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An accurate estimate of crop coefficient (Kc) values at different development stages (Kcini, Kcmid, and Kcend) is crucial for assessing crop water requirements in semi-arid regions. The objectives of this study were first to quantify the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and to calculate the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over citrus in a semi-arid climate under drip irrigation. For this purpose, a site of a citrus orchard in Souss-Massa, planted with the Esbal variety of clementine, was equipped with an Eddy-Covariance (EC) system, and sensors to measure radiation, soil heat flux, and micrometeorological forcing data, during 2020 and 2021 seasons. Also, the soil moisture content at various soil depths in the root zone near the EC tower was monitored. The energy balance closure (EBC) approach was adopted for flux assessment to ensure a quality check for the EC measurements. The obtained EBCs were about 82% and 79% for the daily measurements in 2020 and 2021, respectively, which can be considered acceptable considering the nature of the citrus orchard (relatively tall and sparse). Second, the study aimed to estimate actual Kc act values for citrus under the same irrigation strategy. The derived values were compared to different recommended Kc values in the literature. In the third stage, this work aimed to offer an alternative plan to sustainable irrigation management by elaborating an irrigation schedule for citrus crops in the region using the FAO-56 simple approach to avoid water stress and deep percolation (i.e., Ks = 1 and DP = 0). Eventually, an irrigation schedule was drawn following the crop’s phenological stages. The seasonal mean citrus evapotranspiration (ETa) values are 1.68, 3.02, and 1.86 mm/day for the initial, mid, and end-season. The seasonal actual Kc act values were 0.64, 0.58, and 0.64 for Kcini, Kcmid, and Kcend, respectively. Additionally, the application of the water balance equation revealed that a large quantity of water is lost through deep percolation (52% of total water supplied). The study focuses on Citrus trees being a strategic crop with important socio-economic values in the Souss-Massa region. Thus, the results should support both scientists and farmers in planning and strategy development.

As groundwater levels steadily decline in India, authorities are concerned about reducing extraction for irrigation purposes without jeopardizing food security. Very low or zero prices for electricity and water in agriculture is partly responsible for overextraction, but charging higher prices is politically not feasible. In this study, we describe the results of a pilot scheme implemented in Punjab, India, where farmers who enrolled were allocated a monthly entitlement of electricity units and compensated for unused electricity. Eight hours of uninterrupted daytime electricity supply were also provided under the scheme instead of the usual mix of daytime and night-time supply. Analyzing data from a cross-sectional farm household survey and instrumenting for enrollment, we find that self-reported hours of irrigation for enrolled farmers were significantly lower than for non-enrolled ones, with no impact on rice yields. We also find a reduction in monthly electricity consumption at electricity-feeder level due to the pilot scheme using the synthetic control method. Our results suggest that the combination of daytime electricity provision and cash incentives for unused electricity has the potential to incentivize farmers to reduce electricity consumption and irrigation hours by at least 7.5% and up to 30% without impacting paddy yields.

Climate change is causing serious challenges for smallholder farm households, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The overarching objectives of this study are as follows: (i) to estimate household resilience and vulnerability indices, (ii) identify factors that explain these indices and (iii) to examine the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) on households’ resilience and vulnerability, and (iv) to identify which CSA package performs better in enhancing resilience and reducing vulnerability. For this study, 278 farm households from 4 districts and 8 kebeles from the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia were randomly selected using a three-stage proportional to size sampling procedure. Cross-sectional data applying a structured and pretested survey questionnaire was collected for 2020/21 production season. Household resilience and vulnerability indices were estimated using resilience index and measurement analysis and indicators approaches, respectively. Multinomial endogenous switching regression was used to estimate the average treatment effects (ATEs) of the adoption of CSA practices on households’ resilience and vulnerability. The results show that livestock holding, land size, level of education, and state of food consumption are major explaining factors of resilience, whereas educational level of households, livestock holding, and access to credit are found to be major factors explaining vulnerability. The estimated ATEs indicate that households which adopted more diversified combinations of CSA packages were more resilient and less vulnerable than non-adopter households. The impacts of soil fertility management and conservation agriculture practices have better performance in improving resilience, whereas conservation agriculture and small-scale irrigation performed better in reducing the vulnerability of rural households in CRV. Boosting resilience and reducing vulnerability, hence, requires scaling up CSA among smallholder farmers by diversifying and raising farm households’ income, educational status, and livestock holding.

The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in north-west (NW) India are facing a severe decline in ground water due to prevalent rice-based cropping systems. To combat this issue, conservation agriculture (CA) with an alternative crop/s, such as maize, is being promoted. Recently, surface drip fertigation has also been evaluated as a viable option to address low-nutrient use efficiency and water scarcity problems for cereals. While the individual benefits of CA and sub-surface drip (SSD) irrigation on water economy are well-established, information regarding their combined effect in cereal-based systems is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a two-year field experiment in maize, under an ongoing CA-based maize-wheat system, to evaluate the complementarity of CA with SSD irrigation through two technological interventions–– CA+ (residue retained CA + SSD), PCA+ (partial CA without residue + SSD) – at different N rates (0, 120 and 150 kg N ha-1) in comparison to traditional furrow irrigated (FI) CA and conventional tillage (CT) at 120 kg N ha-1. Our results showed that CA+ had the highest grain yield (8.2 t ha-1), followed by PCA+ (8.1 t ha-1). The grain yield under CA+ at 150 kg N ha-1 was 27% and 30% higher than CA and CT, respectively. Even at the same N level (120 kg N ha-1), CA+ outperformed CA and CT by 16% and 18%, respectively. The physiological performance of maize also revealed that CA+ based plots with 120 kg N ha-1 had 12% and 3% higher photosynthesis rate at knee-high and silking, respectively compared to FI-CA and CT. Overall, compared to the FI-CA and CT, SSD-based CA+ and PCA+ saved 54% irrigation water and increased water productivity (WP) by more than twice. Similarly, a greater number of split N application through fertigation in PCA+ and CA+ increased agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and recover efficiency by 8–19% and 14–25%, respectively. Net returns from PCA+ and CA+ at 150 kg N ha-1 were significantly higher by US$ 491 and 456, respectively than the FI-CA and CT treatments. Therefore, CA coupled with SSD provided tangible benefits in terms of yield, irrigation water saving, WP, NUE and profitability. Efforts should be directed towards increasing farmers’ awareness of the benefits of such promising technology for the cultivating food grains and commercial crops such as maize. Concurrently, government support and strict policies are required to enhance the system adaptability.

Economic crises take different forms and occur for various reasons, such as political conflicts and pandemics. What all these crises have in common is that they cause disruption to rural-urban food supply chains, resulting in food shortages for the urban poor, with the most direct impact being an increase in food prices. It is within this challenging context that we present empirical examples of the role of urban agriculture.

Digital innovations and interventions can potentially revolutionize agri-food systems, especially in coping with climate challenges. On a similar note, digital research tools and methods are increasingly popular for the efficient collection and analysis of real-time, large-scale data. It is claimed that these methods can also minimize subjective biases that are prevalent in traditional qualitative research. However, given the digital divide, especially affecting women and marginalized communities, these innovations could potentially introduce further disparities. To assess these contradictions, we piloted SenseMaker, a digital ethnography tool designed to capture individual, embodied experiences, biases, and perceptions to map vulnerabilities and resilience to climate impacts in the Gaya District in Bihar. Our research shows that this digital tool allows for a systematic co-design of the research framework, allows for the collection of large volumes of data in a relatively short time, and a co-analysis of the research data by the researchers and the researched. This process allowed us to map and capture the complexities of intersectional inequalities in relation to climate change vulnerability. However, we also noted that the application of the tool is influenced by the prior exposure to technology (digital devices) of both the enumerators and researched groups and requires significant resources when implemented in contexts where there is a need to translate the data from local dialects and languages to more dominant languages (English). Most importantly, perceptions, positionalities, and biases of researchers can significantly impact the design of the tool’s signification framework, reiterating the fact that researcher bias persists regardless of technological innovations in research methodology.

Study region: The Amu Darya River (ADR) basin in Central Asia. Study focus: To understand the spatiotemporal patterns and underlying driving mechanisms of river salinization in arid environments, this study gathered 50 years (1970–2019) of water chemistry data from 12 locations along the ADR. The variations in discharge and salinity were assessed by a linear regression model and violin plot. The salinity-discharge relationships were evaluated by a general hyperbolic model and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Random forest models were also constructed to identify the predominant drivers of river water salinization. Finally, a conceptual model of river water salinization was constructed. New hydrological insights for the region: The water salinity (S) in the upper stream of the ADR was 541–635 mg/L. Salinity showed an increasing trend along the river course, reaching 751–1560 mg/L downstream. In the downstream, the river salinity before the 1990 s (751–1128 mg/L) was slightly lower than that after the 1990 s (983–1560 mg/L). Generally, water salinity was notably correlated with river discharge (Q) in upstream, exhibiting a relationship of S= 17,497Q- 0.62, p lt; 0.05, before the 1990 s. Interannual variation in river salinity is mainly controlled by secondary salinization, and intra-annual variation is controlled by river flow. From upstream to downstream, the controlling salinization process changes from primary salinization to secondary salinization. Specifically, secondary salinization has accelerated due to intensified agricultural activities in recent years.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is suffering from severe water scarcity. Decision-makers in MENA are tackling this challenge by tapping the potential of reusing treated wastewater in agriculture so that large volumes of freshwater sources can be released for priority domestic needs. This aligns with the global efforts to make wastewater reuse mainstream in developing countries by overcoming the technological, infrastructural, health, and socio-cultural barriers that are limiting the expansion of wastewater reuse in agriculture. In this regard, this paper analyses the management modalities of wastewater reuse practices in agriculture in MENA by studying two case studies from Egypt and Jordan. The result of this analysis is a proposed decision-tree tool to help decision-makers in making optimal wastewater reuse decisions based on contextual factors including agricultural field demands, location, freshwater resources, sanitation coverage, and infrastructure, as well as regulations, policies, and restrictions for wastewater reuse. The decision-tree framework was operationalized and validated using the two case studies. The decision tree proved to be an effective framework in assisting decision-makers in making the optimum choice for wastewater reuse in agriculture. It aided the decision maker in evaluating potential reuse options and selecting between several courses of action.

Climate variability and insufficient irrigation are primary constraints to stable and higher agricultural productivity and food security in Nepal. Agriculture is the largest global freshwater user, and integration of surface- and ground-water use is frequently presented as an strategy for increasing efficiency as well as climate change adaptation. However, conjunctive management (CM) planning often ignores demand-side requirements and a broader set of sustainable development considerations, including ecosystem health and economics of different development strategies. While there is generic understanding of conjunctive use, detailed technical knowhow to realize the CM is lacking in Nepal. This article presents a holistic framework through literature reviews, stakeholders consultations and expert interviews for assessing CM and implementation prospects from a systems-level perspective. We demonstrate the framework through a case study in Western Nepal, where climatic variability and a lack of irrigation are key impediments to increased agricultural productivity and sustainable development. Results show that knowledge of water resources availability is good and that of water demand low in the Western Terai. Additional and coordinated investments are required to improve knowledge gaps as well as access to irrigation. There is therefore a need to assess water resources availability, water access, use and productivity, to fill the knowledge gaps in order to pave pathways for CM. This paper also discusses some strategies to translate prospects of conjunctive management into implementation.

Despite widespread recognition of the importance of data exchange in transboundary waters’ management, there is growing evidence that data exchange is falling short in practice. A possible explanation may be that data exchange occurs where and when it is needed. Needs for data exchange in shared waters, nonetheless, have not been systematically assessed. This paper evaluates data exchange needs in a set of transboundary basins and compares such needs with evidenced levels of data exchange. Our findings indicate that it may be possible to accelerate data exchange by identifying and promoting the exchange of data that respond to palpable need and serve practical use.

Water scarcity has become one of the greatest challenges facing humankind today. Its scarcity is compounded by climate change and increasing demand from a growing population. In South Africa, over 60% of the available freshwater resources are used in agriculture, mainly in irrigated agriculture. There is an urgent need to promote sustainable irrigation technologies that optimize food production without increasing water applied and with positive environmental spinoffs. Sustainable irrigation technologies and practices could enhance water use efficiency (WUE) and productivity in agriculture and reduce environmental burdens, including energy use. This chapter highlights some of the innovative irrigation practices and technologies that enhance food production and, at the same time, reduce water use in agriculture. The chapter broadly discusses WUE and water productivity (WP) in irrigated agriculture from engineering and agronomic perspectives. The chapter further highlights some of the environmental impacts of irrigation expansion and the possible solutions. We further provide the importance of accurate spatial information on irrigated areas to inform policy on irrigation expansion. The Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa has been spearheading research on the sustainable use of water for the past 50 years as part of its research agenda.

Maize (Zea Mays) is one of the most valuable food crops in sub-Saharan Africa and is a critical component of local, national and regional economies. Whereas over 50% of maize production in the region is produced by smallholder farmers, spatially explicit information on smallholder farm maize production, which is necessary for optimizing productivity, remains scarce due to a lack of appropriate technologies. Maize leaf area index (LAI) is closely related to and influences its canopy physiological processes, which closely relate to its productivity. Hence, understanding maize LAI is critical in assessing maize crop productivity. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery in concert with vegetation indices (VIs) obtained at high spatial resolution provides appropriate technologies for determining maize LAI at a farm scale. Five DJI Matrice 300 UAV images were acquired during the maize growing season, and 57 vegetation indices (VIs) were generated from the derived images. Maize LAI samples were collected across the growing season, a Random Forest (RF) regression ensemble based on UAV spectral data and the collected maize LAI samples was used to estimate maize LAI. The results showed that the optimal stage for estimating maize LAI using UAV-derived VIs in concert with the RF ensemble was during the vegetative stage (V8–V10) with an RMSE of 0.15 and an R2 of 0.91 (RRMSE = 8%). The findings also showed that UAV-derived traditional, red edge-based and new VIs could reliably predict maize LAI across the growing season with an R2 of 0.89–0.93, an RMSE of 0.15–0.65 m2/m2 and an RRMSE of 8.13–19.61%. The blue, red edge and NIR sections of the electromagnetic spectrum were critical in predicting maize LAI. Furthermore, combining traditional, red edge-based and new VIs was useful in attaining high LAI estimation accuracies. These results are a step towards achieving robust, efficient and spatially explicit monitoring frameworks for sub-Saharan African smallholder farm productivity.

Rice cultivation in the Western Indo-Gangetic plains of India is often blamed for higher energy use. Thus, a bootstrapped meta-frontier approach with a truncated regression approach was used on a database of 3832 rice farms from the input-intensive rice production tracts of western Indo-Gangetic Plains for sustainable energy-use assessment. Farms were classified based on efficiency scores to screen the inefficient practices and farms in Indo-Gangetic Plains. The district-specific technical-efficiency scores ranged between 0.68 and 0.99, with a mean of 0.86–0.90, suggesting average improvement in energy-use efficiency by 10–14% within the district. The mean meta-frontier technical-efficiency score ranged between 0.60 and 0.81. On average, the energy-use-efficient farms had 42% or higher energy-use efficiency in the districts of Ambala, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Karnal. In contrast, in other districts, the efficient farms had 5-19% higher energy-use efficiency. There is evidence of a higher number of tillage, irrigation, and fertilizer application among the inefficient farmers, specific to some districts. The efficient as well as inefficient farmers in Kapurthala and Ludhiana spend similar energy in tillage, whereas, the energy output from both efficient and inefficient farms are similar in Kurukshetra. Thus, there is a need of differential attention specific to district and practices. The evidence provided in this study can help to identify pathways toward sustainable energy use for future rice production in other ecologies too. Similar type of analysis can be carried out for other parameters like profitability and carbon footprint to explore where farmers are spending extra monetary and carbon inputs, and not getting additional yield benefits.

Introduction: In rainfed agricultural systems, sustainable and efficient water management practices are key to improved agricultural productivity and natural resource management. The agricultural system in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relies heavily on the availability of rainfall. With the erratic and unreliable rainfall pattern associated with poor and fragile soils, agricultural productivity has remained very low over the years. Much of the SSA agricultural land has been degraded with low fertility as a result of ongoing cultivation and wind and water erosion. This has resulted in an increased food shortage due to the ever-increasing population and land degradation. Better agricultural and nutritional security are further hampered by the lack of reliable access to the available water resources in the subsurface hydrological system. Methods: This study used socio-economic data from 112 farm households and Boolean and Fuzzy methods to understand farmersapos; perceptions and identify suitable areas to implement Solar Based Irrigation Systems (SBISs) in the agro-ecologies of Bougouni and Koutiala districts of southern Mali. Results and discussion: Results revealed that the usage of SBISs has been recent (4.5 years), majorly (77%) constructed by donor-funded projects mainly for domestic water use and livestock (88%). With regards to irrigation, vegetable production was the dominant water use (60%) enabling rural farm households to gain over 40% of extra household income during the dry season. Results further showed that 4,274 km2 (22%) of the total land area for the Bougouni district, and 1,722 km2 (18%) of the Koutiala district are suitable for solar-based irrigation. The affordability of solar panels in many places makes SBISs to be an emerging climate-smart technology for most rural Malian populations.

Small water infrastructure in Nigeria needs to be utilized more efficiently. There are over 900 small reservoirs across the country. Many of these have yet to be put to productive use within the Ogun watershed in the Ogun Osun River Basin. This study investigates the challenges and opportunities for improving the use of small reservoirs for farmer-led irrigation in a sustainable way. The 20 small reservoirs investigated showed varying degrees of degradation of the hydraulic structures, poor embankment maintenance evidenced by the observed erosion, overgrown shrubs, spillway cracks and failures, and siltation of the reservoir. Poor water management and irrigation practices due to weak technical capacity are also observed. There needs to be a precise governance arrangement or policy supporting water use in such a situation. The economic interests and considerations of the farmers determine the irrigation activities around the reservoirs. Regulations and management of the reservoirs were based on what was considered appropriate by the farmers. With the increasing interest in the use of small reservoirs as water sources for farmer-led irrigation in Nigeria, increased capacity building and training, access to agricultural inputs, finance, and the transformation of commodity associations to water users’ associations would contribute to improving the productivity of small reservoirs.

In this study, we conducted a scoping review and bibliometric analysis to evaluate the state-of-the-art regarding actual applications of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies to guide precision agriculture (PA) practices within smallholder farms. UAVs have emerged as one of the most promising tools to monitor crops and guide PA practices to improve agricultural productivity and promote the sustainable and optimal use of critical resources. However, there is a need to understand how and for what purposes these technologies are being applied within smallholder farms. Using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, 23 peer-reviewed articles from Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed to acquire a greater perspective on this emerging topical research focus area. The results of these investigations revealed that UAVs have largely been used for monitoring crop growth and development, guiding fertilizer management, and crop mapping but also have the potential to facilitate other PA practices. Several factors may moderate the potential of these technologies. However, due to continuous technological advancements and reductions in ownership and operational costs, there remains much cause for optimism regarding future applications of UAVs and associated technologies to inform policy, planning, and operational decision-making.

