The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)'s experiment to rope in farmers as private partners in creating irrigation infrastructure has misfired in West Bengal. The programme suffered a setback when farmers did not respond to the requirement of providing 15 per cent contribution for the execution of ground water irrigation projects. These projects were to be financed through Naband's Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) -II to create irrigation infrastructure under the RIDF-II, launched in 1996-97, the bank has offered two options to be states.