Water for Food Water for Life : A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture

TL;DR: Molden et al. as discussed by the authors presented a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture, focusing on water for food, water for life, and water for the future of agriculture.

Abstract: In Molden, David (Ed.). Water for food, water for life: a Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. London, UK: Earthscan; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Summary

Overview

• The conditions that led to large public investment in irrigation in the second half of the 20th century have changed radically, and today’s circumstances demand substantial shifts in irrigation strategies.
• Farmers around the world will increasingly integrate into a global market, which will dictate their choices and behavior.
• The type and scale of intervention will vary considerably from one region to another.
• Decentralized and more transparent governance will be important in irrigation and drainage water management, and the role of governments will change.
• The last 50 years have seen massive investments in large-scale public surface irrigation infrastructure as part of a global effort to rapidly increase staple food production, ensure food self-sufficiency, and avoid devastating famine.

Trends in irrigation development

• Rapid growth in irrigated area, together with other components of the green revolution package, such as improved crop varieties and substantial growth in fertilizer use, particularly in Asia, led to a steady increase in staple food production and a reduction of real world food prices.
• The annual growth rate of irrigation development, particularly in large-scale public schemes, has decreased since the late 1970s due to several factors.
• Irrigation is particularly crucial in sustaining agriculture across the “dry belt” that extends from the Middle East through Northern China to Central America and parts of the United States (map 9.1).
• Direct control of farmers’ water sources—either through groundwater pumping, drainage reuse, or direct pumping from canals and rivers—brought the flexibility and reliability in water delivery that most large-scale surface distribution systems did not offer.
• In 1995, 38% of cereals grown in developing countries were on irrigated land, accounting for just under 60% of cereal production (Ringler and others 2003).

A diversity of systems

• The term irrigation system covers a diversity of situations associated with a variety of crops, leading to multiple development and management strategies.
• There are fundamental Total irrigated area (thousands of hectares) 359 9Reinventing irrigation differences between public and privately managed schemes, between cash crop and food grain production, and between the humid tropics and arid areas.
• Food and Agriculture Organization estimates based on data and information for 230 million hectares in 100 countries, also known as ■ Source.
• 5 Farm-scale individually managed systems, producing for local markets, often around cities.
• Countries where agriculture contributes only a small share of the economy and further large-scale investment is unlikely (Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan), also known as Stage 3.

Past investment in irrigation

• Irrigation has received most of the public agricultural investment in the developing world—and most of the public operating subsidies (Jones 1995).
• In the early 1980s irrigation investment peaked at 60% of total agricultural expenditures in the Philippines and more than 50% in Sri Lanka (Kikuchi and others 2002).
• In most cases direct cost recovery has not fully covered either investment costs or operations and maintenance costs, making these investments subsidies to the agriculture sector.
• Recognition and knowledge of farmermanaged and private irrigation, its importance, and its success are growing, and these forms of investment are likely to grow faster than public investment (Shah 2003).
• But government departments, having served primarily large public irrigation schemes, have rarely had the opportunity to learn from them and to provide them with the required support.

Economic benefits and costs of irrigation

• Through increased productivity irrigation produces secondary benefits for the economy at all levels, including increased productivity of rural labor, promotion of local agroenterprises, and stimulation of the agriculture sector as a whole.
• Irrigation has historically had a large positive impact on poverty reduction (see chapter 4 on poverty) (Hussain 2005; Lipton and others 2003).
• Many recent studies agree that an increase in farm income from enhanced farm productivity creates an increase in demand for local nontradable goods and services, which offer labor opportunities to the poorest segments of the rural population (see chapter 4).
• But this approach does not capture the intangible benefits associated with irrigation (Tiffen 1987).
• Irrigation development is usually associated with intensive agriculture and the forces of modernization, but it has a long history and in some places is closely linked to local culture and tradition, acting as a stable agroecosystem.

