Gert Jan Veldwisch

Assistant Professor Irrigation and Development

Current Research

Since April 2009 Gert Jan is (again) based at the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of Wageningen University to contribute to the development of a research and capacity-building programme on Irrigation and Rural Development in Southern Africa. Specific research assignment within this broader programme: “market-led smallholder irrigation development in Southern Africa”.

Besides research on market mechanisms and irrigation development Gert Jan is interested in research on participatory irrigation design processes and action-research around cases of inequitable access to water.

Current Teaching

Teaching in the BSc course ‘Design in Land and Water Management’ (2nd year, final period) on (interactive) design processes, sociotechnical aspects of water infrastructure, markets and irrigation development, etc.

Coordination of the MSc course ‘Irrigation and Development’ (1st year, 1st period) and within the course teaching thematic blocks on water rights & hydraulic property, on irrigation & agrarian change and on low cost water technologies.

Professional background

Gert Jan completed his MSc programme in Tropical Land Use through writing two MSc theses in collaboration with the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of Wageningen University in 2003. After working as an independent research based at the South Africa office of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI-SA), in 2004 Gert Jan started his PhD in Development Studies through the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn. His thesis with the title ‘Cotton, Rice and Water: The Transformation of Agrarian Relations, Irrigation Technology and Water Distribution in Khorezm, Uzbekistan’ was awarded the qualification magna cum laude. In 2008/2009 he worked as a Post-Doctoral fellow in Mozambique, based at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), working on processes of participatory technology development in the field of land management and soil fertility.

Field experience

Gert Jan has worked and lived in Latin America (Brazil) and Asia (Uzbekistan), but most of his field experience is in Southern and Eastern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa).

Selected recent publications

Veldwisch, G.J.A. (2010). ‘Adapting to Demands: Allocation, Scheduling and Delivery of Irrigation Water in Khorezm, Uzbekistan’, in: M. Spoor and M. Arsel (Eds). Water, Environmental Security and Sustainable Development. London and New York: Routledge.

Veldwisch, G.J.A.; A. Bolding and Ph. Wester (2009). ‘Sand in the Engine: The Travails of an Irrigated Rice Scheme in Bwanje Valley, Malawi’. Journal of Development Studies 45(2): 197-226.

Veldwisch, G.J.A. and M. Spoor (2008). ‘Contesting rural resources: Emerging ‘forms’ of agrarian production in Uzbekistan’. Journal of Peasant Studies 35(3): 424–451.

Veldwisch, G.J.A. (2008). ‘Authoritarianism, validity, and security: Researching water distribution in Khorezm, Uzbekistan’, in: C.R.L. Wall and P.P. Mollinga (Eds), Field Work in Difficult Environments: Methodology as Boundary Work in Development Research. Berlin: Lit Verlag. pp.161–181.

Veldwisch, G.J.A. and Denison, J. (2007). ‘From Rehabilitation to Revitalisation: The Evolution of a Small Scale Irrigation Revitalisation Approach in the Limpopo Province, South Africa’, Appendix B (35p.) in: Denison, J. and S. Manona. Principles, Approaches and Guidelines for the Participatory Revitalisation of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes: Volume 2 – Concept and Cases. Gezina, South Africa: Water Research Commission.

Veldwisch, G.J.A. (2007). ‘Changing patterns of water distribution under the influence of land reforms and simultaneous WUA establishment: Two cases from Khorezm, Uzbekistan’, Irrigation and Drainage Systems 21(3-4): 265–276.