IWMI scientists talk about their research
Don't call it land grabbing! - Timothy Williams
Timothy Williams, IWMI's Regional Director for Africa, argues that emotive language is not helpful in trying to untangle the complexities of foreign direct investment in African agriculture. http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Topics/Land_and_Water_Acquisitions/index.aspx
Creating community scientists - Simon Langan
Simon Langan, head of IWMI's Ethiopia office describes how his team of researchers is working directly with local farmers to better understand the problems they face. http://eastafrica.iwmi.org
Pumped up - Regassa Namara
Mass adoption of electrically powered on-farm pumps greatly boosted farm yields in Asia, but led to severe environmental problems. Regassa Namara of IWMI's Ghana office says that African governments can...
How Central Asia responded to water management challenges - Kai Wegerich
Kai Wegerich of IWMI's Tashkent office argues that cooperation at all levels has been a far more common response to the break-up of Soviet era irrigation and water management systems...
Why waste human waste? - Josiane Nikiema
'Why waste human waste?' argues Josiane Nikiema of IWMI's Ghana office. Converting septage into valuable compost could help both farmers and urban planners. http://www.iwmi.org/issues/resource-recovery-and-reuse/ http://westafrica.iwmi.org/
Mixed success for water management in North Africa and the Middle East - François Molle
Transfer of water management responsibilities to local communities has had a decidedly mixed success in North Africa and the Middle East. François Molle, an IWMI researcher based in Cairo, discusses...
The Battery of South East Asia - Chu Thai Hoanh
The Battery of South East Asia. Huge infrastructure developments for hydropower generation are springing up all around the Mekong river basin. Chu Thai Hoanh of IWMI's Vientiane office discusses the...
Turning India's eastern Gangetic plain into a productive agricultural powerhouse - Bharat Sharma
Water management is the key that can turn India's Eastern Gangetic Plain into a productive agricultural powerhouse, argues IWMI's Bharat Sharma. http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Offices/Asia/South_Asia/India/index.aspx
Challenges of managing water for food production in Pakistan - Arif Anwar
The underperforming irrigation networks of Pakistan make up the largest contiguous canal system in the world. Arif Anwar, who leads IWMI's research in Pakistan, talks about the challenges of managing...
How improved water management can help Central Asia - Akmal Karimov
Central Asia's population has doubled in the last 30 years. Akmal Karimov of IWMI's Tashkent office talks about how this growth has affected the often conflicting demands for water in...
Voices from the field
IWMI partnered with farmers in Nepal to help them make their own videos highlighting the challenges they are facing from climate change. This is a locally produced overview of the...
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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