A worldwide assessment of future water needs was conducted by more than 700 scientists. The findings were published in Water for food, water for life: A comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture.
Researchers concluded that it will be possible to produce enough food in the future only if governments take action to improve water use and productivity in agriculture.
Different solutions will be required for different places. Sub-Saharan Africa needs investments in infrastructure and institutions, and greater success with these investments, while in Asia there is potential to obtain greater yields from existing irrigation.
IWMI believes that revitalizing irrigation across these continents is key to ensuring future populations do not go hungry.
More crop per drop
Using agricultural landscapes for a wider range of functions can also help produce ‘more crop per drop.’ For example, allocating water supplies for multiple uses, such as drinking water, rearing livestock, crop irrigation and fisheries is a good way to increase efficiency at the farm scale. For example, storage ponds created by farmers to help them control water deliveries could also be used to develop fisheries. These can boost family nutrition as well as providing extra income. At the landscape scale, maintaining vital ecosystem services is essential to maximize productivity. This may entail managing nonfarmed land, such as wastelands, rivers and wetlands.
Enhancing capacity for system transformation
Strengthening and sustaining the enabling environment
Enabling gender and youth inclusion
Brokering knowledge for sustainability
Cultivating scaling preparedness
Fostering scaling partnerships
Co-developing innovation bundles
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 
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 
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 
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 
