Small-scale farmers account for the majority of South Asia’s and sub-Saharan Africa’s poor and roughly half of the developing world’s undernourished. Water isn’t the only constraint – soil fertility and access to markets and inputs are also crucial for improving agricultural productivity and incomes. But if farmers don’t have reliable access to water, interventions to address these other constraints will fail.
Reliable access to water gives farmers the security to invest in inputs, such as fertilizer and improved seed, and enables them to grow higher-value crops, such as fruits and vegetables. In most places there is enough water; the problem is water variability, not scarcity. Dry spells cut crop yields 2 out of every 3 years in sub-Saharan Africa. Even a small amount of water at the right time can dramatically reduce such losses.
Existing agricultural water management technologies, such as drip irrigation and water harvesting, have the potential to double, even quadruple rainfed crop yields in many parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. But these technologies have been slow to spread because of real and perceived risks as well as lack of practical incentives, knowledge, collaboration among stakeholders and support from government institutions. In addition, reaching the poorest people, especially women, who in many countries make up the majority of farmers, remains a challenge.
AgWater Solutions is helping us to understand the factors that influence adoption and successful outscaling of promising technologies—from the natural resource base to credit and land tenure systems, markets, communication networks and the broader policy environment.
Specifically the project will contribute by:
- Improving our understanding of agricultural water management interventions and their impacts and potential to improve livelihoods, at the farm, community, national and regional scales.
- Communicating successful agricultural water management technologies and related business models for effective implementation.
- Providing tools for selecting interventions that best suit the local environment and address the needs of poor farmers, especially women.
- Making linkages with local, national and regional agricultural and water initiatives for optimal impact.
The major outcome of the project will be a set of science-backed tools and recommendations that can be used by:
- policymakers to formulate and revise policies and institutions that will encourage public and private investments in agricultural water management to reduce poverty, hunger, and vulnerability to climate change;
- donors and investors to better target support;
- government agencies and NGOs working in agriculture, water and rural development to design and implement more effective and sustainable programs; and
- rural communities and smallholder farmers, women and men, to select and adopt the most suitable agricultural water management technologies and practices.
For more information see Project Overview.