A study was conducted to determine the combined effects of three tillage practices and four maize (Zea mays L.)- based cropping systems on physical, saturated, and near-saturated hydraulic properties in a sandy loam soil of North-Western India. Split-plot experimental design was adopted with tillage [conventional tillage (CT), zero tillage (ZT), and permanent raised bed (PB)] as the main plot treatments and intensified crop rotations [Maize (Zea mays L.)-Wheat (Triticum aestivum)-Greengram (Vigna radiata L.) (MWGg), Maize-Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)-Sesbania (Sesbania aculeata) (MCpSb), Maize-Mustard (Brassica juncea) -Greengram (MMuGg) and MaizeMaize-Sesbania (MMSb)] as subplot treatments. The saturated and near-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity were derived from steady-state infiltration rates measured using a hood infiltrometer on the surface soil at 0, - 1, and - 3 cm pressure heads. The long-term (10 years) study revealed that the bulk density (BD) of the soil under conservation agriculture (CA) practices (PB and ZT) was significantly (P = 0.05) lower than that in CT practices. The soil BD in the MCpSb cropping system was measured to be the lowest (1.24 g cm- 3 ) among all the cropping systems. The soil aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD) under PB and ZT was determined to be 31% and 27% higher than in the CT treatments. In tillage × cropping systems interactions, the highest MWD was observed in the PB×MWGg. The saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity (K(h)) were estimated to have higher values in CA practices (PB and ZT) than in the CT treatments. In the case of cropping systems, the soil’s mean field saturated hydraulic conductivity was estimated to be significantly (P lt; 0.05) higher under the MWGg, MCpSb, and MMuGg than the MMSb. The present study indicates that conservation agriculture-based crop management with diversified maize-based rotation (MCpSb, MWGg, and MMuGg) could be promising alternatives to conventional tillage practices (CT). Among the cropping system choices, MWGg was more effective in improving the soil’s hydro-physical properties in the study area.

Labor migration is a complex phenomenon, yet while much attention has been paid to understanding the drivers of migration, there is a huge knowledge and policy gap regarding the effects of migration on people and communities left behind. We sought to explore the impacts of rural outmigration on migrant-sending communities in Ethiopia. This remains an understudied topic when it comes to research on migration in Ethiopia. Our investigation is based on a critical review of the migration literature pertaining to Ethiopia and, more broadly. We pursued a holistic analysis of the multidimensional aspects of migration. There are indications that rural outmigration impacts involve issues related to remittances, household food security, agricultural labor use, farmland management, and rural infrastructure development. Our analysis revealed that there had been few systematic studies and limited analyses regarding the impacts of outmigration on agriculture and the livelihoods of rural people and households left behind. Instead, Ethiopia’s migration literature largely deals with migration’s causes, including environmental factors, climate variability, agricultural pressures, livelihood stresses, and changing aspirations.

Agriculture is the largest single source of environmental degradation, responsible for over 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 70% of freshwater use and 80% of land conversion: it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss (Foley JA, Science 309:570–574, 2005, Nature 478:337–342, 2011; IPBES. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, 2019; Willett W et al. The Lancet 393:447–492, 2019). Agriculture also underpins poor human health, contributing to 11 million premature deaths annually. While too many still struggle from acute hunger, a growing number of individuals, including in low to middle-income countries (LMICs), struggle to access healthy foods. Greater consideration for, and integration of, biodiversity in agriculture is a key solution space for improving health, eliminating hunger and achieving nature-positive development objectives. This rapid evidence review documents the best available evidence of agriculture’s relationships with biodiversity, drawing on the contributions of leading biodiversity experts, and recommends actions that can be taken to move towards more biodiversity/nature-positive production through the delivery of integrated agricultural solutions for climate, biodiversity, nutrition and livelihoods. The analysis, which takes a whole-of-food-system approach, brings together a large body of evidence. It accounts for aspects not typically captured in a stand-alone primary piece of research and indicates where there are critical gaps.

This paper analyses the relationship between cyclical labour migration and agrarian transition in the uplands of Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya. It shows that while migration decision-making is linked to expanding capitalist markets, it is mediated by local cultural, political and ecological changes. In turn, cyclical migration goes on to shape the trajectory of change within agriculture. The dual dependence on both migrant income and agriculture within these upland communities often translates into an intensifying work burden on the land, and rising profits for capitalism. However, on some occasions this income can support increased productivity and accumulation within agriculture – although this depends on both the agro-ecological context and the local agrarian structure.

Water management has followed a basin unit paradigm for several decades. This framing often inherits a pre-defined spatial and institutional boundary of analysis, one that largely fails to account for various externalities influencing water security beyond the hydrological unit. Moving away from this established basin-scale analysis, we present the concept of problemscapes, a systems approach for understanding how multiple physical and social drivers surrounding (and as part of) contextual water systems determine how they work and, ultimately, the outcomes in terms of the water security they provide. By first discussing the concept of boundaries for water paradigms, we argue that problemscapes can help us understand water security as a more dynamic and hybrid system by adapting these boundaries; enabling a clearer understanding of leverage points, interconnections and possible strategic solutions to longer-term water security challenges. We apply the method for establishing and utilizing a problemscape analysis across the Central Rift Valley, Upper Awash, and Abbay basins, as well as the capital city of Addis Ababa. The interactions in this part of Central Ethiopia are notoriously complex, with sets of critical water management issues at national and international scale, hybrid water security challenges across user communities, and contested management at different scales amidst multiple, and sometimes competing, ideologies. We show that problemscaping as an approach could support future planning decisions for long-term water security by enabling a systems perspective to emerge where complexity and connectivity between actors, institutions, and physical and social entities is considered.

Groundwater depletion in India is a result of water, energy, and food policies that have given rise to a nexus where growth in agriculture has been supported by unsustainable trends in water and energy use. This nexus emanates from India’s policy of providing affordable calories to its large population. This requires that input prices are kept low, leading to perverse incentives that encourage groundwater overexploitation. The paper argues that solutions to India’s groundwater problems need to be embedded within the current context of its water-energy-food nexus. Examples are provided of changes underway in some water-energy-food policies that may halt further groundwater depletion.

The Meki catchment in the Central Rift Valley basin of Ethiopia is currently experiencing irrigation expansion and water scarcity challenges. The objective of this study is to understand the basin’s current and future water availability for agricultural intensification. This was done by simulating scenarios through an integrated SWAT-MODFLOW model to assess the water balance. The scenarios were co-developed with communities who expressed their aspirations for agricultural intensification in conjunction with projected climate change. The results show that with the present land use and climate, the catchment is already water stressed and communities cannot meet their irrigation water demand, particularly in the first irrigation season (October–January). However, in the second irrigation season (February–May) water resource availability is better and increasing irrigated area by 50% from the present extent is possible. With a climate change scenario that favours more rainfall and shallow groundwater use, agricultural intensification is feasible to some extent.

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) is being held in November 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Having a climate summit hosted in an African country makes it timely to highlight climate change research from the continent. We asked a selection of researchers to share their thoughts on current research questions and how they affect African responses to climate change.

This chapter reviews and analyzes the Indian and Sri Lankan projects funded by the Green Climate Fund, emphasizing the Sri Lankan water projects. The GCFapos;s Sri Lanka projects focuses on water resources and security in two regions: The Northeastern village irrigation with village tanks project and the Knuckles Mountain Range water project. We provide an initial analysis of these projects concerning several indicators: efficient public intervention, water and agricultural impacts, paddy yield impacts, and socio-political institutions.

Indus and Ganga Basins (IGB), which spread over 220 million ha and with over one billion population, grapples with multiple risks. Climate change will exacerbate the water-related recurrent disasters of floods and droughts. Variability and extreme events of rainfall and temperature are increasing. Monsoon rains in four months from June to September bring 80% of the total rainfall. Irrigation is critical, especially for dry-season agriculture and for livelihoods and food security. Groundwater depletion, water quality, and environmental issues reached critical points threatening sustainable agriculture in many locations. This paper focuses on innovative water-related adaptation strategies being pilot tested and implemented to reduce the risks and enhance productivity and resilience in the agriculture sector in the Basins.

Closing the yield gap and enhancing efficiency in rainfed maize production systems in Ethiopia requires urgent action in increasing the productivity of degraded agricultural land. The degradation of land through continuous compaction and decline in the organic matter has resulted in a wide-spread formation of a hardpan that restricts deep percolation, prevents plant root development, and, ultimately can lead to increased erosion. Studies exploring practical low-cost solutions to break the hardpan are limited in Ethiopia. The main objective was to evaluate soil mechanical (i.e. modified plow or Berken plow) or biological intervention (i.e. intercropping with pigeon pea) effectiveness to enhance soil water management and crop yield of rainfed maize systems whilst reducing soil erosion and runoff. Five farm fields, each including four plots with different tillage treatments, were monitored during two rainy seasons in 2016 and 2017. The treatments were: (i) farmers practice under conventional (CT) tillage; plots tilled three times using an oxen driven local plow Maresha, (ii) no-till (NT), (iii) Berken tillage (BT), plots tilled three times using an oxen pulled Berken plow, and (iv) biological (CT + Bio), taprooted pigeon pea intercropped with maize on plots conventionally tilled. Results showed that mean tillage depth was significantly deeper in the BT (28 cm) treatment compared to CT and CT + Bio (18 cm) treatments. Measured soil penetration resistance significantly decreased up to 40 cm depth under BT and maize roots reached 1.5 times deeper compared to roots measured in the CT treatment. Under BT, the estimated water storage in the root zone was estimated at 556 mm, 1.86 times higher compared to CT, 3.11 times higher compared to NT and 0.89 times higher compared to CT + Bio. The positive effects on increased water storage and root development resulted in an average increase in maize grain (i.e. 15%, 0.95 t ha- 1 ) and residual above ground biomass (0.3%, 6.4 t ha- 1 ) leading to a positive net benefit of 138 USD ha- 1 for the BT treatment compared to the CT treatment. The negative net benefit obtained under CT and CT+Bio was mainly related to the high labor cost related to plowing, weeding, planting, and fertilizer application whilst in the NT this was related to the significantly lower maize yields. The positive effects in the BT treatment, and to some extent the CT+Bio treatment show great potential for smallholder rainfed maize systems where degraded soils with hardpans and high variability in rainfall prevail.

The use of improved technologies has been encouraged to improve irrigation on farms, especially in drought-prone areas. However, farmersapos; irrigation decisions may be rather motivated by a desire to reduce risk of crop loss than to reduce water use. Using the case of Jordan, we contribute to the water-saving debate by examining whether current irrigation frequency is influenced by past experiences of losses due to water shortage and whether preferences for technologies and irrigation advisory services are mediated by water shortage experiences. Our data are based on a survey of 304 fruit farms in the highlands that were all using drip irrigation, a popular way to “save” water globally. We find that farms that faced losses due to water shortages in the past are more likely to irrigate more frequently. More frequent irrigators who have such shortages are more likely to prefer receiving irrigation advisory information rather than upgrading technologies, while more frequent irrigators who have not faced such shortages are more likely to prefer upgrading irrigation technologies. Results suggest that irrigation management is motivated by risk reduction, not just by water conservation. Irrigation advisory services, hitherto neglected, may be an important component of agricultural water management in Jordan.

The sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) debate, partly rooted in discussions over the Green Revolution, was developed in the 1990s in the context of smallholder agriculture in Africa. In many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, production is still largely rainfed, with the prevalence of significant yield gaps and rapid environmental degradation. Projections indicate that climate and demographic changes will further intensify the competition for freshwater resources. Currently, SAI is centered around predominantly rain-fed agricultural systems, often at a farm and plot scales. There has been increased attention to the improved role of agricultural water management (AWM) to address the daunting challenges of climate change, land degradation and food and nutritional insecurity in SSA. Nonetheless, the supporting frameworks and tools remain limited and do not connect the sustainability assessment and the development of intensification pathways (SIP) along multiple scales of the rainfed irrigation continuum. This paper reviews the gaps in concepts and practices of SAI and suggests a methodological framework to design context-specific and water-centered SIP for the SSA region. Accordingly, the proposed methodological framework demonstrates: (a) how to couple sustainability assessment methods to participatory SIPs design and adaptive management approach; (b) how contextualized sustainability domains and indicators can help in AWM centered SIP development; (c) the approaches to handle multiple scales and water-related indicators, the heterogeneity of biophysical and social settings when tailoring technology options to local contexts; and (d) the principles which enable the SIP designs to enable synergies and complementarities of SAI measures to reinforce the rainfed-irrigation continuum. This methodological framework allows researchers to integrate the sustainability assessment and SIP design, and guides policymakers and practitioners in planning, implementing and monitoring SAI initiatives (e.g., Framework for Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management in Africa) across multiple scales.

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.

Increased variability of the water cycle manifested by climate change is a growing global threat to agriculture with strong implications for food and livelihood security. Thus, there is an urgent need for adaptation in agriculture. Agricultural water management (AWM) interventions, interventions for managing water supply and demand, are extensively promoted and implemented as adaptation measures in multiple development programs globally. Studies assessing these adaptation measures overwhelmingly focus on positive impacts, however, there is a concern that these studies may be biased towards well-managed and successful projects and often miss out on reporting negative externalities. These externalities result from coevolutionary dynamics of human-water systems as AWM interventions impact hydrological flows and their use and adoption is shaped by the societal response. We review the documented externalities of AWM interventions and present a conceptual framework classifying negative externalities linked to water and human systems into negative hydrological externalities and unexpected societal feedbacks. We show that these externalities can lead to long term unsustainable and inequitable outcomes. Understanding how the externalities lead to undesirable outcomes demands rigorous modeling of the feedbacks between human and water systems, for which we discuss the key criteria that such models should meet. Based on these criteria, we showcase that differentiated and limited inclusion of key feedbacks in current water modeling approaches (e.g., hydrological models, hydro-economic, and water resource models) is a critical limitation and bottleneck to understanding and predicting negative externalities of AWM interventions. To account for the key feedback, we find Agent Based Modeling (ABM) as the method that has the potential to meet the key criteria. Yet there are gaps that need to be addressed in the context of ABM as a tool to unravel the negative externalities of AWM interventions. We carry out a systemic review of ABM application to agricultural systems, capturing how it is currently being applied and identifying the knowledge gaps that need to be bridged to unravel the negative externalities of AWM interventions. We find that ABM has been extensively used to model agricultural systems and, in many cases, the resulting externalities with unsustainable and inequitable outcomes. However, gaps remain in terms of limited use of integrated surface-groundwater hydrological models, inadequate representation of farmersapos; behavior with heavy reliance on rational choice or simple heuristics and ignoring heterogeneity of farmersapos; characteristics within a population.

We evaluate a large-scale model of agricultural advisory services, known as Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) or Farm Science Centers, introduced by the Government of India to facilitate smallholder adoption of new agricultural technologies. The study first evaluates the impact of frontline demonstrations and capacity-building programs conducted by KVKs and aimed at promoting a new wheat variety (HD2967); it then examines gains in the speed of diffusion at the district level. The study’s second objective is to estimate the spillover effects of KVKs through social networks. The study identifies network beneficiaries based on a ‘‘networks within sample” approach. The study uses a matched difference-indifferences approach and sample of 1496 wheat farmers in Uttar Pradesh, India. The finding shows that frontline demonstrations and capacity-building programs positively impact the adoption of HD-2967. The magnitude of the impacts is larger for KVK beneficiaries, but substantial gains also arise for network beneficiaries. The study underscores the importance of frequently conducting interventions to influence adoption on aggregate at the district level. From a policy perspective, the study offers new insights for strengthening outreach and extension services designed to facilitate the transfer of agricultural knowledge and information, emphasizing frontline demonstrations, capacity-building programs, and spillovers in extending the scope of KVKs.

This study examines the role of caste-based affiliations in the smallholders’ social network interactions for adoption choices. In particular, whether lower-caste, namely Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, farmers rely more on social networks for information than their counterparts. We further explore whether social network effects are more pronounced when farmers interact within their caste than otherwise. Finally, the study tests whether the effects (intra-caste and inter-caste) vary by caste—SC/ST versus non-SC/ST farmers. The study uses a survey of 478 mustard farmers in Rajasthan, India. Econometric concerns related to unobserved heterogeneity are addressed by employing specifications with village fixed effects and a series of robustness tests. Simultaneity concerns are addressed by analyzing the social network effects in a dynamic adoption framework. Results show that the adoption choices regarding hybrid mustard seeds are more pronounced for the lower-caste farmers than for their counterparts. Findings reveal that social network effects are significant in intra-caste but not in the case of inter-caste. Finally, the result shows that the likelihood of accepting advice in technology adoption is higher when SC/ST farmers interact with non-SC/ST network members than when non-SC/ST farmers interact with SC/ ST network members.

The severity of the climate challenge requires a change in the climate response, from an incremental to a more far-reaching and radical transformative one. There is also a need to avoid maladaptation whereby responses to climate risk inadvertently reinforce vulnerability, exposure and risk for some sections of society. Innovative technological interventions are critical but enabling social, institutional and governance factors are the actual drivers of the transformative process. Bringing about this transformation requires inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, and the embracing of social equity. In this Perspective, we unpack what this means for agricultural research and, based on our collective experience, we map out a research agenda that weaves different research components into a holistic and transformative one. We do not offer best practice, but rather reflections on how agricultural research can more readily contribute to transformative adaptation, along with the personal and practical challenges of designing and implementing such an agenda.

Africa emits the lowest amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the global GHG budget. However, the continent remains the most vulnerable continent to the effects of climate change. The agricultural sector in Africa is among the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Also, as a dominant agricultural sector, African agriculture is increasingly contributing to climate change through GHG emissions. Research has so far focused on the effects of GHG emissions on the agricultural and other sectors with very little emphasis on monitoring and quantifying the spatial distribution of GHG emissions from agricultural land in Africa. This study develops a new index: African Agricultural Land Greenhouse Gas Index (AALGGI) that uses scores and specific scale ranges for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) to map the spatial variations in regional GHG emissions across Africa. The data for the three main GHGs (CO2, CH4, and N20) were downloaded from FAOSTAT. The data were analyzed through the newly developed African Agricultural Land Greenhouse Gas Index (AALGGI). This is an empirical index with scores ranging from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating higher levels of emissions. The results show that Southern and North African regions have the lowest amounts of agricultural land GHG emissions, with AALGGIs of 3.5 and 4.5, respectively. East Africa records the highest levels of GHG emissions, with an AALGGI of 8 followed by West Africa with an AALGGI of 7.5. With the continental mean or baseline AALGGI being 5.8, East and Middle Africa are above the mean AALGGI. These results underscore the fact that though Africa, in general, is not a heavy emitter of GHGs, African agricultural lands are increasingly emitting more GHGs into the global GHG budget. The low AALGGIs in the more developed parts of Africa such as Southern and North Africa are explained by their domination in other GHG emitting sectors such as industrialization and energy. The high rates of emissions in East Africa and Middle Africa are mainly linked to intensive traditional farming practices/processes and deforestation. These findings underscore the need to further leverage climate change mitigation actions and policy in Africa and most importantly the co-benefits of mitigation and adaptations in the most vulnerable regions.

Water scarcity and pollution are major threats for human development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and Lebanon is no exception. Wastewater treatment and reuse in agriculture can contribute to addressing the increasing water crisis in the MENA region. However, what is the actual potential of water reuse as a solution for agriculture in Lebanon? This report addresses this question and provides the most comprehensive assessment of water reuse potential up to now. Using geographic information system (GIS) modelling and the best and most recent data available in the country, the report develops a detailed technical assessment of the quantities of treated water available for safe reuse in irrigation, and identifies the wastewater treatment plants that have the highest potential for that purpose. The report also examines the governance barriers that need to be overcome for the water reuse potential to materialize in practice. These barriers include structural shortcomings in the wastewater sector combined with challenges of governance and the lack of a regulatory framework for reuse management. Once the current economic, financial and political crisis in Lebanon eases, addressing these barriers will be key to achieving more and safer water reuse in the country.

As urbanization increases, meeting the challenges of urban food supply and food security requires coherent and holistic strategies. Attention too often focuses solely on best practices without addressing the required behavior change. This policy brief highlights the importance of minimizing food loss and waste, which accounts for some 30% of current global production, in order to link and achieve SDGs 2, 11 and 12. The strategy comprises four interrelated elements, namely adopting holistic and circular planning perspectives; facilitating urban and peri-urban farming; integrating innovative behavioral interventions; and providing enabling environments. The G20 has the capacity to act rapidly, without the need for major capital investment, thereby also providing leadership to the entire international community.