The context has changed

• While most major changes affecting public irrigation are progressive, the end of the cold war and acceleration of globalization have certainly intensified some of these trends (table 9.4).
• Compared with the last two decades, the food supply may become tighter as a result of declining public expenditure on irrigation and agricultural research, leading to stagnation and increases in world food prices and to further degradation of the agricultural resource base.
• Financing for major capital works has historically come from international development banks with varying levels of contribution from national budgets, as low-income countries typically lack sufficient resources to invest in large capital projects (Winpenny 2003) such as large dams.
• Irrigation’s contribution to total agricultural production is expected to exceed 45% by 2030 as yields continue to increase and cropping patterns shift to higher value crops IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 364 2/28/07 11:07:38 AM.
• Rainfall distribution and volumes will change, and investment in groundwater and surface storage will be required in response.

Types of investment

• The environment in which irrigation investment decisions will be made is far more complex today than in the past: more stakeholders, more competing demands for water, and no single overwhelming driver for investment.
• While irrigated grain production will remain important, a variety of niche markets will emerge, creating opportunities for innovative entrepreneurial farmers where suitable national policies are in place.
• Investment in drainage will continue at relatively modest levels, although regional waterlogging and salinization problems resulting from past development will continue to require remediation.
• Region Irrigated area (thousands of hectares) 369 9Reinventing irrigation Further dramatic private investment in groundwater irrigation and on-farm storage can be anticipated in large-scale surface irrigation systems (photo 9.1) in both dry and humid areas, as well as in very small (farm) systems.
• Investment will be required to more effectively monitor and regulate such private development.

Adapting yesterday’s systems to tomorrow’s needs

• The recent rapid development of irrigation has been the subject of many controversies, and experts disagree strongly on its overall performance.
• The results have been mixed, and it is important to understand the reasons behind the failures and successes to distinguish which options can be pursued, what can be further improved upon, and what innovations can replace them (see chapter 5 on policies and institutions).
• Better technologies do not necessarily mean new, expensive, or sophisticated options, but ones that are appropriate to the agricultural needs and demands, the managerial capacity of system managers and farmers, and the financial and economic capacity needed to ensure proper operation and maintenance.
• Poor performance of irrigated agriculture may be the result of non-water-related constraints, in which case irrigation management reforms will attract little attention from Many attempts to privatize water services have failed, and the extent to which such a model should be widely promoted remains highly controversial IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 374 2/28/07 11:07:47 AM.
• Under such conditions a progressive rise in water charges, corresponding to increased accountability and transparency on the part of service providers and progressive transfer of authority to users, matched by increased profitability of irrigated agriculture, is a sensible option for reducing public funding in irrigation.

The changing role of government

• With the general decline in construction of new systems and the increasing shift of management responsibilities to users, the role of public irrigation agencies is rapidly changing.
• Past activities involving planning and designing systems, contracting for and supervising civil works, and delivering water to farms will be less important than in the past.
• New responsibilities will include resource allocation, bulk water delivery, basin-level management, Users often enjoy the benefits of water use while passing on the environmental and social costs to others, leading to problems of equity, groundwater mining, pollution of drainage water, poor health of farm workers, and contamination of consumer products IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 378 2/28/07 11:07:51 AM.
• 379 9Reinventing irrigation sector regulation, and the achievement of global social and environmental goals such as the Millennium Development Goals (see chapter 5 on policies and institutions).

Regulation and oversight

• Because water is generally regarded as a public good, the state has a duty to sustain its availability and quality.
• The state should play an important role in regulating these externalities.
• Most governments will need to modify their water-related agencies to carry out these new responsibilities.
• These mechanisms may be a part of the national legal system or a separate set of institutions that rely more on mediation and consensus.
• The problems of the private irrigation sector are more directly related to questions of equity and environmental sustainability, including mining of groundwater, land subsidence, pollution, and health for farm workers, consumers, and other water users downstream.

Resources allocation and management

• Changing demand patterns for water will require reallocating water among competing uses as well as investing in appropriate infrastructure.
• Integrated management of water resources at the basin level will be an important task involving government, users, and other stakeholders.
• While macroeconomic conditions are changing, there are still many settings in which irrigation is an important element of poverty reduction strategies: areas of slow rates of rural outmigration; high prevalence of unemployed and underemployed labor; and high dependence on agriculture for livelihoods (photo 9.2).
• Box 9.3 Gender and irrigation—issues that matter Some specific questions to better target irrigation service to women are:.

