Knowledge

Handbook for Scaling Irrigation Systems is a joint publication between IFAD and IFC on how to develop and scale innovative solutions to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and increase crop productivity.

This paper explores the role of water in Egypt’s food system and the dilemma the country faces: raise food self-sufficiency by allocating freshwater resources from the Nile to food production, or rely on food imports from water-abundant regions worldwide.

This brief raises awareness about water harvesting systems and describes the design of water harvesting interventions. It aims to inform stakeholders on the assessment of water demand, water available for harvesting, and the selection of suitable water harvesting systems.

We investigate how perceptions of physical water availability in the past are related to farmers’ current irrigation behaviour.

This collection of data on sustainable land management (SLM) technologies and approaches includes relevant information on different SLM practices, their implementation details, and their ecological and socio-economic benefits and disadvantages.

Investments in irrigation systems have been shown to substantially improve farmers’ productivity, and thus alleviate poverty. This study provides an example of such an investment: the Participatory Small-Scale Irrigation Development Programme. 

Among ecosystems services, freshwater is one of the most fundamental for life. For smallholders, water means the difference between a decent life and poverty, hunger and malnutrition. 

Agriculture and fisheries, the backbone of food security and nutrition for coastal communities and globally, are under threat. 

L’accès des agriculteurs à l’eau est un facteur de développement agricole. Cet accès dépend de plusieurs facteurs, dont des facteurs économiques, politiques, ou encore environnementaux. En effet, les décisions et stratégies adoptées par le gouvernement et les autorités locales permettent à la population, et plus particulièrement aux agriculteurs, de gérer de façon durable et efficace leurs ressources hydriques.

À Madagascar, le cadre législatif du secteur de l’eau agricole a évolué à partir des années 1980. Tout d’abord, en 1990, la reconnaissance de l’importance de la préservation de l’environnement et des ressources naturelles a débouché sur une Charte de l’environnement.

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is often overlooked as a source of water supply. Yet it holds great potential to address the ever-increasing shortages of water globally. The huge potential of RWH for multiple-use services, such as food production, soil and water conservation and water, sanitation and hygiene, has not been adequately recognized, and certainly not implemented, as a solution for water problems on a wider and larger scale.

 

RWH initiatives are still too scattered and the lessons and results not shared. Policies, legal regulations and government budgets often do not include RWH in integrated water resource management and poverty reduction strategies.

The goal of this programme was to develop spate irrigation policies and programmes, based on action research and documented practical experiences, that contribute to rural poverty alleviation and accelerated economic growth in marginal areas in Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. 

Specific objectives:  1. Strengthen networks in the four countries. 2. Prepare country policy notes. 3. Implement two innovative action research activities per country that can be scaled up. 4. Further develop knowledge, including in local languages, and open-source knowledge-sharing. 5. Train four international MSc students. 6. Incorporate spate irrigation into programmes of universities and agricultural colleges in the four target countries. 7. Create a global inventory of spate irrigation and flood-based farming systems. 8. Provide technical backstopping to IFAD projects and country programmes.

The goal of this grant was to provide best business case options to producers and consumers to recover nutrients, water and energy from agricultural and domestic wastes for food security and food safety. The project sought to identify innovative market-driven and scalable approaches to enhance the sustainability of agricultural production considering environmental and health requirements of immediate users and end-consumers. 

The development challenges were to: 1. identify and share pathways with relevant stakeholders to make business cases more replicable, scalable and sustainable; 2. strengthen national, regional and local stakeholder platforms (from agricultural and/or sanitation sectors) by extending their interest in knowledge of safe reuse as a business; 3. formulate initiatives from donors, government departments and/or the private sector in order to incorporate project results. 

The programme supported innovation funds working directly with communities to scale up approaches in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Uganda and Viet Nam.

Present in each continent and covering over 40 per cent of the earth, drylands generally refer to arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, and are home to more than 2 billion people.

There is a recognized need in the water sector for more accurate data on access to water in terms of the distance travelled and the time needed to collect water to meet all household needs, and who or what combination of people are involved in water collection.

The following study was designed by IFAD in order to contribute to the knowledge about the relationship between gender, water investment and time saving. It is also intended to contribute to gender mainstreaming in IFAD’s water projects. The focus of the study is to see how much time women and men gain when they have improved access to sources of water and to establish what individuals, particularly women, do with the time they save by not having to walk long distances in search of water. The study further aims to discover to what extent the projects/investments contribute to reducing drudgery and to achieving equitable workloads between men and women. The survey targeted ongoing projects from the five regions in which IFAD operates that were either in their second phase or a mature stage of operation. In each project, one community was covered and 24 households were targeted. The survey successfully covered seven communities and 140 households and was mainly conducted through project officers facilitated by country programme managers or country programme officers.

Water lies at the heart of sustainable development and is essential for economic growth, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. It is the basis of human and environmental health, energy security, sustainable urbanization and the ability of rural women and men in developing countries to pursue productive activities. 

But one billion people still lack access to safe water and even more lack access to basic sanitation. Around three quarters of the world’s poorest and hungriest people live in rural areas, often forgotten and bypassed by economic growth and development programmes. The majority of rural people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but face numerous barriers in accessing services and securing vital resources, including water.

Under the Programme de Développement des Oasis (PDDO), the Government of Mauritania, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have introduced and piloted solar-powered water pumping for agricultural use in the oases. 

Water is of fundamental importance to human development, the environment and the economy. Access to water and water security is paramount to improving food security, incomes and livelihoods of rural communities. Reliable access to water remains a major constraint for millions of poor farmers, mostly those
in rainfed areas, but also those involved in irrigated agriculture. Climate change and the resulting changing rainfall patterns pose a threat to many more farmers, who risk losing water security and slipping back into the poverty trap.The need, therefore, to strengthen the communities’ capacity to adopt and disseminate agricultural water management technologies cannot be overemphasized.

The primary objective of the project was to promote innovative approaches and ICT-based technologies for timely transfer of weather, water-and crop related information and advice to relevant end users in Africa for informed decision-making and enhanced negotiation capacity with water and farm-related service providers.