Credit constraint is often considered as one of the key barriers to the adoption of modern agricultural technologies and low agricultural productivity in low- and middle-income countries. Past research and much of the policy discourse associate agricultural credit constraints with supply-side factors, such as limited access to credit sources or high costs of borrowing. However, demand-side factors, such as risk-aversion and financial illiteracy among borrowers could also affect credit-rationing of smallholder agricultural households. This study investigates the nature of credit constraints, factors affecting credit constraint status, and the effects of credit constraints on adoption and intensity of use of three modern agricultural technologies – small-scale irrigation, chemical fertilizer, and improved seeds. The paper also assesses whether credit constraints are gender-differentiated. Primary survey data were collected from sample farmers in Ethiopia and Tanzania, and Tobit and two-step hurdle econometric models were used to analyze these data. Results show that demand-side credit constraints are as important as supply-side factors in conditioning smallholders’ access to credit in both countries. We also find that credit is a binding constraint for the decision to adopt technologies and input use intensity in Tanzania but not statistically significant in Ethiopia. Results suggest that women are more likely to be credit constrained (from both the supply and demand sides) than men in both study countries. Based on these findings, we suggest that policies should focus on addressing both supply- and demand-side credit constraints to credit access, including through targeted interventions to reduce risk, such as crop insurance, and to strengthen the gender sensitivity of credit policies.

Adoption of climate smart agricultural (CSA) practices has been widely recognized as a promising and successful alternative to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change. However, their adoption among smallholder farmers remains low in developing countries, including Ethiopia. This study examines factors that influence adoption and the level of adoption of multiple CSA practices, including improved agronomy, soil and water conservation, drought tolerant high yielding crop variety, small-scale irrigation, integrated disease, pest, and weed management, and integrated soil fertility management, using survey data from 404 farm households in BaleEco Region (BER), Ethiopia. The study applied a multivariate probit model for analyzing the simultaneous adoptions of multiple CSA practices, and ordered probit model for examining the factors influencing the level of adoption. The CSA practices are found to be complementary. Moreover, farmersapos; adoption of multiple CSA practices, as well as their intensity of adoption, is significantly influenced by the age of the household head, education, land size, household total asset value, frequency of extension contacts, farmer awareness of climate change, farmer experience with climatic shocks, parcel fertility, slope, and severity of soil erosion. The studyapos;s findings suggest that agricultural policy makers and implementers of CSA should recognize the complementarity among CSA practices in order to intensify their adoption among BER farmers and disseminate CSA practices in other parts of the country. Moreover, policymakers should consider household socio-economic, institutional, and parcel-specific factors that positively influence CSA adoption.

Addressing the disproportionate burden of food insecurity in South Africa requires targeted efforts to help smallholder farmers to access markets. The purpose of this study was to assess determinants of market participation and its contribution to household food security. The secondary data used in this study were collected from 1520 respondents; however, 389 smallholder farmers participated in the market. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale revealed that out of the total sample size, 85% of the households were food insecure while 15% were food secure. Gender of household head, receiving social grants and higher wealth index positively impacted market participation. Having a family member with HIV had a negative impact on market participation among smallholder farmers. The results from the extended ordered probit regression model showed that household size, having a family member with HIV and agricultural assistance had a positive and significant contribution to the household food insecurity situation of the smallholder farmers. On the other hand, the educational level of household head, ownership of livestock, age of household head, gender of household head, and having access to social grants had a negative and significant effect on the food insecurity status. Access to education and the market can improve household food security. Linking smallholder farmers, particularly women and aged farmers, to markets should form an intrinsic part of the government’s efforts to improve farming and food security and increase access to diversified food.

There is wide consensus among scholars and practitioners that improved irrigation technologies increase farm productivity and improve resource use efficiency. However, there is also growing empirical evidence that efficiency improvements in irrigation water use may create rebound effects, i.e., they may trigger changes in farmers’ behavior that partly or fully offset the technical water savings expected under ceteris paribus conditions. In extreme cases, total water consumption may even increase. We studied the impacts of introducing water-saving irrigation technologies in Uzbekistan and used structured stakeholder interviews for an expert-based assessment of potential rebound effects. Our findings contribute to the understanding of impacts of technological and institutional responses to environmental and economic pressures in sustaining water resources. The study demonstrates that although the objective of increasing irrigation efficiency may be achieved, the actual water savings under Uzbek conditions are likely to be reduced due to rebound effects. Unless there are effective policy interventions, we expect rebound effects through an increase in water supply for crops that compensates for current shortages of irrigation water availability, an increase in irrigated area, a switch to more water-intensive crops, and overall economic growth. The findings of this paper provide a reference point for estimating the water-saving potential and for evaluating and adapting policies.

The effects of climate change are likely to increase the frequency of flood, drought, and salinity events in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, posing many challenges for agrarian communities. Sustainable intensification in the form of improved agricultural management practices and new technologies may help farmers cope with stress and adapt to changing conditions. In this study, we explore how climate change perceptions of agricultural risk affect adaptation to climate change through technology adoption in a unique landscape: the polders of Bangladesh. In 2016, a survey was conducted in 1003 households living on these artificial, leveed islands facing the Bay of Bengal. We analyzed the responses from polder residents to construct a climate risk index which quantifies climate risk perception in this highly vulnerable agrarian landscape. We analyzed how polder demographics influence their perceptions about climatic change using seemingly unrelated regression (SUR). Further, by using three bivariate probit regression models, we estimated how the perception of climate risk drives the differential adoption of new agricultural technologies. Our findings show that farmers perceive polder agriculture as highly vulnerable to four environmental change factors: flooding, drought, salinity, and pest infestation. The SUR model suggests that farmer demographics, community group memberships, and access to different inputs and services strongly influence climatic risk perceptions. Findings also suggest that polder farmers with higher risk perceptions have a higher propensity to adopt both chemical and mechanical adaptation strategies. Cost, however, limits the ability of farmers to adopt improved technologies, suggesting an opportunity for institution-led approaches.

Climatic variability and extreme weather events impact agricultural production, especially in sub-Saharan smallholder cropping systems, which are commonly rainfed. Hence, the development of early warning systems regarding moisture availability can facilitate planning, mitigate losses and optimise yields through moisture augmentation. Precision agricultural practices, facilitated by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with very high-resolution cameras, are useful for monitoring farm-scale dynamics at near-real-time and have become an important agricultural management tool. Considering these developments, we evaluated the utility of optical and thermal infrared UAV imagery, in combination with a random forest machine-learning algorithm, to estimate the maize foliar temperature and stomatal conductance as indicators of potential crop water stress and moisture content over the entire phenological cycle. The results illustrated that the thermal infrared waveband was the most influential variable during vegetative growth stages, whereas the red-edge and near-infrared derived vegetation indices were fundamental during the reproductive growth stages for both temperature and stomatal conductance. The results also suggested mild water stress during vegetative growth stages and after a hailstorm during the mid-reproductive stage. Furthermore, the random forest model optimally estimated the maize crop temperature and stomatal conductance over the various phenological stages. Specifically, maize foliar temperature was best predicted during the mid-vegetative growth stage and stomatal conductance was best predicted during the early reproductive growth stage. Resultant maps of the modelled maize growth stages captured the spatial heterogeneity of maize foliar temperature and stomatal conductance within the maize field. Overall, the findings of the study demonstrated that the use of UAV optical and thermal imagery, in concert with prediction-based machine learning, is a useful tool, available to smallholder farmers to help them make informed management decisions that include the optimal implementation of irrigation schedules.

Sustainable agricultural intensification requires irrigation methods and strategies to minimize yield penalties while optimizing water, land and energy use efficiencies. We assessed, from a silo-based and integrated water-energy-food (WEF) nexus perspective, the performance of irrigation technologies in different agro-climatic regions. Secondary to this, we assessed the impact of adopting systematic approaches such as the WEF nexus on improving efficiency in irrigated agriculture through irrigation modernization. The evidence-based perspectives of silo-based performances individually considered the metrics of yield (Y), water use efficiency (WUE), and energy productivity (EP). The WEF nexus approach applied sustainability polygons to integrate the three metrics into a nexus index representing the holistic performance of the irrigation technologies. Silo-based performance in temperate regions suggests net gains for WUE (+1.10 kg m-3 ) and Y (+6.29 ton ha-1 ) when transitioning from furrow to sprinkler irrigation, with a net loss in EP (-3.82 ton MJ-1 ). There is potential for a net loss on EP (-3.33 ton MJ-1 ) when transitioning from furrow to drip system in temperate regions. The best performance of irrigation technologies in dry regions in water, energy and food silos was achieved by sprinkler, drip and furrow irrigation systems, respectively. Thus, appraising irrigation technologies from a silos perspective promotes individual silos, which renders an unsustainable picture of the performance of irrigation systems. The integrative WEF nexus approach successfully highlighted the trade-offs and synergies in the nexus of water, energy and food in irrigated agriculture. Drip irrigation led all irrigation technologies in WEF nexus performance in dry (21.44 unit2 ), tropical (23.98 unit2 ), and temperate regions (47.28 unit2 ). Overall, the irrigation modernization pathway to drip technology from either furrow or sprinkler systems improves irrigated agriculture’s WEF nexus performance in all three regions for more crop per drop per joule per hectare under climate change. This can promote inclusive and sustainable irrigation development within the planetary boundaries.

Irrigated agriculture in South Asia depends on meltwater, monsoon rains and groundwater. Climate change alters the hydrology and causes shifts in the timing, composition and magnitude of these sources of water supply. Simultaneously, socio-economic growth increases water demand. Here we use a high-resolution cryosphere–hydrology–crop model forced with an ensemble of climate and socio-economic projections to assess how the sources of irrigation water supply may shift during the twenty-first century. We find increases in the importance of meltwater and groundwater for irrigated agriculture. An earlier melt peak increases meltwater withdrawal at the onset of the cropping season in May and June in the Indus, whereas increasing peak irrigation water demand during July and August aggravates non-renewable groundwater pumping in the Indus and Ganges despite runoff increases. Increasing inter-annual variability in rainfall runoff increases the need for meltwater and groundwater to complement rainfall runoff during future dry years.

Across several coastal areas in Morocco, groundwater is the strategic source of irrigation. In this work, a database of thirteen Moroccan coastal aquifers was used to assess groundwater for agriculture purposes, as well as to highlight the process responsible of the degradation of groundwater resource quality in Moroccan coastal areas. According to electrical conductivity parameter, the results show that 92% of the collected samples were not suitable for irrigation uses. This situation is due to seawater intrusion and water–rock interaction processes, in addition to intensive agriculture activities and the introduction of domestic and industrial wastewater without any treatment. In order to control the impact of groundwater salinity on agriculture, management plans are proposed.

Improving the preparedness of agricultural systems to future climate-change-induced phenomena, such as drought-induced water stress, and the predictive analysis of their vulnerability is crucial. In this study, a hybrid modeling approach based on the SWAT model was built to understand the response of major crops and streamflow in the Bouregreg catchment in Morocco to future droughts. During dry years, the simulation results showed a dramatic decrease in water resources availability (up to -40%) with uneven impacts across the study catchment area. Crop-wise, significant decreases in rainfed wheat productivity (up to -55%) were simulated during future extremely dry growing seasons.

Drought is a complex phenomenon affecting agricultural, environmental, water resources, and socio-economic systems in developing regions. Climate change is going to increase the frequency and intensity of drought events and the associated socio-economic impact, including that on the food security among marginal smallholder farmers. For timely early action, it is important to have robust drought monitoring and warning in place to determine the timely drought situation to assist end-users for the decision-making process. Spatialtemporal remote sensing data provides crucial information on near real-time drought monitoring and early warning. The present study developed a composite index, i.e., Integrated Drought Severity Index (IDSI) that combines inputs from rainfall, vegetation, and temperature to determine agricultural drought progression, intensity, and frequency for entire Sri Lanka between 2001 and 2019. The study has successfully identified 10 drought events of which 2001, 2012, 2017, and 2019 reported severe droughts across the two rainy seasons, namely Yala (May–August) and Maha (October–March). We analyzed various indices meteorological drought Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and field-based rice Crop Yield Anomaly Index (CYA). It is evident from the study that the Yala season reported more drought events compared to the Maha season due to changes in monsoon onset and duration and its seasonal variability. The correlation coefficient for SPI with IDSI is 0.70 and IDSI with CYA is 0.68, which explains the reliability of drought monitoring information across Sri Lanka. In terms of sub-national drought events, the North, North Central, North Eastern, Eastern, and South Eastern Provinces which cover the majority of the dry zone of Sri Lanka and districts such as Anuradhapura, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Trincomalee, and Ampara are highly prone to agricultural drought impacting agricultural production and the vulnerable rural population. From the basin analysis, both Yan Oya and Malwathu Oya (Aruri Aru) are reported to have severe drought events, which highlights the need for timely action using satellite-derived agricultural drought monitoring to mitigate drought risks and reduce food insecurity.

Land and water are vital resources for sustaining rural livelihoods and are critical for rural development as they form the basis of agriculture, the main economic activity for rural communities. Nevertheless, in most developing countries, land and water resources are unevenly distributed due to historical and socio-economic imbalances, hence the need for land reform policies to address these disparities. However, redistributing land without considering the interconnectedness of land and socio-ecological systems can compound existing food and water insecurity challenges. This study used a mixed research method, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data, to develop a framework to guide policy and decision-makers to formulate coherent strategies towards sustainable land redistribution programmes and achieve the desired outcomes. The approach was vital for integrating the broad and intricate interlinkages between water, land, and environmental resources. Therefore, the framework is based on transformative and circular models for informing strategic policy decisions towards sustainable land redistribution. The focus was on South Africa’s land redistribution plans and the implications on water and food security and rural development. The developed framework is designed to ensure the sustainability of agrarian reform and rural economic development. It is framed to address land and water accessibility inequalities, promote water and food security, and enhance rural development. A sustainable land redistribution increases the adaptive capacity of rural communities to climate change, enhances their resilience, and provides pathways towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) are critical biodiversity areas for the conservation and sustainable use of biological and cultural resources while promoting regional peace, cooperation, and socio-economic development. Sustainable management of TFCAs is dependent on the availability of an eco-agriculture framework that promotes integrated management of conservation mosaics in terms of food production, environmental protection or the conservation of natural resources, and improved human livelihoods. As a developmental framework, eco-agriculture is significantly influenced by existing legal and governance structures at all levels; this study assessed the impact of existing legal and governance frameworks on eco-agriculture implementation in the Lubombo TFCA that cuts across the borders between Mozambique, Eswatini, and South Africa. The assessment used a mixed research method, including a document review, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Although the three countries have no eco-agriculture policies, biodiversity practices are directly or indirectly affected by some policies related to environmental protection, agriculture improvement, and rural development. The assessment found that South Africa has the most comprehensive policies related to eco-agriculture; Mozambican policies mainly focus on equity and involvement of disadvantaged social groups, while Eswatini is conspicuous for explicitly making it the responsibility of each citizen to protect and safeguard the environment. The protection of conservation areas is critical to preserving natural habitats and ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services. The lack of transboundary governance structures results in the Lubombo TFCA existing as a treaty on paper, as there are no clear processes for transboundary cooperation and collaboration.

Kachchh, the westernmost district of India is historically known for its unique landscape, distinct traditions and arid climate. For a long time, the arid region of Kachchh had limited economic growth and limited habitation due to water scarcity caused by erratic rainfall. In 2001, the seismically active region of Kachchh experienced a large earthquake measuring 7.7 Mw but, the region has shown considerable development post-disaster. Growth strategies for agriculture, manufacturing and tourism implemented by the government and supported by industries and other agencies have not only made the region a dynamic economic hub in the state of Gujarat, but also has highlighted the long-neglected region on the world map. Due to the lack of perennial surface water availability and limited rainfall, the development has been fuelled by exploiting the groundwater resources to a great extent. The objective of this chapter is to highlight groundwater use in Kachchh, known as one of the most arid regions of India with low rainfall and high variability. Groundwater is playing a vital role in meeting the demand for all societal usage, irrigation, domestic requirements and industries. The authors highlight how the region is blessed with a suitable geological formation, forming a potential freshwater aquifer system which has served society for centuries even with a grossly adequate recharge. They highlight the importance of looking into the sustainable use of groundwater, a priceless natural resource of the region.

The northeast region of Cote d’Ivoire, where agriculture is the main economic activity, is potentially vulnerable to extreme climatic conditions. This study aims to make a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis of trends in extreme indices related to precipitation and temperature for the Zanzan region of Cote d’Ivoire over the period of 1981–2020. The statistical significance of the calculated trends was assessed using the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test, while Sen’s slope estimation was used to define the amount of change. For extreme precipitations, the results showed a decreasing trend in annual total precipitations estimated at 112.37 mm and in daily precipitations intensity indices. Furthermore, the consecutive dry days’ index showed an increasing trend estimated at 18.67 days. Unlike the trends in precipitation extremes, which showed statistically non-significant trends, the trends in temperature extremes were mostly significant over the entire study area. The cold spells indices all show decreasing trends, while the warm spells show increasing trends. Drawing inferences from the results, it becomes clear that the study area may be threatened by food insecurity and water scarcity. The results are aimed to support climate adaptation efforts and policy intervention in the region.

This working paper was prepared under a research project from the Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR) fellowship programme – focusing on understanding hydrological changes in the Lake Tana sub-basin, Ethiopia, due to water abstraction, land use and climate change. FLAIR is funded by the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) through The Royal Society, UK. The study was jointly conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and staff of the Abbay Basin Development Office (ABDO). The paper provides information on the deterioration of streamflow data quality in the sub-basin. It demonstrates how to support the sub-basin by generating primary data and compiling current water abstraction data that are relevant for development planning. The project showed the possibility of conducting such activities with limited financial resources and time constraints but with strong collaboration. This work also demonstrated the need for a data alliance among stakeholders in the sub-basin.

CONTEXT: Although rice production has increased significantly in the last decade in West Africa, the region is far from being rice self-sufficient. Inland valleys (IVs) with their relatively higher water content and soil fertility compared to the surrounding uplands are the main rice-growing agroecosystem. They are being promoted by governments and development agencies as future food baskets of the region. However, West Africa’s crop production is estimated to be negatively affected by climate change due to the strong dependence of its agriculture on rainfall. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the study is to apply a set of machine learning models to quantify the extent of climate change impact on land suitability for rice using the presence of rice-only data in IVs along with bioclimatic indicators. METHODS: We used a spatially explicit modeling approach based on correlative Ecological Niche Modeling. We deployed 4 algorithms (Boosted Regression Trees, Generalized Linear Model, Maximum Entropy, and Random Forest) for 4-time periods (the 2030s, 2050s, 2070s, and 2080s) of the 4 Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8) from an ensemble set of 32 spatially downscaled and bias-corrected Global Circulation Models climate data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The overall trend showed a decrease in suitable areas compared to the baseline as a function of changes in temperature and precipitation by the order of 22–33% area loss under the lowest reduction scenarios and more than 50% in extreme cases. Isothermality or how large the day to night temperatures oscillate relative to the annual oscillations has a large impact on area losses while precipitation increase accounts for most of the areas with no change in suitability. Strong adaptation measures along with technological advancement and adoption will be needed to cope with the adverse effects of climate change on inland valley rice areas in the sub-region. SIGNIFICANCE: The demand for rice in West Africa is huge. For the rice self-sufficiency agenda of the region, “where” and “how much” land resources are available is key and requires long-term, informed planning. Farmers can only adapt when they switch to improved breeds, providing that they are suited for the new conditions. Our results stress the need for land use planning that considers potential climate change impacts to define the best areas and growing systems to produce rice under multiple future climate change uncertainties.