Health impacts of irrigation

• A potentially negative impact of irrigation on human health is the increased incidence of vectorborne diseases, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, with the expansion of suitable habitat for the disease-transmitting organisms.
• Medical and engineering options exist to deal with the problem.
• Irrigation water management and weed control (including maintenance of drains and canals and night storage dams) can reduce the burden of schistosomiasis, in both large- and small-scale irrigation systems.
• Irrigation water is an important potential source of domestic water supplies, but satisfying both needs often poses management problems.
• Potentially the greatest negative health impact of intensified agriculture at a global scale is from pesticide use.

Environmental impacts of irrigation

• Policies and practices associated with irrigated agriculture continue to be a major driver of change in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, exerting a wide range of largely detrimental impacts globally.
• Rivers have in many instances become disconnected from their floodplains and from downstream estuaries and wetlands—with, in some instances, total and irreversible wetland loss (MEA 2005b).
• Salinization causes the loss of natural vegetation, reduces crop yields, and leaves drinking water unfit for human and animal consumption.
• Irrigation can also create or enhance wetland ecosystems, generating habitats to support biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services.
• Water management techniques can create substantial flexibility in how infrastructure is operated, opening possibilities to restore lost ecological functions and processes.

Adapting to sectoral competition

• In the growing political and economic tussles over access to water, agriculture is perceived as the low-value residual user.
• It is unlikely that water markets will affect irrigation water use and reallocation in most countries of Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa in the coming 20–30 years because of the time lag in the development of suitable water rights and allocation frameworks and the marginal nature of markets once established.
• Governments will have to be proactive in managing the growing competition for water, by establishing effective water rights systems, setting out targeted policies on conservation, and implementing appropriate land-use restrictions to facilitate equitable transfers from irrigation to other sectors.

Full text

9
Reinventing
irrigation
Multiple uses of water
Artists: Jhun Jhun Jha and Hira Karn, Nepal
Overview
e conditions that led to large public investment in irrigation in the second half of the 20th
century have changed radically, and today’s circumstances demand substantial shifts in irriga-
tion strategies. Irrigation has ensured an adequate global food supply and raised millions
out of poverty, especially in Asia, thanks to massive investments. But a stable world food
supply, declining population growth rates, continuing declines in the real price of food,
and the rising importance of investment in other sectors diminish the need to maintain
similar levels of irrigation investment today. e era of rapid expansion of public irrigation
infrastructure is over.
For many developing countries investment in irrigation will continue to represent a sub-
stantial share of investment in agriculture, but the pattern of investment will change substan-
tially from previous decades. New investment will focus much more on enhancing the pro-
ductivity of existing systems through upgrading infrastructure and reforming management
processes. Irrigation will need to adapt to serve an increasingly productive agriculture, and
investments will be needed to adapt yesterday’s systems to tomorrow’s needs. Substan-
tial productivity gains are possible across the spectrum of irrigated agriculture through
modernization and better responses to market demand. ese gains will be driven by the
market and financial incentives that will lead to higher farm incomes.
Large surface irrigation systems will need to incorporate improvements in water control
and delivery, automation and measurement, and training of staff to better respond to farmers’
Coordinating lead author: Jean-Marc Faurès
Lead authors: Mark Svendsen and Hugh Turral
Contributing authors: Jeremy Berkoff, Madhusudan Bhattarai, Ana Maria Caliz, Salah Darghouth,
Mohammed Rachid Doukkali, Mona El-Kady, Thierry Facon, M. Gopalakrishnan, David Groenfeldt,
Chu Thai Hoanh, Intizar Hussain, Jean-Yves Jamin, Flemming Konradsen, Alejandro León,
Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Kathleen Miller, Monirul Mirza, Claudia Ringler, Lisa Schipper, Aidan Senzanje,
Girma Tadesse, Rebecca Tharme, Paul van Hofwegen, Robina Wahaj, Consuelo Varela-Ortega,
Robert Yoder, and Gao Zhanyi
IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 353 2/28/07 11:06:59 AM

