Over the years, various factors like increased competition for water, fiscal constraints. faced by the government in continued subsidies for irrigation management, the. demonstrated improvement in water use equity and efficiency when managed by the. users, have led to the devolution of irrigation management to users. Irrigation. Management Transfer (IMT), that is, the relocation of responsibility and authority. for irrigation management from government agencies to the users, such as water. users' associations, has been adopted in more than 25 countries across the. world. However, its implement.