There are growing calls to adopt more sustainable forms of agriculture that balance the need to increase production with environmental, human health, and wellbeing concerns. Part of this conversation has included a debate on promoting and mainstreaming neglected and underutilized crop species (NUS) because they represent a more ecologically friendly type of agriculture. We conducted a systematic review to determine the ecosystem services derived from NUS and assess their potential to promote functional ecological diversity, food and nutritional security, and transition to more equitable, inclusive, sustainable and resilient agricultural landscapes and food systems in Africa. Our literature search yielded 35 articles for further analysis. The review showed that NUS provide various provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services and several environmental and health co-benefits, dietary diversity, income, sustainable livelihood outcomes, and economic empowerment, especially for women. Importantly, NUS address the three pillars of sustainable development- ecological, social, and economic. Thus, NUS may provide a sustainable, fit-for-purpose transformative ecosystem-based adaptation solution for Africa to transition to more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and resilient agricultural landscapes and food systems.

Agriculture in Africa is adversely affected by the loss of soil fertility. Conservation agriculture (CA) was introduced to curb the loss of soil fertility and water shortages and improve crop productivity. However, information on how CA practices enhance soil quality and nutrients is scarce in the sub-Saharan Africa context. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of CA and conventional tillage (CT) on soil organic matter and nutrients under irrigated and rainfed vegetable on-farm production systems. During the dry and wet monsoon phases in the northern Ethiopian Highlands, a four-year experiment with CA and CT was carried out on ten vegetable farms under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Although the increase in concentration of organic matter in CA was generally slightly greater than in CT, the difference was not significant. The average organic matter content in the top 30 cm for both treatments increased significantly by 0.5% a-1 from 3% to almost 5%. The increase was not significant for the 30–60 cm depth. The total nitrogen and available phosphorus concentrations increased proportionally to the organic matter content. Consequently, the extended growing season, applying fertilizers and livestock manure, and not removing the crop residue increased the nutrient content in both CA and CT. The increase in CA was slightly greater because the soil was not tilled, and hay was applied as a surface cover. Although CA increased soil fertility, widespread adoption will depend on socioeconomic factors that determine hay availability as a soil cover relative to other competitive uses.

This paper investigates the impact of erratic rainfall and related water problems on agricultural productivity. The paper also aims to shed light on the conceptual importance of understanding the incidence and impacts of rainfall shocks for choosing feasible agricultural water risk management strategies both at household and policy levels. To achieve these goals we develop a conceptual framework, use national representative data from Zambia’s crop estimates survey for 2017/2018 farming season, employ fixed effects regression approach, and find that dry spells, excessive floods, incidence of water logging are all detrimental to crop productivity. The crop-based equations also reveal the differential impacts of the rainfall shocks on different crops. Since the effect of water factors including dry spells, floods and water logging on agricultural productivity is dependent on the crop types, it is important for the Zambian government as well as other countries to take this into account when planning and implementing strategies for agricultural water risk management.

The projected implications of climate change for water and agriculture to meet diverse and competitive water demands requires smart water management solutions. Science- and evidence-based, agricultural water management (AWM) can significantly contribute to reduce unsustainable water use and help enhance water resilience and adaptation to climate change. This paper presents a brief overview of potential AWM practices focusing on enhancing water resilience, increasing yields, and wherever possible, reducing emissions. This is achieved via increased land and water use efficiency, water and energy savings, and improved water productivity with considerable scope to improve agricultural resilience. In this context, the prioritization of a location-specific portfolio of smart AWM practices to make the right investment decisions is very important. We present two distinct and complementary approaches to prioritize AWM practices in this paper: one follows stakeholder analysis to build a prioritized portfolio of climate-smart AWM practices and the other employs a simple water balance-based approach to prioritize interventions. The way forward in mainstreaming and scaling out context-specific climate-smart AWM interventions is also discussed with a focus on capacity building, water management extension services, and the mobilization of resources through the convergence of institutions and co-financing from relevant development schemes.

Globally, the use of untreated, often diluted, or partly treated wastewater in agriculture covers about 30 million ha, far exceeding the area under the planned use of well-treated (reclaimed) wastewater which has been estimated in this paper at around 1.0 million ha. This gap has likely increased over the last decade despite significant investments in treatment capacities, due to the even larger increases in population, water consumption, and wastewater generation. To minimize the human health risks from unsafe wastewater irrigation, the WHO’s related 2006 guidelines suggest a broader concept than the previous (1989) edition by emphasizing, especially for low-income countries, the importance of risk-reducing practices from ‘farm to fork’. This shift from relying on technical solutions to facilitating and monitoring human behaviour change is, however, challenging. Another challenge concerns local capacities for quantitative risk assessment and the determination of a risk reduction target. Being aware of these challenges, the WHO has invested in a sanitation safety planning manual which has helped to operationalize the rather academic 2006 guidelines, but without addressing key questions, e.g., on how to trigger, support, and sustain the expected behaviour change, as training alone is unlikely to increase the adoption of health-related practices. This review summarizes the perceived challenges and suggests several considerations for further editions or national adaptations of the WHO guidelines.

To address the knowledge and coordination gaps and foster an enabling policy and investment environment, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), together with the Agriculture Consultative Forum (ACF) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) hosted its first National Policy Dialogue at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia, on 18 August 2022. The Dialogue is part of the CGIAR initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa, launched by CGIAR (including IWMI, CIAT, CIMMYT, ILRI, IFPRI, IITA, and WorldFish).

This paper aims to provide an overview of Zambian policies related to agriculture and climate adaptation in preparation for the Zambia National Policy Dialogue, scheduled for 18 August 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia. The dialogue is a joint programme with CGIAR Initiative on Diversification of East and Southern Africa led by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Southern Africa, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) South Africa, and Agricultural Consultative Forum (ACF) Zambia. The paper includes an overview of the economic and administrative profile of the country and a descriptive overview of the agricultural and climate policies that are expected to be critically debated at the Dialogue.

To address the knowledge and coordination gaps and foster an enabling policy and investment environment, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), together with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and the local partner, the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) hosted the Kenya National Policy Dialogue at ILRI in Nairobi on 21 November 2022. The dialogue is part of the CGIAR initiative: Diversification and Intensification in East and Southern Africa, launched by CGIAR.

This paper aims to provide an overview of Kenyan policies related to agriculture and climate change adaptation and mitigation in preparation for the Kenya National Policy Dialogue on 12 November 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Dialogue is a joint programme with CGIAR Initiative on Diversification of East and Southern Africa led by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Southern Africa, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) South Africa, and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) Kenya. The paper provides an overview of the economic and administrative profile of the country and general overview of the country’s economic status and agricultural and climate change policies that will be critically debated during the Dialogue.

The impact of climate change on the availability of water affects all types of land use and sectors. This complexity calls for integrated water resources management and negotiations between sectors on the most important, cost-effective, and productive allocation of water where it is a limited resource. This reflection paper shows examples of adaptation efforts to water scarcity at a scale where gains in water productivity can be derived from intersectoral water reuse and wastewater–freshwater swaps, complementing other water scarcity coping strategies (water savings, long-distance transfer, and desalination). Wastewater treatment for reuse offers opportunities across scales as it allows, for example, donor regions to be compensated with reclaimed water for the release of freshwater for higher-value use, increasing overall economic water productivity in this way. In such water swaps, farmers are compensated with higher water volumes in exchange for higher quality. The reuse of water between sectors offers opportunities to (i) expand the traditional (agricultural) water productivity concept and (ii) significantly increase water productivity at the system level. While rural–urban water reallocation can help mitigate the impacts of climate change, compensating farmers with reclaimed water remains limited for the reasons discussed in the paper.

The report provides a methodology protocol for measuring temporal and spatial changes in water quantity and quality using drone imagery. The procedure is informed by the need for effective and sustainable water resource use to enhance water productivity under climate change. It is based on a literature review that allows the identification of appropriate processes, materials, and procedures for water monitoring, including mapping spatial and temporal dynamics of reservoirs, measurement of water quality parameters, and flood mapping of irrigation canals.

Based on a systematic literature review using scientific database search engines and an opportunistic review of published and unpublished government, international and nongovernmental organization reports on cocoa from the internet, the paper explores sustainable irrigation financing feasibility and the potential for different cocoa systems. We design a conceptual framework and propose a sustainable financing ecosystem for supplemental irrigated cocoa farming in Ghana and a qualitative data collection tool based on the conceptual framework and insights from the literature review.

A Social-Ecological Landscape (SEL) comprises a set of important resources (e.g., natural, socioeconomic, and cultural) whose flow and use are controlled by a mix of ecological and social subsystem dynamics. In developing countries, drivers of SEL changes are complex, and SEL pressures are growing. Areas endowed with natural resources (e.g., fertile soils, forests, water, minerals, etc.) tend to have high population growth rates and high poverty incidence. These tend to culminate in high demand for livelihood capitals (e.g., access to livelihood alternatives, education, food, health, water, forest resources, dwellings, roads, agriculture/aquaculture spaces, etc.). Further, multiple national and global stakeholders have continuedly to place a high demand on exploiting natural resources at the subnational.

Agricultural waste represents untapped resources that can be used to produce large value added products with many potential industrial applications. On-farm food waste comprises of harvest and post-harvest waste amounting to 1.2 billion tons per annum and measures up to USD 370 million. Production of food products and other outputs (like biofuel and compost) help in reduction of on-farm food waste and provide livelihood opportunities for the rural households. This reports highlights some innovative approaches across four countries which lead to reduction to food waste. The report cover 6 cases located in Burkina Faso, India, Kenya and Vietnam. The two business models identified in Ouagadougou are – (i) Waka group, that repurpose mango residues in to sweet and bio-vinyl vinegar called MISSIM vinegar, and (ii) SOFAB-SA utilizes oilseeds (such as peanuts, cotton, and soybeans) with blue cheese bran or corn, salt, or any other micro-ingredient to produce feed for livestock. From India, two such case studies are included – (i) Sai Shubhada agro industries is located in Ahmednagar, (Maharashtra, India), and converts bagasse, [a pulpy and fibrous residue of the sugarcane processing] into organic jiggery, and (ii) Arogyasangini Oil Mill, Mill has embarked on the mission to reintroduce oil extracted from the safflower seeds. Nadanya Greens located in Mbale, (Vihiga, Kenya) is exploring the use of farm waste from livestock to produce feeds for fish reared through three fish ponds. Xuan Tien Agricultural Cooperative, located at Yen Chau (Son La province, Vietnam), converts mango which is otherwise wasted post-harvest.

Agricultural waste can be widely adopted to manufacture biogas or biofuel, which is obtained from biomass or agricultural wastes like molasses, bagasse slurries manure etc. Agricultural waste is mostly burned or left decomposing on the fields, where it has potential for polluting the environment and release greenhouse gases. Recovering energy helps to (i) reduce greenhouse emissions by reducing environmental pollution from unwanted biomasses otherwise being burnt in the field; (ii) improve energy efficiency in heating systems from renewable energy sources; (iii) introduce renewable energy by substituting carbon neutral biomass for hydro-carbons (coal, heavy oil and gas); and (iv) Recycle ash residues or slurry as a fertilizer. The present report covers four case studies from Kenya and Burkina Faso related to recovering energy from agrowaste. Biogas International Limited (BIL) is a public private venture in Kenya involved in collection of market waste and recovering biogas, compost, liquid bio fertilizer. The Dunga Beach biogas plant in Kenya turns the invasive water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) on the shores of Lake Victoria to biogas energy, an alternative to charcoal burning for fish vendors at the beach. Keveye Girls is a boarding high school located in Vihiga County. Through consultations and interventions by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock at Vihiga County, Keveye Girls now converts cow dung into biogas, which is then used to power the school’s science laboratories and kitchen as an alternative to LPG gas and wood energy. Similar case studies exist in Burkina Faso. FasoBiogaz, an SME was founded by two Dutch entrepreneurs and supported by the Dutch government and is fully operated by a local team. FasoBiogaz operates the first industrial biogas plant connected to the SONABEL power grid and provides innovative resource recovery solutions producing 550 KW of power.

Burkina Faso has a huge opportunity and natural resources to develop circular bioeconomy (CBE) sector. The agricultural sector employs 63% of the employed workforce and contributes to 16% of the Gross Domestic Product. Large production of cereals results in large quantities of agricultural residues. In a country where the industrial sector is still in its infancy, CBE solutions offer significant opportunities for reconfiguring economies, labor and resource use. However, implementing CBE solutions remains at small scale and scaling up faces numerous challenges. This report reviews the enabling environment - drivers, barriers, and opportunities for promoting CBE initiatives in the country and presents conclusions and recommendations.

Agricultural waste represents untapped resources that can be used to produce large value added products with many potential industrial applications. The use of agricultural wastes as raw materials for various industrial applications can help to reduce production cost and contribute to environmental conservation. The business cases described in this report highlight innovative approaches to convert the growing amount of agricultural waste into eco-efficient and bio-based products which are essential components of Nature-based solutions.

Background: Climate change has perverse efects on the natural resource base and agricultural productivity, negatively afecting the well-being of households and communities. There are various attempts by the government and NGOs to promote climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices to help farmers adapt to and mitigate these negative impacts. This study aimed to identify CSA practices widely adopted in the study area and examined their impacts on rural farm households’ food security and multidimensional poverty. A three-stage proportional to size sampling procedure was followed to select four districts out of nine districts, and 278 households were randomly selected from two kebeles from each district. A cross-sectional data of the 2020–2021 cropping season were collected using a structured and pretested survey questionnaire. The food consumption score, dietary diversity score, food insecurity experience scale, and multidimensional poverty index, constructed out of 9 indicators, were used to assess households’ food security and poverty status, respectively. A multinomial endogenous switching regression model was used to assess average treatment efects on these outcome indicators. Results: Widely adopted CSA practices are conservation agriculture, soil fertility management, crop diversifcation, and small-scale irrigation. The results illustrated that adopter households on average showed more food consumption score, dietary diversity score, and less food insecurity experience scale than non-adopters. The results also showed that CSA adopter households, on average, have a low deprivation score in multidimensional poverty than non-adopter households. Accelerating wider adoption of CSA through up-scaling incentives is quite important. Conclusion: This study showed that CSA adoption improves households’ food security and reduces multidimensional poverty. We conclude that up-scaling of CSA practices is important for contributing to the achievement of SDG1, SDG2 and SDG13 targets.

Smallholder farmers depend on healthy and productive crop yields to sustain their socio-economic status and ensure livelihood security. Advances in South African precision agriculture in the form of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide spatially explicit near-real-time information that can be used to assess crop dynamics and inform smallholder farmers. The use of UAVs with remote-sensing techniques allows for the acquisition of high spatial resolution data at various spatio-temporal planes, which is particularly useful at the scale of fields and farms. Specifically, crop chlorophyll content is assessed as it is one of the best known and reliable indicators of crop health, due to its biophysical pigment and biochemical processes that indicate plant productivity. In this regard, the study evaluated the utility of multispectral UAV imagery using the random forest machine learning algorithm to estimate the chlorophyll content of maize through the various growth stages. The results showed that the near-infrared and red-edge wavelength bands and vegetation indices derived from these wavelengths were essential for estimating chlorophyll content during the phenotyping of maize. Furthermore, the random forest model optimally estimated the chlorophyll content of maize over the various phenological stages. Particularly, maize chlorophyll was best predicted during the early reproductive, late vegetative, and early vegetative growth stages to RMSE accuracies of 40.4 mol/m-2 , 39 mol/m-2 , and 61.6 mol/m-2 , respectively. The least accurate chlorophyll content results were predicted during the mid-reproductive and late reproductive growth stages to RMSE accuracies of 66.6 mol/m-2 and 69.6 mol/m-2 , respectively, as a consequence of a hailstorm. A resultant chlorophyll variation map of the maize growth stages captured the spatial heterogeneity of chlorophyll within the maize field. Therefore, the study’s findings demonstrate that the use of remotely sensed UAV imagery with a robust machine algorithm is a critical tool to support the decision-making and management in smallholder farms.

The diverse political influences and agrarian histories in Odisha have played a major role in determining the heterogenous regional contexts of agricultural development in the region. Several important political-economic developments like land tenure systems, feudal and semi-feudal structures, and their alliance with colonial extraction of revenue and taxation regimes historically have determined the agrarian pathways manifested in present inequalities in access to land, resources, and capital. There is a historical path dependence in agrarian systems, agrarian relations and the policies that aim to bring about changes. Thus “solutions” to a sustainable and resilient agrifood system needs to be contextualized within the historical and socio-political context. This research brief discusses the major drivers of food production and food security in Odisha charting the evolution of agrifood systems in the state. It traces the major political, economic, and social developments in Odisha that have taken place since 1850 that have determined the agrarian relations and agrifood outcomes for the region. It also discusses the major climatic events, particularly droughts and floods, that have influenced food production and livelihoods of rural communities. It brings out the temporal continuities and discontinuities in agrarian relations and technological transformations in agriculture.

Sustainable and resilient food systems depend on sustainable and resilient water management. Resilience is characterised by overlapping decision spaces and scales and interdependencies among water users and competing sectors. Increasing water scarcity, due to climate change and other environmental and societal changes, makes putting caps on the consumption of water resources indispensable. Implementation requires an understanding of different domains, actors, and their objectives, and drivers and barriers to transformational change. We suggest a scale-specific approach, in which agricultural water use is embedded in a larger systems approach (including natural and human systems). This approach is the basis for policy coherence and the design of effective incentive schemes to change agricultural water use behaviour and, therefore, optimise the water we eat.

The benefit of biochar as a soil fertility enhancer is well known and has been broadly investigated. Equally, many tropical and subtropical countries use wastewater for irrigation in urban agriculture. To assess the related health risks, we determined pathogen and heavy metal fate associated with biochar application and wastewater irrigation in the urban agriculture of northern Ghana. Rice (Oryza L.) husk biochar (20 t ha-1), N–P–K 15–15–15 fertilizer (212.5 kg ha-1), and their combinations were evaluated in a field-based experiment. Untreated wastewater and tap water served as irrigation water. Red amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus L.) was used as a test crop and was grown in wet (WS) and dry (DS) cropping seasons. Irrigation water, soil, and vegetables were analyzed for heavy metals, Escherichia coli, fecal coliform, helminth eggs, and Salmonella spp. Unlike the pathogens, analyzed heavy metals from irrigation water and soil were below the FAO/WHO permissible standard for agricultural activities. Wastewater irrigation caused E. coli concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 0.6 (WS) and from 0.7 to 0.8 (DS) log10 colony forming units per gram fresh weight (CFU gFW-1) on vegetables and from 1.7 to 2.1 (WS) and from 0.6 to 1.0 (DS) log10CFU per gram dry weight (gDW-1) in soil. Average log10CFU gFW-1 rates of 6.19 and 3.44 fecal coliform were found on vegetables, whereas in soil, 4.26 and 4.58 log10CFU gDW-1 were observed in WS and DS, respectively. Helminth egg populations were high in wastewater and were transferred to the crops and soil. Biochar did not affect bacteria contamination. Pathogen contamination on vegetables and in soil were directly linked to the irrigation water, with minimal or no difference observed from biochar application.

