The government of Uganda is currently rehabilitating three major irrigation schemes whose
infrastructure had broken down due to poor maintenance. Among these schemes is Doho rice
irrigation scheme. It is expected that after the rehabilitation, the farmers at this scheme will
assume responsibility for its operation and maintenance. Each farming household will be
expected to pay a user fee per acre per season in order to cover the maintenance costs. This
study was thus aimed at determining farmers’ willingness to pay to maintain irrigation water
supply, using Doho rice scheme as a case study. The specific objectives included: to
determine farmers’ willingness to pay to maintain irrigation water supply at Doho rice
irrigation scheme; to characterise the farmers at Doho rice irrigation scheme based on their
willingness to pay; to identify factors influencing farmers’ willingness to pay for irrigation
water at Doho rice irrigation scheme. A stratified random sampling procedure was employed
to select a sample of 200 respondents at Doho rice irrigation scheme; and using a
questionnaire, cross sectional data were collected. The contingent valuation method using the
bidding game was applied to elicit the farmers’ willingness to pay. Descriptive statistics and a
double log-linear model were used to analyse the data in light of the study objectives.