 21st century. This study presents a comparative performance analysis of irrigation schemes based on their management types (State Hydraulic Works (SHW) and Water User Associations (WUAs)-operated schemes). The assessment used the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)’s six performance indicators for the year 2001. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test results indicated that the differences in the output per cropped area (OPCA), output per unit water consumed (OPUWC), and irrigation intensity (II) between the two management types were statistically significant, whereas the differences in the output per unit command (OPUC), output per unit irrigation supply (OPUIS), and relative water supply (RWS) between the two management types were not significant. Although the II was higher and RWS was lower in the WUAs-operated schemes comparing with SHW, the other indicators (OPCA, OPUIS and OPWC) were also lower in the WUAs-operated schemes except for OPUC indicator. This suggests that the WUAs-operated schemes are not optimally managed, possibly due to factors such as inappropriate crop pattern and intensity, irrigation infrastructure, lack of an effective monitoring and evaluation system, insufficient awareness among managers and farmers, or unstable administrative structure.Key Words: Comparative indicators, irrigation project, management types, irrigation management, performance, Turkey
