- Governments and donors should place water management as a key component of strategic food security planning
- Crop yields in both irrigated and rain-fed farming systems in the developing world can be substantially increased with improved water management, but investment in infrastructure and institutions will be needed
- Variations in weather and climate often mean that the poorest find it difficult to maintain a healthy diet. If crops fail, or yields are low, then people starve or resort to stomach-filling staples of poor nutritional value. We need to improve household resilience by developing better water storage at farm and community level. This will help to ensure year round incomes for smallholder farmers.
- Successful and sustainable agricultural growth relies on healthy ecosystems. Water managers and food security planners should include the maintenance of ecosystem resilience as a fundamental component of new strategy development.
- There will be no one-size-fits-all solutions. Different regions will need to adopt tailored water and food security strategies appropriate to their particular hydrology, geography and social capital.
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