Pay Drechsel, scientist at the Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and co-author of the study, published in Environmental Research Letters in November, says urban and peri-urban agricultural areas worldwide are larger than the total area under rice cultivation in South Asia.
The paper recognises a global trend of food production taking on an increasingly urban flavour, with an estimated 456 million hectares — an area about the size of the European Union — being under cultivation in and around the world’s cities, challenging the rural orientation of most agriculture research and development work.
South and East Asia comprise 49 per cent of urban irrigated croplands and 56 per cent of the non-urban irrigated areas globally. These two regions account for 26 per cent of urban rain-fed croplands and 22 per cent of non-urban rain-fed croplands.
Drechsel says, “The study documents that 70 per cent of households in developing countries are engaged in some kind of farming and food production and challenges the notion that food production, far from being a rural phenomenon, is commonly occurring within cities.”
Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including 
The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities 
A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But 
Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the