Access to sufficient and clean freshwater is essential for all life. Water is also essential for food system functioning: as a key input into food production, but also in processing and preparation, and as a food itself. Water scarcity and pollution are growing, affecting poorer populations, particularly food producers. Malnutrition levels are also on the rise, and this is closely linked to water scarcity. The achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 and SDG 6 are co-dependent. Solutions to jointly improve food systems and water security outcomes that the United Nations Food Security Summit (UNFSS) should consider include: 1) strengthening efforts to retain water-based ecosystems and their functions; 2) improving agricultural water management for better diets for all; 3) reducing water and food losses beyond the farmgate; 4) coordinating water with nutrition and health interventions; 5) increasing the environmental sustainability of food systems; 6) explicitly addressing social inequities in water-nutrition linkages; and 7) improving data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages, drawing on innovations in information and communications technology (ICT).

Water markets are a potential approach for reallocating and improving the efficiency of water use in river basins in which water resources are under stress as a consequence of demographic and economic pressures. However, establishing water markets is not easy and to be successful a wide range of context specific criteria, relating to the legal and institutional framework as well as political and economic conditions, must be met. We applied the Water Market Readiness Assessment framework proposed by Wheeler et al. (2017) to investigate whether adequate policy and governance arrangements were in place to enable water markets to effectively operate in the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin. We identify a number of key gaps and conclude that more conventional regulatory approaches, along with integrated basin planning and management, will likely better serve the communities and environments of the region.

Existing climate projections and impact assessments in Nepal only consider a limited number of generic climate indices such as means. Few studies have explored climate extremes and their sectoral implications. This study evaluates future scenarios of extreme climate indices from the list of the Expert Team on Sector-specific Climate Indices (ET-SCI) and their sectoral implications in the Karnali Basin in western Nepal. First, future projections of 26 climate indices relevant to six climate-sensitive sectors in Karnali are made for the near (2021–2045), mid (2046–2070), and far (2071–2095) future for low-and high-emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) using bias-corrected ensembles of 19 regional climate models from the COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment for South Asia (CORDEX-SA). Second, a qualitative analysis based on expert interviews and a literature review on the impact of the projected climate extremes on the climate-sensitive sectors is undertaken. Both the temperature and precipitation patterns are projected to deviate significantly from the historical reference already from the near future with increased occurrences of extreme events. Winter in the highlands is expected to become warmer and dryer. The hot and wet tropical summer in the lowlands will become hotter with longer warm spells and fewer cold days. Low-intensity precipitation events will decline, but the magnitude and frequency of extreme precipitation events will increase. The compounding effects of the increase in extreme temperature and precipitation events will have largely negative implications for the six climate-sensitive sectors considered here.

Humanity is in a planetary emergency. Agriculture and food systems are contributing to an interconnected global environmental crisis, with increasing risks, social instability, and conflict. This chapter examines the challenges, drivers, and consequences of unsustainable agriculture and food systems, recognizing these are diverse and multi-scale. It presents a vision for sustainable, nutritious, and equitable food systems. Currently, food systems are a significant driver of climate change, nature loss, and pollution, as well as poor health and poverty, with inequitable access to resources and benefits from food systems. Fundamentally, the systems change needed is to transform terrestrial and aquatic food systems so that they become part of the solution for sustainability, not part of the problem. A safe future for humanity requires radical transformations ranging from agricultural production systems through dietary patterns and waste disposal. The focus is on the broad categories of innovation and sustainable technologies considered to have critical potential in pathways that enable transition to a more resilient and equitable system. Governance is a key enabling condition and needs to be based on food as a human right, not simply as a commodity. Multilevel governance underpins the development and implementation of territorial food systems strategies, which can provide effective integration of multiple solutions. Humanity is at an existential turning point and has a narrow window to act now to reduce risk and avoid catastrophe. The rules governing our food systems are human made – and it is within the gift of humanity to change them.

This research report presents the first comprehensive framework of business models in terms of developing, marketing and scaling Index-based flood insurance (IBFI). The report evaluated ten case studies on agricultural insurance schemes (macro, meso and micro levels), globally, to develop public-private partnership business models for creating value (product development) and capturing value (product marketing). This report highlights four broad groups of interrelated factors that influence the uptake and scaling of agricultural insurance: (i) behavioral factors that influence farmers’ enthusiasm to invest in insurance; (ii) financial factors that stipulate governments’ willingness to provide financial support; (iii) legal and regulatory factors, which set ground rules for fair business and govern their adherence by stakeholders; and (iv) facilitating factors, including product design and development, business models, research and development, data availability, and awareness creation, which help ensure an efficient supply of insurance services. In summary, the report highlights the need for designing innovative IBFI and its potential benefits for uptake, and efforts for implementing IBFI as a potential risk transfer tool for comprehensive climate risk management among small-scale and marginal farmers.

Reversing the alarming trend of rising food insecurity requires transformations towards just, sustainable and healthy food systems with an explicit focus on the most vulnerable and fragile regions.

This report assesses the potential of solar photovoltaic (PV) irrigation for smallholder agriculture in Ghana, using elements of business planning and business models with a suitability mapping approach. These approaches take into account the economic as well as environmental sustainability of expanding such technology. Using data from existing solar PV irrigation systems and interviews with key industry actors, the report discusses the regulatory and institutional context for investment in solar PV technology and outlines the technology supply chain, mapping the key actors and their roles. The financial viability of two empirical business cases – directly funding an agribusiness and subsidizing a cooperative model – is analyzed to assess the feasibility of expanding access to the technology. Furthermore, three solar PV irrigation business model scenarios are presented based on insights gained from the two empirical cases as well as from analyzing the existing policy and regulatory framework, the technology supply chain and environmental suitability. The potential for solar PV irrigation pumps is substantial, especially in northern Ghana, although care must be taken to avoid overpumping some aquifers. Achieving this potential will require strengthening the policy framework and making finance available at a reasonable cost. The report identifies alternative financing mechanisms and business models that have been tried elsewhere and can be adapted to Ghana, and makes recommendations to enhance the sustainable uptake of solar PV irrigation.

Scaling is a ubiquitous concept in agricultural research in the global south as donors require their research grantees to prove that their results can be scaled to impact upon the livelihoods of a large number of beneficiaries. Recent studies on scaling have brought critical perspectives to the rather technocratic tendencies in the agricultural innovations scaling literature. Drawing on theoretical debates on spatial strategies and practical experience of agricultural innovation scaling in Ethiopia, this paper adds to the current debate on what constitutes scaling and how to overcome critical scaling constraints. The data for the paper came from a qualitative assessment using focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and document analysis on scaling work done in Ethiopia by a USAID-funded research for development project. The paper concludes with four broad lessons for the current understating of agricultural innovation scaling. First, scaling of agricultural innovations requires a balanced focus on technical requirements and associated social dynamics surrounding scaling targets, actors involved and their social relations. Second, appreciating the social dynamics of scaling emphasizes the fact that scaling is more complex than a linear rolling out of innovations towards diffusion. Third, scaling may not be strictly planned; instead, it might be an extension of the innovation generation process that relies heavily on both new and long-term relationships with key partners, trust, and continuous reflection and learning. Fourth, the overall implication of the above three conclusions is that scaling strategies need to be flexible, stepwise, and reflective. Despite the promises of flourishing scaling frameworks, scaling strategies it would appear from the Africa RISING experience that, if real impact is to be achieved, approaches will be required to be flexible enough to manage the social, processual and emergent nature of the practice of scaling.

This brief highlights Lesotho’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by Lesotho during the review. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in Lesotho that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for Lesotho to implement to meet the Malabo commitments by 2025.

This brief highlights the SADC region’s performance in the second BR and analyzes challenges faced and lessons learned by the region. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in the SADC region induced by lessons from the inaugural 2017 and concludes by highlighting required policy actions for SADC to meet Malabo commitments by 2025.

Access to sufficient and clean freshwater is essential for all life. Water is also essential for food system functioning: as a key input into food production, but also in processing and preparation, and as a food itself. Water scarcity and pollution are growing, affecting poorer populations, particularly food producers. Malnutrition levels are also on the rise, and this is closely linked to water scarcity. Achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) and Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) are co-dependent. Solutions to jointly improve food systems and water security outcomes that the United Nations Food Security Summit (UNFSS) should consider include: 1) Strengthening efforts to retain water-based ecosystems and their functions; 2) Improving agricultural water management for better diets for all; 3) Reducing water and food losses beyond the farmgate; 4) Coordinating water with nutrition and health interventions; 5) Increasing the environmental sustainability of food systems; 6) Explicitly addressing social inequities in water-nutrition linkages; and 7) Improving data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages, drawing on innovations in information and communications technology (ICT).

Worldwide, off-grid solar photovoltaic irrigation is currently being developed with the expectation that it will help secure water access to increase food production, reduce fuel-based carbon emissions and energy costs, and increase human resilience to climate change. In developing countries across the Middle East and North Africa, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the adoption of solar technology in agriculture to lift groundwater is rapidly expanding, following decreases in pump costs, economic incentives, and development partner initiatives. Solar irrigation potentially provides a cost-effective and sustainable energy source to secure food production and sustain livelihoods in line with multiple Sustainable Development Goals, but achieving such potential requires improved policies and institutions to coordinate across numerous stakeholders, objectives, and approaches. This paper uses cases and observations from across regions to propose a framework to support policy, regulation, and monitoring for environmentally sustainable and socio-economically inclusive solar irrigation investments. While not exhaustive, the components seek to address the intersection of energy, water and food security, as well as social equity. The paper emphasizes the need for an understanding of how solar irrigation can be scaled to be both accessible for smallholder farmers and environmentally sustainable.

This analysis investigates the potential mechanism and the practical significance of the impacts of agricultural value chain development in a geographically challenging rural area of a developing country. We use data from a carefully designed primary survey administered in the hill and mountainous region in Western Nepal. Using the inverse probability weighted regression adjustment method, we show that linking small-scale producers with regional and local traders can help increase agricultural income. We unpack the potential mechanism of the impact pathway and show that the increase in agricultural income is a consequence of higher agricultural revenues, owing to a higher volume of sales at lower prices. We argue that value chain intervention in rural areas, where land is not fully exploited, can lead to acreage expansion or crop switching, which eventually results in higher supply at lower output prices. The positive impact on household income is practically significant in that it translated into improved food security, dietary diversity and household resilience. These findings are robust to various specifications. Targeted value chain interventions that strengthen and stabilize small-scale producers’ access to markets can contribute to rural poverty reduction via an increase in agricultural income.

Irrigation with electric pumps is cheaper than with diesel pumps in West Bengal where electricity and diesel are unsubsidised, and where pump owners typically irrigate their winter rice crop and often sell water to farmers who do not own pumps. Using purposefully selected primary data, we examine whether electric-pump owners have greater water access and rice production during the monsoon and winter seasons compared to diesel-pump owners and water buyers. We also examine whether electric pump-owners provide greater access to irrigation services through water sales. We find that electric-pump ownership increased agricultural outputs both at the extensive and intensive margins in both seasons. The number of clients served by electric-pump owners was greater than those served by diesel-pump owners, but there was only a small difference in total irrigated areas, suggesting that electric-pump owners sell water to farmers with smaller land holdings. The evidence indicates that in an environment where inadequate irrigation has been one of the factors constraining agriculture, electric pumps have the potential to support agricultural growth and generate pro-poor side effects.

Safely managed waste reuse may be a sustainable way to protect human health and livelihoods in agrarian-based countries without adequate sewerage. The safe recovery and reuse of fecal sludge-derived fertilizer (FSF) has become an important policy discussion in low-income economies as a way to manage urban sanitation to benefit peri-urban agriculture. But what drives the user acceptance of composted fecal sludge? We develop a preference-ranking model to understand the attributes of FSF that contribute to its acceptance in Karnataka, India. We use this traditionally economic modeling method to uncover cultural practices and power disparities underlying the waste economy. We model farmowners and farmworkers separately, as the choice to use FSF as an employer versus as an employee is fundamentally different. We find that farmers who are willing to use FSF prefer to conceal its origins from their workers and from their own caste group. This is particularly the case for caste-adhering, vegetarian farmowners. We find that workers are open to using FSF if its attributes resemble cow manure, which they are comfortable handling. The waste economy in rural India remains shaped by caste hierarchies and practices, but these remain unacknowledged in policies promoting sustainable ‘business’ models for safe reuse. Current efforts under consideration toward formalizing the reuse sector should explicitly acknowledge caste practices in the waste economy, or they may perpetuate the size and scope of the caste-based informal sector.

Agricultural innovation scaling approaches tend to be empirical but do not sufficiently take into account the complex realities of ‘softer elements’ such as people, supply chains, markets, financing mechanisms, policies and regulations, professional knowledge, power relations, incentives and history. As a consequence, scaling initiatives often do not produce the desired impacts and, in some instances, may even produce undesirable impacts. ; Designing scaling strategies that are adaptive to context and available resources requires an understanding of the enabling environment in which the scaling processes are embedded. This can be achieved by conducting an analysis to identify enablers and hinderers influencing farmers’ adoption of irrigation and water management technologies and introducing measures to ensure success. The tool described in this working paper provides implementers with a structured guide to carrying out this analysis in a specific context.

Infrastructure investment is one of the main preconditions for enabling developing countries to accelerate or sustain the pace of their development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper examines the determinants of agricultural water infrastructure investments in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Using annual data (time series); Pearson Pair-wise Correlation, Unit-root tests and OLS regression techniques are applied to determine the relationship between public infrastructure investment and factors that influence public investments. Agricultural water infrastructure investment is found to be positively correlated to GDP, Sugar export income and FDI into agriculture. Past economic growth and sugar export values are the two critical determinants of agricultural water infrastructure investments in Eswatini. It can be safely construed that higher incomes as well as terms of trade for sugar, can improve spending on agriculture water investments. This is important because an increase in investments in water infrastructure may then help spur economic growth.

South Asiaapos;s heavy reliance on groundwater for irrigated agricultural production supports the livelihoods of tens of millions of smallholder farmers but is being undermined by rampant overexploitation of groundwater. Without major intervention, this is expected to be further exacerbated by growing demand and climate change. Groundwater management, scientific and evidence-based, can make an important contribution to managing unsustainable groundwater use and strengthening the climate resilience of farmers due to groundwaterapos;s unique storage characteristics. This study brings together a set of strategies and solutions to better manage groundwater that cover the augmentation of groundwater recharge through managed aquifer recharge, management of groundwater demand through participatory groundwater management and other methods, and the harnessing synergies of co-dependent sectors. The opportunities, constraints and available evidence for each are analysed and the boundaries, barriers and specificities identified to establish entry points for positive change through policies and implementation programmes.

Irrigation expansion is a critical development intervention to address food security challenges in Ethiopia. However, only a fraction of the country’s irrigation potential has been utilized so far. Information about the location and spatial extent of irrigated and rainfed areas is an important requirement for sustainable water resources development and agricultural planning. Currently, considerable variations exist in the irrigated area estimates made by different government agencies. In addition, irrigated area maps created as part of global mapping efforts have a spatial resolution of anywhere between 10 kilometers and 250 meters, making them too coarse for planning and management at a subnational scale. This study aims to develop an irrigated area map of Ethiopia using satellite images to support agricultural water management practices in the country, using multi-temporal, multi-resolution data sets from 2015 to 2016 with a spatial resolution of 30 m. The total area of croplands was estimated as 21.8 million hectares (Mha), of which only 1.11 Mha were mapped as the irrigated area. This is only around 5% of the estimated total agricultural area. The accuracy of the results was evaluated using geographic coordinates of irrigated areas provided by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture. The results confirmed that irrigated areas can be identified reasonably well by analyzing seasonal trends in vegetation and moisture levels.

This brief analyzes selected policy and programmatic changes reported by countries across Africa resulting from the BRs and the agricultural JSRs. It is based on data and other information collected using an online questionnaire from the Directors of Agricultural Planning, or their representatives, from 14 countries—Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Zambia— and from representatives of two RECs, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. In addition, a review was conducted of the country BR briefs produced following the first BR of 2017 (AUC 2018) and the second of 2019 (AUC 2020) for several of these countries. The BR data reported by the countries was also analyzed.

Large cities in developing countries are facing the challenge of rapid urban population growth, which results in increasing waste generation. In Nairobi, the solid waste situation is characterized by low coverage of collection, pollution from uncontrolled dumping, inefficient public services, unregulated and uncoordinated private sector operators and lack of key solid waste management infrastructure. About 3,121 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated daily, of which about 850 tons are collected and the remaining is burnt or dumped in unauthorized sites or landfilled in the Dandora dumpsite causing health and environmental problems. The recovery of nutrients from the organic content of MSW for reuse in agriculture has the potential to address the dual challenge of waste management and soil nutrient depletion. This study assessed the economic and environmental impact of decentralized composting business model in Nairobi based on a comparison with the baseline scenario using an indicator expressed in tons CO2 equivalent. The cost–benefit analysis was based on data collected from existing compost plants in Kenya. To assess the sensitivity of the results to variation in input variables, a simulation model was developed using the Monte Carlo method. The decentralized composting business model resulted in a net GHG emission saving of 1.21 tons CO2-eq/ton of compost, being both financially and economically feasible with more than 70% chance of economic success. Assessing the economic and environmental impact is an important tool for decision making and to ensure that the business model results in desired benefits to society.

Drought is the most complex climate-related disaster issue in South Asia and has affected 1.46 billion people with an economic loss of over 7 billion USD in the last 56 years. South Asia is challenged with water, food, and energy security due to growing populations, incomes, resource degradation, and vulnerability to climate change. Monitoring of drought and associated agricultural production deficits using meteorological and agricultural indices is an essential component for drought preparedness. Remote sensing offers near real-time monitoring of drought conditions and IWMI’s has implemented South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) in 2014 as an online platform for drought early warning and support in drought declaration. This chapter explores the use of composite drought indices implemented in Google Earth Engine (GEE) and evaluates the crop yield variability during drought years. The study provides a rapid overview of drought-prone conditions that could enhance the present capabilities of early warning systems and enable science based policies for addressing water security in the agriculture sector and develop a drought response plan between water supply and demand, significantly increasing the vulnerability of regions to damaging impacts of drought events.

This paper argues for more creativity and flexibility in agricultural research for development (AR4D) scaling and impact evaluation in complex contexts. While acknowledging the importance of setting reasonable end-of-project targets and outcomes, we argue that the achievement of outcomes and impacts, particularly in complex contexts, requires adaptive management and acknowledgment that significant positive outcomes and impacts may occur after the project funding cycle is complete. The paper presents a practitioner-developed approach to scaling AR4D innovations called Impact Tracking (IT). We illustrate IT in practice by presenting three case studies from Ethiopia in which IT proved crucial to achieving impact. The paper concludes by drawing lessons from the case studies and discussing what implications IT may have for development practitioners.

The paper draws on the Community Capitals Framework to frame and analyze the process of rural women’s empowerment through agricultural interventions in two districts of Ethiopia. A blend of qualitative data collection methods comprising group discussions, life histories, and key informant interviews was used. Our study shows that investing in social, human, financial, cultural, natural, physical, and political capitals resulted in increased assets within those capitals and others amongst the beneficiaries. The interaction between capitals builds “power with”, “power within”, “power to” and “power over” in an upward spiral. Specifically, the interaction between social, human and financial capitals is a key entry point to rural women’s empowerment. Cultural capital intermediates the interaction and flow of capital assets during the empowerment process. We argue that empowering women requires an approach that enhances their capability to identify and systematically manage interactions among capitals that foster their voice and agency.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has recently developed an innovative Index-based Flood Insurance (IBFI) product to facilitate the scaling of flood insurance particularly in vulnerable economies, to provide risk cover to poor farmers against crop losses that occur due to floods. While the product developed is technically very sound, the economics of such an intervention is important to ensure the large-scale acceptance and adoption of the product by different stakeholders and for its sustenance in the long term. This paper attempts at conducting an ex ante assessment of the economics of IBFI from the perspectives of the three main stakeholders: farmers, the insurance company and the government. The paper discusses the methodological challenges and data issues encountered in undertaking an economic analysis of such a product. The issues and processes involved have been empirically demonstrated using a theoretical case study based on a synthesis of information drawn from a host of sources and certain assumptions. Field-based data are now being collected and analyzed from the locations where IBFI has recently been piloted by IWMI. This will help in further refining the process of economic evaluation and identifying the experiences of different stakeholders.