354
needs. Conjunctive use of canal water and groundwater will remain an attractive option
to enhance flexibility and reliability in water service provision. Under pressure from other
sectors, the irrigation sector will find it increasingly hard to secure public finance for ir-
rigation and drainage infrastructure. is situation will increase the financial burden on
local government and users and is likely to have severe consequences for the irrigation
sector. Cost-recovery mechanisms that guarantee the sustainability of systems will become
imperative. At the same time, private investment in irrigation will likely grow in response
to new opportunities for agricultural production.
Irrigation and drainage will still expand on new land, but at a much slower pace. ey
will be more site-specific and much more closely linked with policies and plans in agricul-
ture and other sectors. Irrigation will remain critical in supplying cheap, high-quality food,
and its share of world food production will rise to more than 45% by 2030, from 40%
today. Farmers around the world will increasingly integrate into a global market, which
will dictate their choices and behavior. New market opportunities will emerge where suit-
able national policies, infrastructure, and institutions are in place. Countries will need
to tailor irrigation investment more closely to the stage of national development, degree
of integration into the world economy, availability of land and water resources, share of
agriculture in the national economy, and comparative advantage in local, regional, and
world markets.
In regions that rely heavily on agriculture irrigation is likely to remain important in
rural poverty reduction strategies. But irrigation’s contribution to poverty reduction remains
contentious, with some experts arguing that there are more effective ways to address rural
poverty. In these regions increasing productivity in agriculture is often the only way out of
poverty, and new irrigation development can be a springboard for economic development.
e type and scale of intervention will vary considerably from one region to another. In
Sub-Saharan Africa the best option to enhance food security and reduce people’s vulner-
ability to external shocks and climate variability is investment in both rainfed and irrigated
agriculture, combined with programs to improve soil fertility; increase access to inputs,
information, and markets; and strengthen local institutions. Public investment in bulk
infrastructure will be required to support private initiatives, especially those in small-scale
irrigation.
e changing demand for agricultural products and the increasing understanding of the
impacts of climate change on agriculture and the water cycle will also influence future invest-
ment in irrigation and water control. Rapidly rising incomes and urbanization in many de-
veloping countries are shifting demand from staples to fruits or vegetables, which typically
require irrigation technologies that improve reliability, raise yields, and improve product
quality. But as the century unfolds, weather events will become more variable—extreme
events will increase, rainfall distribution will change, and glaciers and mountain snow-
packs will shrink. Investment will be required to respond to these changes; especially where
average precipitation declines and shrinking glacial and snowpack storage reduces summer
streamflows. Adaptation strategies will generally require more storage capacity and new
operating rules for reservoirs, posing onerous tradeoffs between allocations for environ-
mental and agricultural water.
Irrigation and
drainage will
be more site-
specific and
much more
closely linked
with policies
and plans in
agriculture and
other sectors
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355
9
Reinventing
irrigation
As competition for water from other sectors intensifies, irrigation will increasingly be un-
der pressure to release water for higher value uses. Increased water scarcity will be an incentive
for irrigation to perform better. e number of regions where water availability limits
food production is on the rise, and intersectoral competition for water will increase almost
universally with urbanization and economic development. Environmental water alloca-
tions will steadily increase and present a much greater challenge to irrigation than will
cities and industries, because the volumes at stake are likely to be larger. Transfers of water
from irrigation to higher value uses will occur and require oversight to ensure that they
are transparent and equitable. Water measurement, assessment, and accounting will likely
grow in importance, and water rights will need to be formalized, especially to protect the
interests of marginal and traditional water users. e use of water pricing as an economic
tool for demand management remains low and is not a workable option in the prevailing
economic conditions for most irrigation schemes.
Irrigation and drainage performance will increasingly be assessed against the full range of
their benefits and costs, not only against commodity production. e overall performance of
irrigation has been acceptable, as judged by the current stability in world food supply and
continually declining real prices for food. But this global gain has come at considerable
financial cost, and in many cases irrigation systems have failed to meet their performance
targets. Some have failed completely. e success of irrigation has also often come at the
environment’s expense, degrading ecosystems and reducing water supplies to wetlands. It
has also had mixed impacts on human health. Better nutrition and improved water avail-
ability for domestic needs have improved hygiene and reduced infections and diseases. But
irrigation is also associated with higher prevalence of malaria, schistosomiasis, and other
waterborne diseases.
Decentralized and more transparent governance will be important in irrigation and
drainage water management, and the role of governments will change. e recent trend to
devolve the responsibility for irrigation management and the associated costs to local
institutions, with more direct involvement of farmers, is likely to intensify. e many
possible outcomes will range from full farmer ownership and operation, to contracted
professional management, to joint management by government and farmers. As govern-
ments withdraw from direct managerial functions they will need to develop compen-
sating regulatory capacities to oversee service provision and to protect public interests.
While control of system infrastructure will likely be devolved, bulk water supply infra-
structure, because of its multiple functions and strategic value, will usually remain the
responsibility of the state.
Irrigation: a key element in the 20th century’s
agricultural revolution
e last 50 years have seen massive investments in large-scale public surface irrigation
infrastructure as part of a global effort to rapidly increase staple food production, ensure
food self-sufficiency, and avoid devastating famine. Private and community-based invest-
ment in developing countries, particularly groundwater pumping, has grown rapidly since
The overall
performance
of irrigation
has been
acceptable but
at considerable
cost
IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 355 2/28/07 11:07:02 AM

