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The AgWater Solutions Project, carried out between 2009 and 2012, focused on resolving water issues faced by smallholder farmers. The project examined existing Agricultural Water Management (AWM) solutions, together with factors that influence their adoption and scaling up. The project aimed to identify investment opportunities in AWM that have high potential to improve the incomes and food security of poor farmers. The work was undertaken in the African countries of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, and in the Indian States of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. This Working Paper series summarizes results and recommendations from the research carried out in each of these countries and states.
The purpose of this paper is to summarize IIMI/IWMI’s past research and interventions related to irrigation management transfer and to document, to the extent possible, the academic, policy, and technical outcomes of these efforts. The application of a range of direct and indirect measurement techniques suggests an overall positive contribution from IWMI to IMT theory and application.
Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the worlds growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, ba...
The overall goal of the Collaborative Program on ‘Investments in Agricultural Water Management in Sub-Saharan Africa’ is to contribute to broad-based sustainable poverty reduction and smallholder agricultural growth. The component on ‘Poverty considerations in investments in agricultural water management’ focuses in more detail on poverty and gender dimensions. It consists of two parts. The first part is thematic and elaborates poverty and gender issues emerging from the literature that complement the other components of the Collaborative Program. Part two is empirical. Acknowledging the lack of empirical data on poverty impacts of investments in agricultural water management, the Co...
Irrigation development has been identified as a means to stimulate economic growth and rural development in Ethiopia. However, little attempt has been made to quantify the contribution of irrigation to national income. Using data from selected irrigation schemes, representing small, medium and large-scale schemes of modern or traditional typologies; the present coverage and planned growth of irrigation, actual and expected contributions of irrigation to the national economy were quantified following the approach of adjusted gross margin analysis. Our results show that irrigation yields 219.7% higher income compared to the rainfed system while its current and future contribution to agricultural GDP is estimated to be about 5.7 and 12% although irrigation covers about 5 and 9% of the total cultivated land area, respectively.
Today, there is an increasing worldwide interest in assessing the potential for maintaining or increasing rice yields by reducing or eliminating the use of chemicals and by decreasing irrigation requirements. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) first developed in Madagascar and now being tested in many countries, is an example of such an approach. The system is based largely on organic farming principles and additional requirements for spacing and the transplanting of seedlings.
The Atankwidi Catchment, which lies in the White Volta Basin in West Africa, is intensively cultivated by locals for economic gains. During dry seasons, farmers irrigate their crops, chiefly tomatoes, using shallow groundwater harvested from shallow ponds they dig using simple tools like an axe, hoe, bucket and bowls. Recent expansion in cultivated areas has brought to the fore the need to estimate the volume of shallow groundwater stored in the catchment’s underlying aquifer and to what extent it can sustain the incremental growth in irrigated areas.
Over the last decade, there has been an increasing amount of scholarship focused on race and food inequity. Much of this research is focused on the United States and its densely populated urban centers. Looking deeply into Black women's roles—economically, environmentally, and socially—in food and agriculture systems in the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States, the contributors address the ways Black women, both now and in the past, have used food as a part of community building and sustenance. They also examine matrilineal food-based education; the importance of Black women's social, cultural, and familial networks in addressing nutrition and food insecurity; the ways gender intersects with class and race globally when thinking about food; and how women-led science and technology initiatives can be used to create healthier and more just food systems. Contributors include Agnes Atia Apusigah, Neela Badrie, Kenia-Rosa Campo, Dara Cooper, Kelsey Emard, Claudia J. Ford, Hanna Garth, Shelene Gomes, Veronica Gordon, Wendy-Ann Isaac, Lydia Kwoyiga, Gloria Sanders McCutcheon, Eveline M. F. W. Sawadogo/Compaore, Ashante M. Reese, Sakiko Shiratori, shakara tyler, and Marquitta Webb.
Treadle pump (TP) technology has been promoted by Enterprise Works Worldwide (EWW) as an alternative to the traditional rope and bucket irrigation that is necessary to overcome the challenge of uncertain and inadequate rainfall for agricultural production. The aim is to improve output, increase incomes and reduce poverty among farm households. This study examines the strategies used for dissemination of the TP and the dynamics of its adoption and impacts, with a special focus on poverty reduction. The results of the study reveal that time and labor savings for irrigation, increased size of irrigated areas and lack of fuel requirements are the attractive features of the TP for those who adopt it. Adoption of TP increases land and labor productivities; and also net farm incomes. The study also demonstrates that adoption of the TP reduces poverty.