This brief highlights South Africa’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by the South Africa team during the review process. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in South Africa that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for South Africa to meet the Malabo commitments by 2025.

This brief highlights Zimbabwe’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by the country during the review process. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in Zimbabwe that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for Zimbabwe to meet the Malabo Commitments by 2025.

This brief highlights Namibia’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by the country during the review process. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in Namibia that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for Namibia to meet the Malabo Commitments by 2025.

This brief highlights Madagascar’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by the country during the review process. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in Madagascar that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for Madagascar to meet the Malabo Commitments by 2025.

This brief highlights Angola’s performance in the second BR and assesses challenges faced and lessons learned by the country during the review process. The brief also reviews policy and programmatic changes in Angola that can be attributed to the first (2017) and second BRs. It concludes by highlighting required policy actions for Angola to meet the Malabo Commitments by 2025.

Rice is the most important food crop. With the largest rain-fed lowland area in the world, flooding is considered as the most important abiotic stress to rice production in India. With climate change, it is expected that the frequency and severity of the floods will increase over the years. These changes will have a severe impact on the rain-fed agriculture production and livelihoods of millions of farmers in the flood affected region. There are numerous flood risk adaptation and mitigation options available for rain-fed agriculture in India. Procuring, maintaining and distributing the newly developed submergence-tolerant rice variety called Swarna-Sub1 could play an important role in minimizing the effect of flood on rice production. This paper assesses the quantity and cost of a flood-tolerant rice seed variety- Swarna-Sub1, that would be required during the main cropping season of rice i.e., kharif at a district level for 17 major Indian states. The need for SS1 seeds for rice production was assessed by developing a geospatial framework using remote sensing to map the suitability of SS1, to help stakeholders prepare better in managing the flood risks. Results indicate that districts of Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh will require the highest amount of SS1 seeds for flood adaptation strategies. The total estimated seed requirement for these 17 states would cost around 370 crores INR, less than 0.01 percent of Indian central government’s budget allocation for agriculture sector.

This factsheet provides information on the general knowledge collected by the city region food system (CRFS) project in its phase 2 regarding the assessment of risks for the CRFS of Tamale. The data was collected through literature review and stakeholder consultations.

This report examines social equality aspects related to resource recovery through solid waste composting and wastewater irrigation. The report shows that women are represented in greatest numbers at the base of the recycling chain, most often as informal waste pickers and as sorters of recyclables with limited access to resources and upward mobility. Despite a wide gender gap in the solid waste and sanitation sectors, women play a key role in both municipal waste reduction and food safety where irrigation water is unsafe. Analyzing the gender dimension is important for understanding household responses to recycling programs, differences between the formal and informal sectors as well as along the waste-to-resource value chain from collection to treatment and reuse. The report stresses the important role of women in household waste management, including waste segregation, and the power of women-dominated waste picker associations, where the informal sector plays an essential role alongside the formal sector.

Commercial farming of banana for export has rapidly expanded across northern uplands of Laos since 2008 with the establishment of new plantations by foreign companies. Heavy reliance on agrochemical usage warrants examination of possible environmental and human health risks. This study presents a preliminary assessment of the environmental risks from pesticide usage associated with bananas and other major crops in Oudomxay province. Surface water, groundwater, soil and sediment samples collected from the study area were analyzed for pesticide residues in the laboratory during the wet and dry seasons. Results of the analysis revealed that samples from banana farms had higher concentrations of residues from currently used (CU) pesticides compared with samples from adjacent farms producing maize, rubber, upland rice and gourd. Residues from highly persistent organochlorine (OC) pesticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, heptachlor, dieldrin and lindane, which are no longer used in Laos, were also detected. Laboratory results were compared against a low-cost pesticide residue detection method and a simple pesticide risk assessment tool. However, neither approach was comparable to laboratory analysis. The potential environmental risk from pesticides and pesticide breakdown products was found to be substantial. For example, concentrations of some CU compounds exceeded the limits set by the World Health Organization. The report highlights several mitigation measures to reduce the environmental risks from hazardous pesticides: (i) increase efforts to eliminate the import and use of hazardous and persistent pesticides; (ii) promote targeted education programs to implement best practices, including the selection and use of pesticides as per international standards, and Integrated Pest Management techniques; (iii) identify and protect drinking water sources with a high risk of contamination; and (iv) maintain vegetated buffers and sediment traps to detain farm runoff, which will allow CU pesticides to degrade to safe levels before entering watercourses.

This article investigates water security in Nepal from the perspective of the water-energy-agriculture (food) nexus, focusing on pathways to water security that originate in actions and policies related to other sectors. It identifies promoting development of Nepal’s hydropower potential to provide energy for pumping as way to improve water security in agriculture. Renewable groundwater reserves of 1.4 billion cubic meters (BCM), from an estimated available balance of 6.9 BCM, could be pumped to irrigate 613,000 ha of rainfed agricultural land in the Terai plains, with a potential direct economic gain of USD 1.1 billion annually and associated benefits including promotion of energy-based industry, food security and local employment. Governance also plays an important role in addressing water security. We conclude that a nexus-based approach is required for effective water management and governance.

The growing relevance of research on gender and social inclusion in agricultural research for development calls for systemic, transformative change processes. Transformative gender ambitions can stand at odds with personal biases and experiences that shape diverse understandings of gender, institutional values, structures and cultures that tend to reward technological quick-fix solutions, and other practical challenges to ‘doing’ gender on the ground. Very little is known about these challenges. How are these challenges navigated by (relatively small) teams of gender researchers, who are often caught between the demand for tangible fast gains on gender, and the intractable challenges of deep-rooted and complex, intersectional gender inequalities? This was the focus of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) End of Program Reflection and Evaluation (EoPRE) to assess how gender and inclusion research is pursued, and the key barriers to knowing and doing gender in eight research projects. Adopting a reflexive, self-analytical feminist approach to evaluation, this EoPRE facilitated eight project teams, diverse and with an uneven focus on gender, to connect the dots between the processes of knowing and doing gender research. A key finding of this evaluation is that the need for change is foremost internal. We need to begin by fixing our personal biases and assumptions, and fixing institutional cultures, values and structures instead of just trying to fix things out there, including fixing poor and marginalized women. A key recommendation is to seek more regular and open conversations across researcher disciplines and hierarchies, and between CGIAR and external partners and stakeholders, including feminist grassroots actors and networks – on what works well (and does not) and why. This would allow us to grasp why we start with different meanings and conceptualizations of gender; how agile we are (or not) in adapting to changes on the ground; and how, through a culture of reflection and learning, we might shift pathways to more transformative change processes in a fast evolving and increasingly unequal world.

This paper explores outcome indicators and process principles to evaluate landscape resilience in agro-ecosystems, drawing on outcome indicator case studies of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). Four questions are addressed: (1) which outcome indicators and process principles feature most prominently in the seminal literature on resilient agro-ecological landscapes? (2) to what extent are these principles represented in CGIAR Outcome Impact Case Reports (OICRs) and selected peer-reviewed studies? (3) how does the use of process principles in the case studies compare to their occurrence in the theoretical literature? and (4) which process principles co-occur with related outcome indicators in the OICRs? The findings enable researchers and practitioners to be more specific about the outcomes and processes that drive resilience in agro-ecosystems, thereby informing adaptive program management. Seven novel research themes are proposed.

Measuring the impact of integrated systems research has been a challenge to CGIAR since it expanded into natural resource management research in the early 1990s. Despite repeated efforts, it has yet to be adequately addressed. Meanwhile, the demand for evidence of impact on development outcomes has only increased, as have calls for greater methodological rigor. At the same time, there is greater recognition of the complex, systemic nature of many problems facing society today and the need for new approaches to designing, implementing and evaluating research. In an attempt to provide pragmatic guidance to One CGIAR and others on how to address these issues in the design of research for development programs that involve integrated systems research (ISR), CGIAR held a virtual workshop on Measuring the Impact of Integrated Systems Research on September 27–30, 2021. Participants took stock of recent experiences and reviewed existing and new tools and approaches with the potential to overcome conceptual, empirical and institutional challenges that obstruct ISR. In terms of methods for assessing the impact of ISR, the workshop highlighted recent advances in the use of geospatial data and called for more significant investment in both the quantity and quality of qualitative methods. Integrating monitoring, evaluation, learning and impact assessment (MELIA) into the research programs will require greater capacity on the part of managers, researchers and MELIA specialists to use theory of change effectively and efficiently for multiple purposes. It is also becoming increasingly clear that some of the challenges in conducting ISR in CGIAR are not technical but have to do with structures, processes and internal tensions within CGIAR itself about the kind of outcomes it seeks and the way it organizes and implements research. While calling for research that contributes to sustainability and systems transformation, CGIAR has in different ways failed to adequately support, and to learn from, the kinds of integrated systems approaches that will likely underpin success. Workshop participants proposed tackling this head-on through changing CGIAR systems, processes and incentive structures, and engaging directly with funders on how impact is understood and measured.

With adverse impacts of climate change growing in number and intensity, there is an urgent need to reduce emissions from food systems to net zero. This can only be achieved if rural areas in low- and middle-income countries gain access to clean energy. A review of the research and capacity building contributions of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) over the last 10 years suggests important contributions in the areas of energy policy and energy investment planning, cost and feasibility frameworks, and business models for clean energy technology uptake. WLE has also conducted successful pilot projects on solar irrigation to provide an evidence base for scaling up innovative energy initiatives. Finally, the program also considered non-agricultural uses of energy where relevant to food systems, and implemented capacity building activities. Going forward, CGIAR has a key role to play in providing information, supporting access and piloting innovative, scalable clean energy interventions to support the achievement of multiple impacts for the poorest and most food-insecure women and men farmers and entrepreneurs.

At the end of 2021, CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) will be replaced by Initiatives housed within One CGIAR. This new modality is intended to achieve higher levels of impact at a faster rate and at reduced cost compared to the CRPs. As One CGIAR begins, there is a unique opportunity to reflect on what has worked in different contexts. In this paper, we provide findings that relate to One CGIAR’s overarching view of how it will achieve positive and measurable impacts, and for agricultural research for development (AR4D) more generally. Specifically, we draw from three related CRP evaluations to identify how different types of AR4D approaches have contributed to successful outcomes. In the final section of the paper, we present our conclusions and provide a list of recommendations for the science and technology policy of One CGIAR and possibly other integrated research for development programs.

Depleting groundwater resources and increasing energy demand with the huge dependence of India’s agriculture on groundwater and energy, and especially in water deficit rice-based production systems, are posing a serious threat to sustained food, water, and energy security. Sustainability concerns of water, energy, and input-intensive rice-based crop production systems have increased the realization for developing and scaling up alternative agro-techniques that can significantly reduce the water and energy requirements in crop production without compromising on crop yield. The interconnectedness between water, energy, and food makes the concept of water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus more relevant to explore integrated solutions to efficient use of limited and/or declining water and energy resources. Conservation agriculture (CA) is gaining currency as an alternate system for rice/cereal-based production systems to conserve water and energy, improve soil health, reduce cost of cultivation, and preserve ecology. This paper explores the concept of WEF nexus and how CA addresses the challenge of harmonizing the synergy among water, energy, and food though WEF ‘nexus gains’ especially in the context of groundwater irrigated rice/cereal based cropping systems.

Cotton yields in Uzbekistan are significantly lower than those in similar agro-climatic regions, requiring the estimation of crop potential and baseline yield to track progress of production enhancement efforts. The current study estimated potential cotton development and baseline yield (maximum given no production constraints) using total heat units (THU) and potential cotton yield (PCY), respectively. Calculations were based on heat units (HU) for a 30-year (1984-2013) period. Long-term average THU and PCY, as well as PCY at three different exceedance probabilities (p=0.99, p=0.80, and p=0.75), were calculated for 21 selected weather stations across cotton-growing areas of Uzbekistan. After confirmation that the current planting date (April 15) is optimal, a comparison of THU with the accepted cotton production cutoff threshold (1444C) suggested that areas with lower elevations and latitudes are more appropriate for cotton production. Yield gap analysis (relative difference between long-term average PCY and actual yields) confirmed that Uzbekistan cotton production is below potential, while the spatial distribution of yield gaps outlined where efforts should be targeted. Areas near the stations of Nukus, Kungrad, Chimbay, and Syrdarya should be further investigated as benefit/cost ratio is highest in these areas. A comparison between state-set yield targets and PCY values, taking into account climatic variability, suggested that all areas except Jaslyk, Nurata, and Samarkand have safe, appropriate targets. These results present a starting-point to aid in strategic actions for Uzbekistan cotton production improvement.

For Sri Lanka, as an agricultural country, a methodical drought monitoring mechanism, including spatial and temporal variations, may significantly contribute to its agricultural sustainability. Investigating long-term meteorological and agricultural drought occurrences in Sri Lanka and assessing drought hazard at the district level are the main objectives of the study. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI), and Vegetation Health Index (VHI) were used as drought indicators to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of agriculture and meteorological droughts. Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) data from 1989 to 2019 was used to calculate SPI and RAI. MOD13A1 and MOD11A2 data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from 2001 to 2019, were used to generate the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) and Temperature Condition Index (TCI). Agricultural drought monitoring was done using VHI and generated using the spatial integration of VCI and TCI. Thus, various spatial data analysis techniques were extensively employed for vector and raster data integration and analysis. A methodology has been developed for the drought declaration of the country using the VHI-derived drought area percentage. Accordingly, for a particular year, if the country-wide annual extreme and severe drought area percentage based on VHI drought classes is =30%, it can be declared as a drought year. Moreover, administrative districts of Sri Lanka were classified into four hazard classes, No drought, Low drought, Moderate drought, and High drought, using the natural-beak classification scheme for both agricultural and meteorological droughts. The findings of this study can be used effectively by the relevant decision-makers for drought risk management (DRM), resilience, sustainable agriculture, and policymaking.

In many parts of the world, wastewater irrigation has become a common practice because of freshwater scarcity and to increase resource reuse efficiency. Wastewater irrigation has positive impacts on livelihoods and at the same time, it has adverse impacts related to environmental pollution. Hydrochemical processes and groundwater behaviour need to be analyzed for a thorough understanding of the geochemical evolution in the wastewater irrigated systems. The current study focuses on a micro-watershed in the peri-urban Hyderabad of India, where farmers practice intensive wastewater irrigation. To evaluate the major factors that control groundwater geochemical processes, we analyzed the chemical composition of the wastewater used for irrigation and groundwater samples on a monthly basis for one hydrological year. The groundwater samples were collected in three settings of the watershed: wastewater irrigated area, groundwater irrigated area and upstream peri-urban area. The collected groundwater and wastewater samples were analyzed for major anions, cations and nutrients. We systematically investigated the anthropogenic influences and hydrogeochemical processes such as cation exchange, precipitation and dissolution of minerals using saturated indices, and freshwater-wastewater mixtures at the aquifer interface. Saturation indices of halite, gypsum and fluorite are exhibiting mineral dissolution and calcite and dolomite display mineral precipitation. Overall, the results suggest that the groundwater geochemistry of the watershed is largely controlled by long-term wastewater irrigation, local rainfall patterns and water-rock interactions. The study results can provide the basis for local decision-makers to develop sustainable groundwater management strategies and to control the aquifer pollution influenced by wastewater irrigation.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are an alternative to costly and time-consuming traditional methods to improve agricultural water management and crop productivity through the acquisition, processing, and analyses of high-resolution spatial and temporal crop data at field scale. UAVs mounted with multispectral and thermal cameras facilitate the monitoring of crops throughout the crop growing cycle, allowing for timely detection and intervention in case of any anomalies. The use of UAVs in smallholder agriculture is poised to ensure food security at household level and improve agricultural water management in developing countries. This review synthesises the use of UAVs in smallholder agriculture in the smallholder agriculture sector in developing countries. The review highlights the role of UAV derived normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) in assessing crop health, evapotranspiration, water stress and disaster risk reduction. The focus is to provide more accurate statistics on irrigated areas, crop water requirements and to improve water productivity and crop yield. UAVs facilitate access to agro-meteorological information at field scale and in near real-time, important information for irrigation scheduling and other on-field decision-making. The technology improves smallholder agriculture by facilitating access to information on crop biophysical parameters in near real-time for improved preparedness and operational decision-making. Coupled with accurate meteorological data, the technology allows for precise estimations of crop water requirements and crop evapotranspiration at high spatial resolution. Timely access to crop health information helps inform operational decisions at the farm level, and thus, enhancing rural livelihoods and wellbeing.

Smallholder agriculture constitutes the main source of livelihood for the Ethiopian rural community. However, soil degradation and uneven distribution of rainfall have threatened agriculture at present. This study is aimed at investigating the impacts of conservation agriculture on irrigation water use, nutrient availability in the root zone, and crop yield under supplementary irrigation. In this study, conservation agriculture (CA), which includes minimum soil disturbance, grass mulch cover, and crop rotation, was practiced and compared with conventional tillage (CT). We used two years’ (2018 and 2019) experimental data under paired-t design in the production of a local variety green pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). The results showed that CA practices significantly (a = 0.05) reduced irrigation water use (13% to 29%) and runoff (29% to 51%) while it increased percolated water in the root zone (27% to 50%) when compared with CT practices under the supplementary irrigation phase. In addition, CA significantly decreased NO3-N in the leachate (14% to 44%) and in the runoff (about 100%), while PO4-P significantly decreased in the leachate (33% to 50%) and in the runoff (16%) when compared with CT. Similarly, CA decreased the NO3-N load in the leachate and in the runoff, while the PO4-P load increased in the leachate but decreased in the runoff. The yield return that was achieved under CA treatment was 30% higher in 2018 and 10% higher in 2019 when compared with the CT. This research improves our understanding of water and nutrient dynamics in green pepper grown under CA and CT. Use of CA provides opportunities to optimize water use by decreasing irrigation water requirements and optimize nutrient use by decreasing nutrient losses through the runoff and leaching.

When drought hits water-scarce regions, there are significant repercussions for food and water security, as well as serious issues for the stability of broader social and environmental systems. To mitigate these effects, environmental monitoring and early warning systems aimed at detecting the onset of drought conditions can facilitate timely and effective responses from government and private sector stakeholders. This study uses multistage, participatory research methods across more than 135 interviews, focus groups, and workshops to assess extant climatic, agricultural, hydrological, and drought monitoring systems; key cross-sector drought impacts; and drought monitoring needs in four countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Jordan. This extensive study of user needs for drought monitoring across the MENA region is informing and shaping the ongoing development of drought early warning systems, a composite drought indicator (CDI), and wider drought management systems in each country. Overarching themes of drought monitoring needs include technical definitions of drought for policy purposes; information-sharing regimes and data-sharing platforms; ground-truthing of remotely sensed and modeled data; improved data quality in observation networks; and two-way engagement with farmers, organizations, and end-users of drought monitoring products. This research establishes a basis for informing enhanced drought monitoring and management in the countries, and the broad stakeholder engagement can help foster the emergence of effective environmental monitoring coalitions.

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: firstly, it examines the relationship between public agriculture expenditure and agriculture sector growth, and secondly, it examines the heterogeneous effects of expenditure on agriculture growth depending on which subsectors within agriculture receive the investments. The co-integration analysis results offer insights into a number of issues: (i) it is found that agricultural expenditures are important for agriculture sector growth in Malawi, Eswatini (Swaziland) and Zambia and (ii) that within the agricultural sectors, investing in research and development, subsidies, and in neglected areas (livestock, fisheries) alongside crops can expand the agricultural sector more. Policy makers should increase public spending in agriculture but should also emphasize on improving intra-sectoral allocations, targeting areas that create sectoral growth.

