Spatial Inequality and Irrigation Governance: Integrating Infrastructure, Knowledge, and Social Capital within a Social–Ecological Systems Framework

Abstract

Sustainable governance of irrigation systems is essential for food security and the resilience of agricultural systems to climate variability. Yet enduring disparities in water access frequently compromise the efficacy of institutions in many developing regions. This study integrates irrigation infrastructure, farmer knowledge, and social capital within a social–ecological systems (SES) framework to examine how spatial inequality shapes governance outcomes. We use survey data obtained from 159 Indonesian smallholders to understand water reliability, irrigation rights and obligations, compliance with allocation rules, and involvement in the Water User Associations (WUAs). The findings reveal structured differentiation. Farmer knowledge exhibits a dual pattern: technical, where institutional knowledge remains relatively homogeneous across irrigation areas; and normative, where experiential knowledge varies significantly with infrastructure reliability. Similarly, in farmer practices, there is more differentiated behavior based on the existence of infrastructures, such as behavior in the allocation of water based on the type of crop and behavior of scheduled rotations in addition to behavioral practices that are more stable in their routines across different areas. In terms of social capital, there is more differentiation in the functional–interactive social capital owing to active use, reporting, and perceived responsiveness of the institution, as well as the participatory social capital, which exhibits spatial differences, in contrast to procedural social capital anchored on maintenance and leadership routines. These patterns illustrate that the reliability of the infrastructure and socioinstitutional are coproducers of governance outcomes, which are the evidence against the assumption of homogenous behavior of actors within irrigation systems. By integrating spatial heterogeneity into the SES framework, the study enhances irrigation governance understanding and yields empirically grounded recommendations for policy that is both sensitive to infrastructural context and adaptive to social variability.