356356
the 1980s, propelled by cheap drilling technology, rural electrification, and inexpensive
small pumps.
Trends in irrigation development
Investment in irrigation accelerated rapidly in the 1960s and the 1970s, with area expansion
in developing countries at 2.2% a year reaching 155 million hectares (ha) in 1982 (figure 9.1).
Global irrigated area rose from 168 million ha in 1970 to 215 million ha over the same time
frame (Carruthers, Rosegrant, and Seckler 1997). Rapid growth in irrigated area, together
with other components of the green revolution package, such as improved crop varieties and
substantial growth in fertilizer use, particularly in Asia, led to a steady increase in staple food
production and a reduction of real world food prices. More recently, agricultural subsidizes in
developed countries have helped keep food prices low (Rosegrant and others 2001).
e annual growth rate of irrigation development, particularly in large-scale public
schemes, has decreased since the late 1970s due to several factors. e areas best suited to
irrigation have already been developed, leading to increased construction costs for future
Source: Based on World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization data.
0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
1961–70: 2.1%
1981–90: 1.6%
1991–2000: 1.2%
2.5
0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
1960 200520001995
Food price index
Irrigation
1990198519751965 1970 1980
World Bank lending (billions of 1990 US dollars)
Irrigation (millions of hectacres) Food price index (1990=100)
World Bank lending
for irrigation
2000–03: 0.1%
1971–80: 2.2%
Annual growth rate
of irrigation (by decade)
gure 9.1 Irrigation expanding, food prices falling
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357
9
Reinventing
irrigation
dams and related infrastructure, and prices of staple cereals have declined. Both of these
factors have made irrigated agriculture progressively less economically attractive than in
the past. e underperformance of large-scale irrigation (Chambers 1988) has also reduced
donor interest (Merrey 1997). Concerns over negative social and environmental impacts,
particularly the dislocation of residents in affected communities and the calls for increased
in-stream flows for environmental purposes have received heavy publicity and discouraged
lenders from investing in irrigation. More competition for water from other sectors has
also reduced the scope for further development of irrigation. Declining cereal prices have
slowed growth in input use and investment in crop research and irrigation infrastructure,
with consequent effects on yield growth (Rosegrant and Svendsen 1993; Carruthers, Rose-
grant, and Seckler 1997; Sanmuganathan 2000).
Irrigation is particularly crucial in sustaining agriculture across the “dry belt” that
extends from the Middle East through Northern China to Central America and parts of
the United States (map 9.1). Asia alone has over 60% of the world’s irrigated land, both
in semiarid and humid tropical conditions. By contrast, irrigation has remained limited
in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a few large commercial schemes developed during
the colonial period and a relatively modest small-scale irrigation subsector. e 1990s saw
a substantial rise in private irrigated peri-urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa in re-
sponse to higher demand from growing cities for fresh fruits and vegetables (FAO 2005).
e advent of affordable drilling and pumping technologies in India and Pakistan
in the mid-1980s led to rapid development of shallow tubewells and conjunctive use of
Source: FAO 2006a.
Less than 5% 5%–15% 15%–40% More than 40% No data Inland water bodies
map 9.1 Irrigated areas as a share of cultivated area by country, 2003 (percent)
IWMI Part 4 Ch8-16 final.indd 357 2/28/07 11:07:28 AM