Peri-urban areas are characterized by multifunctional land-use patterns forming a mosaic of built-up and agricultural areas. They are critical for providing food and other agricultural products, livelihood opportunities and multiple ecosystem services, which makes them transformative where urban and rural spaces blend. We analyzed land use changes in a peri-urban micro-watershed in Southern India by using Google Earth data to understand the micro-level spatio-temporal dynamics. This study aims at understanding the peri-urban agriculture and landscape changes as related to the change in use of wastewater and groundwater for irrigation. The temporal dynamics of peri-urban system including the changes in built-up, paragrass, paddy rice and vegetable cultivation, groundwater and wastewater irrigated areas in the watershed were evaluated. The detected changes indicate that, as a consequence of urban pressures, agricultural landscapes are being converted into built-up areas and, at the same time, former barren land is converted to agricultural plots. The mapped land use data are used in landscape change modelling for predicting the peri-urban agricultural dynamics and the driving factors in the watershed. Combined with the mapping and modelling approaches for land use change analysis, our results form the basis for integrated resources management in the wastewater influenced peri-urban systems.

Mozambique is characterized by low agricultural productivity, which is associated with low use of yield-enhancing agricultural inputs. Fertilizer application rate averaged 5.7 kg ha-1 in Mozambique during the period 2006 to 2015, considerably low by regional targets, yet constraints that affect fertilizer use have not been thoroughly investigated. This study examined the constraints on fertilizer value chains in Mozambique to contribute to fertilizer supply chain strengthening. We used a combination of multivariate analysis and descriptive methods. Our findings indicate that fertilizer use has both demand and supply constraints. Key demand-side constraints include liquidity challenges, limited awareness about the benefits of using fertilizer, and low market participation, while the main supply-side constraints include high transaction costs, limited access to finance, and lack of soil testing results and corresponding fertilizer recommendations by soil type and crop uptake. These results suggest that scaling up the input subsidy program through vouchers (either paper-based vouchers or e-vouchers) with demonstration plots and effective targeting could drive up smallholders’ demand for fertilizer and fertilizer supply by strengthening a sustainable network of wholesalers and retailers. This would likely boost agricultural productivity.

We present an evidence-based approach to identify how best to support development of groundwater for smallscale irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We argue that it is important to focus this effort on shallow groundwater resources. We demonstrate and test this proposal at a case study site: Dangila woreda in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. This site was selected to allow exploration of a shallow weathered volcanic regolith type aquifer formation which is found to the South of Lake Tana and also exists more extensively across Ethiopia. We believe lessons from this case study are transferable and there is a case for arguing that shallow groundwater represents a neglected opportunity for promoting sustainable small-scale irrigated agriculture in SSA. In comparison with other global regions, the groundwater resources of SSA are among the least understood; borehole records and hydrogeological studies are lacking. Assessments of groundwater resources do exist, but they rely on remotely sensed data combined with modelling at national or regional scale, and they focus on deeper aquifers. There is a need for these broad evaluations to be supplemented by localised and detailed assessments. The case study here presents such an assessment in order to support analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with developing small-scale irrigation utilising shallow groundwater. A multimethod groundwater recharge assessment was conducted utilising formal and community-based monitoring, field investigation and existing published data. Water table recovery tests at existing hand dug wells confirm that well yields of 1 l/s are achievable at the end of the wet season when water would be available to support an additional irrigated crop. Hydraulic conductivity estimates ranged from 0.2 to 6.4 m/d in the dry season and from 2.8 to 22.3 m/day in the wet season. Specific yield estimations have a wider range though the mean value of 0.09 is as would be expected. Records of groundwater levels and rainfall monitored by the local community for the period April 2014 to April 2018 show that all the wells maintained useable water levels beyond the end of the rainy season. An assessment of the hydrology of the Kilti catchment provided insights into groundwater availability within the wider area. The catchment receives about 1600 mm/year of rainfall, of which about 350 mm/year enters the groundwater as recharge, discharging to the river as baseflow with a similar amount of rapid runoff contributing to a total river flow of about 400 mm/year. The lowest value of baseflow is 82% of the mean baseflow, which suggests a degree of buffering and indicates that groundwater is available even in a very dry year. We conclude that arguments previously put forward against the promotion of shallow groundwater use for agriculture in SSA appear exaggerated. Our analysis challenges the view that shallow aquifers are unproductive and that irrigation will have u

Investments in irrigation contribute to poverty reduction and enhance food security. This paper considers irrigation investments more broadly in the context of rural–urban linkages and thus examines rural irrigation schemes and peri-urban and urban agriculture using freshwater, groundwater and wastewater. We present case studies from East, West and Southern Africa, while focusing on the imperative of smallholders and of food security and nutrition. Evidence from Big Data and telecoupling show that, amid global change and sustainability issues, irrigation development strengthens connections between humans and nature with notable benefits to food security. Transforming investments to feed the future generation require priority investments in irrigation, solar energy for groundwater pumping, groundwater development policy, and integration of peri-urban and urban agriculture into food systems. Equally important will be no-regret interventions in wastewater reuse, water storage and groundwater buffer, micro-irrigation, and wholesale reconfiguration of farming systems, through anticipatory investments, to safeguard food security and sustainability into the distant future.

Urbanisation will be one of the 21st centuryapos;s most transformative trends. By 2050, it will increase from 55% to 68%, more than doubling the urban population in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanisation has multifarious (positive as well as negative) impacts on the wellbeing of humans and the environment. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the blueprint to achieve a sustainable future for all. Clean Water and Sanitation is a specific goal (SDG 6) within the suite of 17 interconnected goals. Here we provide an overview of some of the challenges that urbanisation poses in relation to SDG 6, especially in developing economies. Worldwide, several cities are on the verge of water crisis. Water distribution to informal settlements or slums in megacities (e.g. N50% population in the megacities of India) is essentially non-existent and limits access to adequate safe water supply. Besides due to poor sewer connectivity in the emerging economies, there is a heavy reliance on septic tanks, and other on-site sanitation (OSS) system and by 2030, 4.9 billion people are expected to rely on OSS. About 62–93% of the urban population in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia rely on septic tanks, where septage treatment is rare. Globally, over 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without adequate treatment. About 11% of all irrigated croplands is irrigated with such untreated or poorly treated wastewater. In addition to acute and chronic health effects, this also results in significant pollution of often-limited surface and groundwater resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Direct and indirect water reuse plays a key role in global water and food security. Here we offer several suggestions to mitigate water and food insecurity in emerging economies.

This paper presents results of a data partnership framework for strengthening evidence-based planning and implementation that was initiated in 2019 in five selected African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, and Togo) during the second round of the CAADP biennial review (BR) process. It analyzes the effect of the activities conducted on the data reporting rate and the quality of data reported in the five pilot countries, compared with what was achieved in like-pilot countries. The like-pilot countries are non-pilot countries that have characteristics like the pilot countries at the baseline which affect selection into the pilot or the data reporting and quality outcomes. Different methods (standard deviations, propensity score matching, and two-stage weighted regression) are used to identify the like-pilot countries, and a difference-in-difference method is used to estimate the effect of the pilot activities on the outcomes. The capacity-strengthening activities focused on working with the country Biennial Review (BR) team to: assess the inaugural or 2018 BR process and identify the data gaps; constitute and train members of data clusters to compile and check the data for the 2020 BR; and then validate and submit the data. The findings show that the activities helped the pilot countries to improve their performance in the data reporting rate and the quality of data reported in the 2020 BR. The largest improvement is observed in Togo and Senegal, followed by Kenya and Malawi, and then Mozambique. The average increase in the data reporting rate between 2018 and 2020 BRs for the pilot countries is greater than the average progress made in the like-pilot countries by about 6 to 9 % pts. This derives mostly from improvements in the data reporting rate for the indicators under theme 3 on ending hunger. Regarding the quality of data reported (measured as the percent of the data reported that have issues) too, the pilot countries on average performed better than the like-pilot countries, especially with respect to the data reported under themes 2 on investment in agriculture and 3 on ending hunger. But most of the estimated differences have low or no statistical significance. Implications for sustaining the progress made in the pilot countries, as well as for extending the activities to other countries, for the next rounds of the BR are discussed.

The missing link between cross-sectoral resource management and full-scale adoption of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has been the lack of analytical tools that provide evidence for policy and decision-making. This study defined WEF nexus sustainability indicators, from where an analytical model was developed to manage WEF resources in an integrated manner using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The model established quantitative relationships among WEF sectors, simplifying the intricate interlinkages among resources, using South Africa as a case study. A spider graph was used to illustrate sector performance as related to others, whose management is viewed either as sustainable or unsustainable. The model was then applied to assess progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa. The estimated integrated indices of 0.155 and 0.203 for 2015 and 2018, respectively, classify South Africa’s management of resources as marginally sustainable. The model is a decision support tool that highlights priority areas for intervention.

Understanding the complex relationship between water, agriculture and poverty (WAP) is essential for informed policy-making in light of increasing demand for scarce water resources and greater climatic variability. Yet, our understanding of the WAP nexus remains surprisingly undeveloped and dispersed across multiple disciplines due to conceptual (biophysical and economic) and measurement issues. We argue that water for agriculture will need to be better managed for it to contribute to reductions in poverty and vulnerabilities. Moreover, this management will need to consider not just quantities of water, but the quality of the water and the multiple agricultural and non-agricultural uses. For this reason, expanding research in WAP needs to involve interdisciplinary efforts. We identify three key knowledge gaps in WAP that are particularly pressing in light of greater climatic variability. These are climate change adaptation, over-abstraction of groundwater, and water quality.

Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) is the source of the Klamath River that flows through southern Oregon and northern California. The UKL Basin provides water for 81,000+ ha (200,000+ acres) of irrigation on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project located downstream of the UKL Basin. Irrigated agriculture also occurs along the tributaries to UKL. During 2013–2016, water rights calls resulted in various levels of curtailment of irrigation diversions from the tributaries to UKL. However, information on the extent of curtailment, how much irrigation water was saved, and its impact on the UKL is unknown. In this study, we combined Landsat-based actual evapotranspiration (ETa) data obtained from the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance model with gridded precipitation and U.S. Geological Survey station discharge data to evaluate the hydrologic impact of the curtailment program. Analysis was performed for 2004, 2006, 2008–2010 (base years), and 2013–2016 (target years) over irrigated areas above UKL. Our results indicate that the savings from the curtailment program over the June to September time period were highest during 2013 and declined in each of the following years. The total on-field water savings was approximately 60 hm3 in 2013 and 2014, 44 hm3 in 2015, and 32 hm3 in 2016 (1 hm3 = 10,000 m3 or 810.7 ac-ft). The instream water flow changes or extra water available were 92, 68, 45, and 26 hm3, respectively, for 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Highest water savings came from pasture and wetlands. Alfalfa showed the most decline in water use among grain crops. The resulting extra water available from the curtailment contributed to a maximum of 19% of the lake inflows and 50% of the lake volume. The Landsat-based ETa and other remote sensing datasets used in this study can be used to monitor crop water use at the irrigation district scale and to quantify water savings as a result of land-water management changes.

Land degradation is a critical problem around the world. Intensive rain-fed and irrigated crop and livestock systems have contributed to the degradation of land and natural resources. Numerous institutional and socioeconomic challenges complicate attempts to reverse land degradation, including the lack of short-term incentives for investment; low investment by communities in natural resources management that offers little immediate financial reward; failure of public sector institutions to invest sufficiently in natural resources management because of low, immediate political rewards; and sectoral fragmentation, among others. In poor communities, the incentive to extract short-term economic returns from land and natural resources often outweighs perceived benefits from investing in long-term environmental restoration, and related economic and ecosystem returns. Restoring degraded ecosystems through the establishment of exclosures – areas that are excluded from woodcutting, grazing and agricultural activities – is an increasingly common practice in the Ethiopian Highlands, and regional states are also following this practice. This report proposes and applies an adapted business model to explore the feasibility of exclosures for land restoration. It aims to identify short-term revenue streams from activities that can be carried out within exclosures, such as beekeeping, harvesting fodder for livestock fattening, and cultivating high-value plant species, including fruits and herbs. These are feasible, sustainable economic activities that could allow for the restoration of ecosystem services over the long term. Mobilization of financial resources, engagement of local communities, provision of training and continuous follow-up, as well as facilitation of market opportunities in the value chain for local communities and enterprises (e.g., creating market linkages and establishing innovation platform to engage with market actors) could support the sustainable implementation of the revenue streams.

Agriculture is critical to the economies of developing countries. It is the basic source of food supply and a major contributor to economic development. But there is a cost. Today, agricultural water pollution undermines economic growth and threatens the environmental and physical health of millions of people around the world. The annual social and economic costs of agricultural water pollution could reach trillions of dollars. Yet the issue receives scant attention in global research and debate.

Small-scale irrigation (SSI) technologies can be useful not only to increase crop productivity and income but also as a viable adaptation practice to climate variability. A farm simulation model (FARMSIM) and data from selected SSI technologies piloted in northern Ghana under the ‘Feed the Future-Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation’ (ILSSI) project were used to assess the economic feasibility of the SSI technologies and their potential to improve income and nutrition of smallholder farm households. Three dry season irrigated crops (onion, corchorus, amaranthus) grown under three agricultural water management regimes were analysed. Results show that adoption of the SSI technologies could increase the net farm profit by 154%–608% against the baseline depending on the ‘crop type - SSI technology’ combination. Nutrition levels also improved significantly as a result of the improvements in crop yields due to irrigation and use of complementary inputs. However, the results further reveal that the options that utilize capital-intensive SSI technologies such as solar-powered water pumps to grow high value cash crops are constrained by the high investment cost. Currently, farmers tend to choose low-cost SSI technologies such as a traditional watering-cans, which generate low economic returns. Improving access to credit or alternative financing schemes could mitigate the capital constraints and enable smallholders to gain more benefits from participating in market-oriented high-value irrigated production.

This chapter highlights where land–water linkages are expected to become apparent in terms of climate impacts and where practical approaches to land and water management offer scope for both climate adaptation and mitigation though agriculture. It also provides an agricultural perspective from which to further engage the United Nations Climate Change Conference in terms of water management.

The Barind region, a water-stressed area in northwest Bangladesh, had an underdeveloped agricultural economy and high levels of poverty until two projects revitalized the area with enhanced groundwater irrigation. The Barind Integrated Area Development Project in 1985 and Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) in 1992 used new water extraction technology and innovative management practices such as deep tubewells (DTWs) fitted with smart card–operated electric pumps to develop drought-resilient irrigation. Both projects have helped the Barind region reduce poverty and achieve self-sufficiency in rice. However, there are concerns about declining groundwater levels in the Barind and nearby regions, resulting in a temporary halt in DTW expansion. Preliminary evidence presented in this case study suggests farmers served by shallow tubewells (STWs) may be losing access to groundwater in some parts of the Barind region, which can have significant development implications because these tubewells remain the predominant source of irrigation. This evidence provides grounds to question whether an irrigation model reliant on DTWs is sustainable and equitable in the long term. Further research is needed to better establish groundwater conditions and understand the risk to STW users to inform future policy on DTW-driven agricultural development.

The coastal region of Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters and these events are expected to worsen as a result of climate change. Combined with anthropogenic factors, these events challenge livelihood opportunities, especially crop production. Waterlogging, tidal activity and the lack of proper drainage facilities are major constraints to agricultural production in these areas. The CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) tested, at pilot scale, the combination of innovative agricultural technologies with improved water management to overcome these challenges. This report assesses this intervention by observing the effects, measuring the short-term impacts and understanding the perceptions. The results highlight the need to integrate the interventions into the local context, and acknowledge that institutions and markets need to mature to harness the benefits from innovations. It also underlines the potential of multi-scale interventions combining plot-level and farmer-led innovations, community management and rehabilitation of large schemes.

This paper examines whether there are systematic differences in the historical behaviors of households that are affected and unaffected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka pertaining to their water source choices, water treatment practices, and agrochemical use. This analysis is motivated by the Sri Lankan government’s largest policy response to this epidemic – to encourage communities to switch from untreated well water to publicly provided alternatives. We use recall methods to elicit information on the drinking water source and treatment choices of households over an 18-year period from 2000– 2017. Our analysis is based on a survey of 1497 rural ground-water dependent households in the most CKD-affected areas of the 10 districts of Sri Lanka with the highest prevalence of CKD. Our main findings are that (a) households that have ever used a pump to extract (typically deep) drinking water from a household well are more likely to be affected by CKD; (b) we fail to find a relationship between disease status and households’ use of buckets to extract (typically shallow) groundwater from their wells; and (c) those who have ever treated their shallow well water by boiling it are less likely to be affected by CKD. We also find that a greater share of CKD affected households historically used agrochemicals, used wells that were geographically removed from surface water sources, and displayed lower proxies of wealth. The implications of these findings are fourfold. First, since the systematic differences in the historical patterns of water sources and treatments used by CKD affected and non-affected households are modest, the sources of water and the treatment practices themselves may not be the sole risk factors in developing CKD. Second, although we find a negative association between boiling water and the probability of CKD, it is not obvious that a public policy campaign to promote boiling water is an appropriate response. Third, the hydrochemistry of deep and shallow well water needs to be better understood in order to shed light on the positive relationship between deep well water and disease status, and on why boiling shallow but not deep well water is associated with a lower probability of CKD. Fourth, there is a need for a deeper understanding of other risk factors and of the efficacy of preventative programs that provide alternative sources of household drinking water.

Purpose: The need to increase women’s access to extension has been extensively discussed. This paper assesses women’s access to extension services through the Plantwise extension approach as a baseline for future comparison of women’s access through other extension approaches. It also assesses whether crops that men and women farmers seek plant health advice on are similar or not, and attempts to disperse assumptions that continue to be made about what crops women and men grow. Approach: We analysed data from the Plantwise Online Management System for 13 countries using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: We show that the Plantwise extension approach enables higher levels of women’s access than generally reported for agricultural extension, that the crops that women and men seek extension advice on is not gender dependent, and there are few clear distinctions between their crops of interest. Practical implications: There is limited literature studying gender inclusiveness in different extension approaches. The findings add to the documentation of assessing women’s access to demand-driven extension. Theoretical implications: Plantwise is a new extension approach which needs to be assessed from spatial and temporal perspectives to understand whether demand-driven extension enables increased women’s access over time. Originality/value: Extension service provision is often based on assumptions about what crops are being grown. Small studies have challenged these assumptions, but this large dataset enables us to test these assumptions more thoroughly across 13 countries adding to the weight of evidence against the existence of women’s and men’s crops.

Declining water resources in dry regions requires sustainable groundwater management as trends indicate increasing groundwater use, but without accountability. The sustainability of groundwater is uncertain, as little is known about its extent and availability, a challenge that requires a quantitative assessment of its current use. This study assessed groundwater use for irrigated agriculture in the Venda-Gazankulu area of Limpopo Province in South Africa using crop evapotranspiration and irrigated crop area derived from the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI). Evapotranspiration data was derived from the Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception (WaPOR) dataset (250 m resolution), and irrigated areas were characterised using dry season NDVI data derived from Landsat 8. Field surveys were conducted for four years to assess accuracy and for post-classification correction. Daily ET for the dry season (May to September) was developed from the actual ET for the irrigated areas. The irrigated areas were overlaid on the ET map to calculate ET for only irrigated land parcels. Groundwater use during the 2015 dry period was 3627.49 billion m3 and the irrigated area during the same period was 26% of cultivated land. About 82 435 ha of cultivated area was irrigated using 44 million m3 /ha of water, compared to 186.93 million m3 /ha on a rainfed area of 237 847 ha. Groundwater management is essential for enhancing resilience in arid regions in the advent of water scarcity.

