Agricultural Water Management Research Trends

Agricultural water management includes many topics: farm-level and regional water management, irrigation, drainage, and salinity management of cultivated areas, collection and storage of rainfall in relation to soil properties and vegetation; the role of groundwater and surface water in nutrient cycling, exploitation and protection of water resources, control of flooding, erosion, and desertification. This book presents leading-edge research from around the world.

This book is an outcome of the symposium on agricultural water management in Netherlands and discusses the methods that leads to cost effective but environmentally acceptable techniques. The book covers following topics: drainage and reclamation of soil and effect of drainage on agriculture.

This book presents new and significant research results on water resources which are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans. They are important because they are needed for life to exist. Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water. Only 2.7 per cent of water on the Earth is fresh water, and over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps, leaving only 0.007 per cent available for human use. Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is steadily decreasing. Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world, and as world population continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future. The framework for allocating water resources to water users (where such a framework exists) is known as water rights.

Managing water resources is one of the most pressing challenges of our times - fundamental to how we feed 2 billion more people in coming decades, eliminate poverty, and reverse ecosystem degradation. This Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, involving more than 700 leading specialists, evaluates current thinking on water and its interplay with agriculture to help chart the way forward. It offers actions for water management and water policy - to ensure more equitable and effective use. This assessment describes key water-food-environment trends that influence our lives today and uses scenarios to explore the consequences of a range of potential investments. It aims to inform investors and policymakers about water and food choices in light of such crucial influences as poverty, ecosystems, governance, and productivity. It covers rainfed agriculture, irrigation, groundwater, marginal-quality water, fisheries, livestock, rice, land, and river basins. Ample tables, graphs, and references make this an invaluable work for practitioners, academics, researchers, and policymakers in water management, agriculture, conservation, and development. Published with IWMI.

Water Productivity and Food Security: Global Trends and Regional Patterns, Volume Three reviews the need for water productivity improvements in agriculture, addressing three distinct questions pertaining to agricultural water productivity improvement in developing countries, including what are the regions where water is a limiting factor for raising agricultural outputs and water productivity improvements, what are the technological measures in irrigation that can raise agricultural water productivity and result in water saving at various scales, and what opportunities exist in the developing economies of South Asia and Africa for raising water productivity and improving water economy at basin scale. This book provides a framework to characterize river basins based on water availability, water supplies, water uses and water demands to ascertain the need and measures available for improving crop water productivity that would be effective at various scales, i.e., plant-level, plot-level, irrigation system level and basin level. This is an essential reference for anyone interested in water management and agriculture. Presents clear explanations of the physical and technical measures that can be adopted to improve productivity of water in agricultural production under different basin conditions Offers physical strategies for improving water productivity in agriculture in different agroecological regions, along with the institutional and policy measures that affect them Includes methodologies for assessing the food security challenges of individual nations using empirical analysis and global datasets

Present world is witnessing drastic changes harshly impacting its bio-resources (plants, animals and organisms) that are considered as natural gift for our livelihood. Global warming, climate change, abiotic and biotic stresses are strangling and challenging the survivability of these resources. It is therefore crucial to manage these resources for making planet Earth more suitable to live. Moreover, there is an utter need to know how climate dynamic and biotic or abiotic factors are influencing on bio-resources and also to frame its sustainable management strategies. This book is the output of the research deliberations at 3rd International Conference on Bio-resource and Stress Management, India; and expert views on contemporary research and management issues in relation to bio-resources and its management. This timely needed uniquely written reference book consists of 29 well-crafted chapters on sustainable land, water and crop management, organic agriculture, climate change and crop productivity, stress management, bio-resource conservation, bio-fortification for nutritional security, agro-techniques, agro-forestry and forest resource management and waste management etc. which certainly will be of great use by the scientists, academician, researches, scholars, students, extension workers, corporate and NGO’s working in these aspects.

Climate change, poverty, inequality, and other disruptive factors are changing the way water is used for agriculture. Although IFI investments are only one of the tools that can be used to address food and agricultural water security, they can be a critical catalyst for change. A research study carried out by the Stockholm Environment Institute, under the direction of the FAO Investment Centre, examines IFI investments and financing mechanisms in agricultural water over the last decade (2010–2019) and identifies emerging goals, areas of investments and innovations. The study aims to provide IFIs and international development agencies insight into what has and has not worked in agricultural water investments, while offering promising new mechanisms and investment priorities for the future. The analysis focuses heavily on public investment as provided by IFIs, but also considers the role of private and public-private investment, and farmers as private investors and entrepreneurs. This publication is part of the Directions in Investment series under the FAO Investment Centre’s Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.