A Multi-Criteria Policy: Community Based Irrigation Governance for Dryland Agricultural in Semi-Arid Areas

Abstract

Agricultural water management in semi-arid regions increasingly depends on institutional capacity rather than hardware-based interventions. This study evaluates and prioritizes irrigation policy action using a Multi-Criteria Policy (MULTIPOL) framework to identify the most contextually appropriate strategies for smallholder agriculture in Kupang Regency East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Five strategic scenarios were assessed using eight evaluation criteria representing technical, ecological, economic, social, and institutional dimensions. The results showed that Rotation Irrigation (RotIrr) achieved the highest stakeholder consensus with a mean score of 18.5 (SD=0), followed by Adaptive Rainfall (AdaptRF) with 17.4 (SD=0.3), while Subsurface Irrigation (SubIrr) ranked lowest with 16.8 (SD=0.3). At the policy level, Irrigation Subsidy and Renewable Energy (SubIrrER) obtained the highest total marginal, yet meaningful advantage of subsidy-based support when coupled with institutional facilitation. These finding reinforce global evidence that governance-based measure outperform infrastructure heavy interventions in semi-arid system by reducing institutional risk and improving social acceptance. The study concludes that community led governance instruments couple with low-cost adaptive training deliver the greatest policy resilience and suitability, providing a viable pathway for strengthening agricultural water governance in the dryland landscape of Kupang Regency.