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions in this paper?

The conditions that led to large public investment in irrigation in the second half of the 20th century have changed radically, and today 's circumstances demand substantial shifts in irrigation strategies this paper. 

Q2. What is the way to improve food security in sub-saharan Africa?

In Sub-Saharan Africa the best option to enhance food security and reduce people’s vulnerability to external shocks and climate variability is investment in both rainfed and irrigated agriculture, combined with programs to improve soil fertility; increase access to inputs, information, and markets; and strengthen local institutions. 

Q3. What can be done to reduce the burden of schistosomiasis?

Irrigation water management and weed control (including maintenance of drains and canals and night storage dams) can reduce the burden of schistosomiasis, in both large- and small-scale irrigation systems. 

Q4. What are the main reasons why the authors need to maintain the same levels of irrigation investment today?

But a stable world food supply, declining population growth rates, continuing declines in the real price of food, and the rising importance of investment in other sectors diminish the need to maintain similar levels of irrigation investment today. 

Q5. What are the possible outcomes of decentralization of water management?

The many possible outcomes will range from full farmer ownership and operation, to contracted professional management, to joint management by government and farmers. 

Q6. What are the biggest positive impacts of irrigation on poverty and livelihoods?

The largest positive impacts of irrigation on poverty and livelihoods, in both urban and rural areas, have been relatively cheap food for everyone and employment opportunities for the landless poor. 

Q7. What is the main challenge in managing the growing competition for water?

Governments will have to be proactive in managing the growing competition for water, by establishing effective water rights systems, setting out targeted policies on conservation, and implementing appropriate land-use restrictions to facilitate equitable transfers from irrigation to other sectors. 

Q8. What are the main problems of the devolution of irrigation system management?

With the devolution of irrigation system management, financing structures will need to change as well to allow sufficient funds to sustain operations to those who actually run them: therefore, there will be increasingly complicated cost-recovery mechanisms in large irrigation systems involving local service charges as well as bulk water supply costs. 

Q9. How many years of investment in irrigation have been rated satisfactory by the World Bank?

About 67% of World Bank–financed irrigation projects from 1961 to 1987 were rated satisfactory by the Bank’s Operations Evaluation Department, with an average internal rate of return of 15% (Jones 1995). 

Q10. How many people rely on glaciers and seasonal snow packs for their water supply?

With more than one-sixth of the Earth’s population relying on glaciers and seasonal snow packs for their water supply, the consequences of these hydrological changes are likely to be severe. 

Q11. What are the main factors in improving agricultural productivity and alleviating rural poverty?

Recent studies in India have found that irrigation and farmer’s education level are the two main factors in improving agricultural productivity and alleviating rural poverty (Bhattarai and Narayanamoorthy 2003). 

Q12. What is the role of the government in integrating water resources at the basin level?

Integrated management of water resources at the basin level will be an important task involving government, users, and other stakeholders. 

Q13. What is the common reason for the lack of volumetric pricing?

It is now more widely recognized that the applicability of volumetric water pricing to individual farms is limited to a small subset of technologically and managerially advanced irrigation schemes.