Proceedings Of The Workshop On Irrigation In West Africa

This publication presents the proceedings of a workshop held in Ghana in 1999 at which experts from Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali and Zambia presented national reviews summarising developments and research in the field of irrigation and aquaculture (IIA) activities. The workshop proposed the establishment of a regional IIA network for Africa and considered its objectives, structure and initial plan of action.

This publication contains background documents and papers presented at a workshop on integrated irrigation aquaculture (IIA), held in Mali in November 2003, as well as the findings of FAO expert missions on IIA in the West Africa region. The rationale for IIA development lies in its potential to increase productivity of scarce freshwater resources and to reduce pressure on natural resources, issues of particular important in the drought-prone countries of West Africa.

This book is the product of an ICARDA project to define supplemental irrigation in the Near East and North Africa. In cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F AO) a meeting was held in Rabat, Morocco, on 7-9 December 1987, entitled "Regional Consultation on Supplemental Irrigation"; specialists from 11 different countries were brought together to discuss priorities for supplemental irrigation within their specific regions. The participants were asked to focus on developing an information base using both primary data, results of surveys administered to district level agricultural personnel, and secondary data sources with a particular interest in the application of state-of-the-art knowledge and technology to the problems of supplemental irrigation. The authors have willingly and thankfully responded to the suggestions and criticisms of Ms Kate Ward, Institute of Irrigation Studies, Department of Civil of Southampton, U. K. , who accepted the soporific Engineering, University position of Review Editor and performed miracles. Chapter 2 and parts of chapters 15 and 16 are a partial rendering of a forthcoming book on systems analysis by Janice R. Perrier. The authors recognize the inclusion of this material which outlines the basic philosophical perspective of supplemental irrigation as utilized in the book. The assistance of Mr. Maurice Saade, Agricultural Economist is greatly appreciated for the understanding of Chapter 14. The section on the phenology of cereals near the end of chapter 4 was written by Mr.

Most books on Islamic finance and development issues are written from an academic perspective. Although academic reflection is key for future direction, dissatisfaction with previous development efforts, as evidenced by their lack of sustainability, suggests the need for a different type of review. Development work is complex and requires a detailed and transparent approach in order to ensure a cogent resolution for potential long-term issues. Each intervention area requires specific elaboration for meaningful impact. The perfect solution for one sector might be detrimental for another. Islamic finance, with its strict Riba restrictions, rules, and other checks and balances, is a good fit for infrastructure development in pursuit of sustainable development. When it comes to sustainable development, this book argues, Islamic finance has the tools to intervene for maximum impact. However, the issue of sustainability is not only related to Islamic finance; more policy discourse is needed. This requires guidance from the principles of Islamic economics, as well. This book discusses infrastructure development vis-à-vis sustainable development, drawn from decades of real-life development banking experience, and proposes impactful intervention methods based on wisdom from Islamic economics and finance.