Credit constraint is considered by many as one of the key barriers to adoption of modern agricultural technologies, such as chemical fertilizer, improved seeds, and irrigation technologies, among smallholders. Past research and much policy discourse associates agricultural credit constraints with supply-side factors, such as limited access to credit sources or high costs of borrowing. However, demand-side factors, such as risk-aversion and financial illiteracy among borrowers, as well as high transaction costs, can also play important roles in credit-rationing for smallholders. Using primary survey data from Ethiopia and Tanzania, this study examines the nature of credit constraints facing smallholders and the factors that affect credit constraints. In addition, we assess whether credit constraints are gender-differentiated. Results show that demand-side credit constraints are at least as important as supply-side factors in both countries. Women are more likely to be credit constrained (from both the supply and demand sides) than men. Based on these findings, we suggest that policies should focus on addressing both supply- and demand-side credit constraints, including through targeted interventions to reduce risk, such as crop insurance and gender-sensitive policies to improve women’s access to credit.

Groundwater use for agriculture has the potential to improve rural households’ income and reduce poverty, but the linkages are not always straightforward. Taking Laos as a case study, this article illustrates how differential access to water, land, and capital shape farmers’ livelihood strategies in two nearby, yet contrasting villages on the Vientiane Plain. It examines the factors driving farm households’ decisions to invest in groundwater for agriculture. The findings highlight the need to better understand how farmers view groundwater in relation to their farm household characteristics if groundwater is to be successfully used as a means to improve rural livelihoods.

This report explores how women perceive participation and empowerment vis-a-vis access to water and other agricultural resources in the Tarai/Madhesh of Nepal. The report argues that gendered vulnerability is indeed intricately connected with other axes of difference, such as caste and economic status, despite women’s critical role in agricultural production and their active engagement in access to water and irrigation in agriculture. Overall, women’s well-being seems to have decreased as a consequence of male out-migration. However, there are women who have also become empowered in new ways, taking up enterprise opportunities. The authors point out that at the level of policy and external development interventions, a dominating narrative on women’s limited participation in agriculture being a result of ‘social norms’ exists. Public irrigation agencies have used this myth to absolve themselves of the responsibility for ensuring gender equality in program implementation. The report concludes that strengthening equitable irrigation user groups alongside capacity building for farmers and program implementers are critical measures for improving women’s access to irrigation and overall well-being. Women should be ensured meaningful participation, including leadership roles. Finally, this report recommends linking irrigation user groups to other income-generation schemes, and facilitating access to better credit, finance and agricultural inputs.

Despite increasing popularity of farmer-led irrigation in Ethiopia, little is known about socio-economics of farmers who receive public support in accelerating its expansion. We investigate this question by combining spatial land suitability for groundwater- and solar irrigation with pre-existing socioeconomic data. We find that if public support in farmer-led irrigation expansion were to be provided to farmers who own land areas that are also spatially highly suitable for irrigation, high-value crop cultivators and wealthier farmers would most likely benefit from such investments. Specifically, we find evidence that farmers in land areas more suitable for groundwater irrigation cultivated more high value crops such as vegetables, fruits, and cash crops. Cultivation of staple crops such as cereals, oilseeds, legumes and root crops were negatively associated with groundwater irrigation suitability. In addition, we find a positive correlation between farmers’ wealth status (measured by consumption expenditure, asset index, and land size) and groundwater irrigation suitability. Controlling for regional differences and current irrigation coverage, one percent increase in irrigation suitability score was associated with 0.2% increase in per-capita consumption expenditure. Land areas that were suitable for irrigation were more likely to belong to large-holders than smallholders. Results imply that policies which aim to facilitate farmer-led irrigation development in Ethiopia should not rely only on spatial suitability for irrigation. Household socio-economics and existing agricultural practices are equally important.

Basin-wide planning requires tools and strategies that allow comparison of alternative pathways and priorities at relevant spatial and temporal scales. In this paper, we apply a hydroeconomic model–the Western Nepal Energy Water Model–that better accounts for feedbacks between water and energy markets, to optimize water allocations across energy, agriculture, municipal, and environmental sectors. The model maximizes total economic benefits, accounting for trade-offs both within and across sectors. In Western Nepal, we find that surface water availability is generally sufficient to meet existing and growing demands in energy and agricultural sectors; however, expansion of water storage and irrigation infrastructure may limit environmental flows below levels needed to maintain the full integrity of important aquatic ecosystems. We also find substantial trade-offs between irrigation in Nepal and satisfaction of the institutional requirements implied by international water-use agreements with the downstream riparian India. Similar trade-offs do not exist with hydropower, however. Model results and allocations are sensitive to future domestic and international energy demands and valuations.

Rice and fish are preferred foods, critical for healthy and nutritious diets, and provide the foundations of local and national economies across Asia. Although transformations, or “revolutions,” in agriculture and aquaculture over the past half-century have primarily relied upon intensified monoculture to increase rice and fish production, agroecological approaches that support biodiversity and utilize natural processes are particularly relevant for achieving a transformation toward food systems with more inclusive, nutrition-sensitive, and ecologically sound outcomes. Rice and fish production are frequently integrated within the same physical, temporal, and social spaces, with substantial variation amongst the types of production practice and their extent. In Cambodia, rice field fisheries that strongly rely upon natural processes persist in up to 80% of rice farmland, whereas more input and infrastructure dependent rice-shrimp culture is expanding within the rice farmland of Vietnam. We demonstrate how a diverse suite of integrated production practices contribute to sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems policy, research, and practice. We first develop a typology of integrated production practices illustrating the nature and degree of: (a) fish stocking, (b) water management, (c) use of synthetic inputs, and (d) institutions that control access to fish. Second, we summarize recent research and innovations that have improved the performance of each type of practice. Third, we synthesize data on the prevalence, outcomes, and trajectories of these practices in four South and Southeast Asian countries that rely heavily on fish and rice for food and nutrition security. Focusing on changes since the food systems transformation brought about by the Green Revolution, we illustrate how integrated production practices continue to serve a variety of objectives to varying degrees: food and nutrition security, rural livelihood diversification and income improvement, and biodiversity conservation. Five shifts to support contemporary food system transformations [i.e., disaggregating (1) production practices and (2) objectives, (3) utilizing diverse metrics, (4) valuing emergent, place-based innovation, (5) building adaptive capacity] would accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 2, specifically through ensuring ecosystem maintenance, sustainable food production, and resilient agricultural practices with the capacity to adapt to global change.

A correct and timely land use/land cover (LULC) classification provides indispensable information for the effective management of environmental and natural resources. However, earlier studies mapped the LULC map of Bilate Sub-basin using remote sensing images that were acquired for a single season. Hence, these studies did not consider the seasonal effects on the accuracy of LULC classification. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate changes in classification accuracy for images acquired during wet and dry seasons in the Bilate Sub-basin. LULC of the study area was classified using the Landsat 8 satellite imageries. Based on field observations, we classified the LULC of the study area into 9 dominant classes. The classification for the two seasons resulted in a noticeable difference between the LULC composition of the study area because of seasonal differences in the classification accuracy. The overall accuracy of the LULC maps was 80%for the wet season and 90% for the dry season with Kappa coefficient values of 0.8 and 0.9 respectively. Therefore, the two seasons showed a significant difference in the overall accuracy of the classification. However, we discovered that when the classification accuracy was tested locally, that is for individual pixels, the results were not the same. In Bilate Sub-basin, several pixels (14.71%) were assigned to different LULC classes on the two seasons maps while 85.29% of the LULC classes remained unaltered in the two maps. According to the classification results, the season had a noticeable effect on the accuracy of LULC classification. This suggests that for LULC classification, multitemporal images should be used rather than a single remote sensing image.

With decreasing aquifer levels, increasing groundwater pollution, inequitable access, and generally poor management outcomes, better groundwater governance has been put forward as a recipe to address these challenges worldwide. Existing recommendations focus on improved legal frameworks, monitoring and control of access and abstraction through permits or formal rights. In addition, decentralized water management, enforcement of regulations, and supply-side technological solutions are seen as cornerstone components of good groundwater governance systems. However, until now, these approaches have generally failed to reconcile the fundamental dynamics and properties of groundwater as a natural resource and of governance as a social and political phenomenon. This has caused a disregard for local to planetary boundaries, power dynamics, and intra- and intergenerational inequalities in access to benefits from groundwater. As the current general notion of good groundwater governance is limited, solutions put forward are also partial and do not encompass the wider challenges affecting groundwater governance, in effect replacing sustainable management goals and policy for governance as a process. This paper takes a particular look at the Middle East and North Africa and agricultural groundwater use for irrigation to constructively redefine groundwater governance and fully address the multilayered and multifaceted core challenges of groundwater governance. Equally, the paper puts forward a new conceptual thinking that will help support the effective development of governance-based solutions to achieve sustainable, socially acceptable, resilient and equitable resource use.

Ethiopia has decades of experience in implementing land and water management interventions. The overarching objectives of this review were to synthesize evidences on the impact of implementation of land and water management practices on agricultural landscapes in Ethiopia and to evaluate the use of adaptive management (AM) approaches as a tool to manage uncertainties. We explored how elements of the structures and functions of landscapes have been transformed, and how the components of AM, such as structured decision-making and learning processes, have been applied. Despite numerous environmental and economic benefits of land and water management interventions in Ethiopia, this review revealed gaps in AM approaches. These include: (i) inadequate evidence-based contextualization of interventions, (ii) lack of monitoring of bio-physical and socioeconomic processes and changes post implementation, (iii) lack of trade-off analyses, and (iv) inadequacy of local community engagement and provision of feedback. Given the many uncertainties we must deal with, future investment in AM approaches tailored to the needs and context would help to achieve the goals of sustainable agricultural landscape transformation. The success depends, among other things, on the ability to learn from the knowledge generated and apply the learning as implementation evolves.

Private sector actors bring expertise, resources, and new perspectives to agricultural development, but the tendency to short-term approaches and market-based orientation has been unable to drive a systemic change in the development agenda. We explore how multi-stakeholder dialogues can capitalize on and trickle systemic change through private sector involvement. Analysis from the farmer-led irrigation development multi-stakeholder dialogue space (FLI-MDS) in Ghana shows the need for a physical and institutional space to cater for and merge different stakeholder interests. For all stakeholders, the institutional space is a multi-level-playing institution which can trickle systemic change by leveraging the private sector’s investments with multi-stakeholders’ collaboration, interactive learning, and potential support for commercial scaling of FLI. For private sector actors, a physical space for collaboration is crucial. It enables them to envisage their commercial interests, opening up opportunities for collaboration and mobilization of resources. Ensuring long term sustainability of an FLI-MDS requires catering for the private sector needs for a physical dialogue space to trickle systemic change and accelerate commercialization in farmer-led irrigation development.

Inland valleys (IVs) in Africa are important landscapes for rice cultivation and are targeted by national governments to attain self-sufficiency. Yet, there is limited information on the spatial distribution of IVs suitability at the national scale. In the present study, we developed an ensemble model approach to characterize the IVs suitability for rainfed lowland rice using 4 machine learning algorithms based on environmental niche modeling (ENM) with presence-only data and background sample, namely Boosted Regression Tree (BRT), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), Maximum Entropy (MAXNT) and Random Forest (RF). We used a set of predictors that were grouped under climatic variables, agricultural water productivity and soil water content, soil chemical properties, soil physical properties, vegetation cover, and socio-economic variables. The Area Under the Curves (AUC) evaluation metrics for both training and testing were respectively 0.999 and 0.873 for BRT, 0.866 and 0.816 for GLM, 0.948 and 0.861 for MAXENT and 0.911 and 0.878 for RF. Results showed that proximity of inland valleys to roads and urban centers, elevation, soil water holding capacity, bulk density, vegetation index, gross biomass water productivity, precipitation of the wettest quarter, isothermality, annual precipitation, and total phosphorus among others were major predictors of IVs suitability for rainfed lowland rice. Suitable IVs areas were estimated at 155,000–225,000 Ha in Togo and 351,000–406,000 Ha in Benin. We estimated that 53.8% of the suitable IVs area is needed in Togo to attain self-sufficiency in rice while 60.1% of the suitable IVs area is needed in Benin to attain self-sufficiency in rice. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of an ensemble environmental niche modeling approach that combines the strengths of several models.

The rapid expansion of cities in West Africa has implications for urban cropland. This study aimed to assess the dynamics of cropland in West African cities over time and space, to identify key drivers, and to report the effects of changing cropland on farmers and farmers’ resilience strategies. Cities studied were Accra (Ghana), Bamako (Mali), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and Bamenda (Cameroon). Methodology involved multi-temporal spatial analysis of satellite images and farmer surveys. Results showed that the share of urban land covered by cropland differed in these cities, with higher shares in Accra and Bamenda, which included rainfed cultivation. Over the past 15 years, Accra has lost large shares of its farming areas, both in the inner-urban areas as well as in the fringe, whereas loss in Bamenda has been less substantial. In Ouagadougou and Bamako, where only irrigated sites were captured, cropland has shifted to the fringes but increased overall. Key drivers influencing the direction of change were official support of urban farming (or lack thereof), population pressure, and the availability of public open spaces that are not suitable for construction. In cities with decreasing cropland, implications included diminishing individual farm sizes, intensification of remaining sites, cessation of farming in the city, and the shift to other sites, which—apart from the physical availability of land and related resources—depends on social relations and informal rules.

South Africa is ranked among the thirty driest countries in the world, a challenge that is negatively affecting agricultural production. Other challenges such as population growth, rural-urban migration, changing food preferences and drought exacerbate pressure on agricultural water productivity. The review critically assessed the different considerations for increasing agricultural water productivity under water scarce conditions in South Africa. While under these conditions, irrigation may seem an obvious solution to increasing agricultural water productivity as a response to frequent droughts and mid-season dry spells. However, considerations on the availability of water and energy for irrigation expansion and the accessibility of irrigation services to different farming groups in the country. It is generally argued that irrigation is an expensive option and not necessarily readily accessible to most farmers. There are prospects for tapping into South Africa’s groundwater resources but the extent to which they can contribute to expanding area under irrigation is contested given the challenges of quantifying and pumping the water. Most smallholder farmers currently lack access to water, energy, infrastructure and technical skills to irrigate thus making irrigation a challenging option in this sector. An alternative would be to explore rainwater harvesting and soil water conservation technologies, which involve inducing, collecting, storing and conserving runoff water for agriculture. The drawbacks to this are that, apart from scale issues, rainfall is becoming more erratic and droughts more frequent and hence the feasibility of this approach under frequent drought could be challenged.

The main limiting factor impeding the operationalisation of the WEF nexus has been lack of metrics and tools to translate the concept into a fully-fledged operational framework to support policy and decision-making. This study developed a WEF nexus model by (i) defining WEF nexus sustainability indicators, and (ii) calculating composite indices for those indicators to establish numerical relationships among WEF nexus resources using South Africa as a case study. The composite indices show WEF nexus performance as well as monitoring and evaluation of WEF resources management. The indicators were integrated through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). The established quantitative relationships indicate resource utilisation, management and performance through a spider graph to illustrate WEF nexus performance, providing a general overview of the level of interactions, interrelationships and inter-connectedness of resources. The shape of the spider graph is determined by the level of the interdependencies and interactions among the WEF nexus sectors, whose management is viewed either as sustainable or unsustainable depending on the classification of the developed integrated index. The spider graph for South Africa showed an over-emphasis on food self-sufficiency and water productivity at the expense of other sectors. The deformed shape of the spider graph is a demonstration of the sectoral or “silo” approach in resource management. The calculated integrated WEF nexus index of 0.203 for South Africa classified the country under the low sustainability category. The developed model is a decision support tool that provides evidence for interventions in priority areas. The model demonstrates the capabilities of the WEF nexus to evaluate synergies and trade-offs in a systematic and integrated way to increases efficiency and productivity in resource management for sustainable development.

Irrigation has been, and will remain, instrumental in addressing water security (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6), food insecurity (SDG 2) and poverty (SDG 1) goals. However, the global context in which irrigation takes place is changing rapidly. A call for healthier and more sustainable food systems is placing new demands on how irrigation is developed and managed. Growing pressures from competing water uses in the domestic and industrial sectors, as well increasing environmental awareness, mean irrigation is increasingly called on to perform better, delivering acceptable returns on investment and simultaneously improving food security, rural livelihoods and nutrition, as well as supporting environmental conservation. Better integration of fisheries (including aquaculture) in irrigation planning, investment and management can contribute to the modernisation of irrigation and the achievement of the multiple objectives that it is called on to deliver. A framework illustrating how fisheries can be better integrated with irrigation, and how the two can complement each other across a range of scales, from scheme to catchment and, ultimately, national level, is presented.

To ensure that the Biannual Review (BR) process embodies the CAADP/Malabo principles, particularly focusing on Commitment 7 (enhancing mutual accountability for actions and results) of the Malabo Declaration, the African Union Commission (AUC) launched the Inaugural Biennial Review reporting mechanism on the implementation of the Malabo commitments. In line with the above continental commitment on mutual accountability, Zambia implemented the BR process to track progress in the implementation of the CAADP agenda, particularly the 2014 Malabo commitments. The process provided a platform for stakeholders in the agriculture sector (the public sector, private sector, development partners, civil society organizations, academia, and research institutions) to hold each other mutually accountable on both financial and nonfinancial commitments they made toward common development goals for the agriculture sector. The BR process also helped provide a platform for agriculture sector stakeholders to learn from each other (peer learning). The Biennial Review Report (BRR) fosters alignment, harmonization, and coordination among multisectoral efforts and multi-institutional platforms for peer review, mutual learning, and accountability. The objective of this brief is to analyze Zambiaapos;s performance and discuss lessons from the implementation of the inaugural CAADP BR mechanism.

This paper predicts climate change pattern and outlines suitable adaptation strategies related to irrigated agricultural practices in Hakra Branch Canal Command (HBCC) of Pakistan. Climate change predictions were simulated using models perturbed with climatic data and A2 emission scenario. A biased correction method was applied to the simulated future climatic data. The study site reveals different nature of vulnerabilities to the changing climate based on climate change scenario downscaling. The variation in rainfall patterns, especially the seasonal shifts, would have likely impact on water availability for irrigation and subsequently on the crop growth. A detailed survey was conducted to investigate how farmers in HBCC perceive variations in weather patterns and the proposed adaptation measures. The statistical significance of farmers’ perceptions and decisions about adaptation measures are reported with regard to their location along the secondary canals. The literature offers a range of potential climate change adaptation measures to the farming community that sometimes are not coherent with the national policy and the local practice. Farmers generally feel it difficult to pick a suitable adaptation option that suits their particular conditions. This research proposes a simple yet robust criterion to prioritize the potential climate change adaptation measures. This criterion (colloquially known as 3P) is based on three subjective factors – i.e. policy, prevalence and practicability – and it could be scaled out to other areas where results of climate change studies are available.

Increase in salinity levels poses a threat to many hot and arid farming areas in the Middle East and North Africa region. In some cases, farmers install desalination units to produce freshwater to irrigate high-value crops. However, the produced reject brine is an environmental hazard since it is disposed off in the soil creating a vicious circle of salinity aggravation. The current work focuses on the financial aspect of using the reject brine, generated from reverse osmosis (RO) unit, to grow fish (Sparidentex hasta, sobaity sea bream) and halophytic species (Salicornia bigelovii, Distichlis spicata, and Sporobolus virginicus) for various uses in an integrated farming approach. Different water treatments (RO brine, RO brine mixed with groundwater, aquabrine, and aquabrine mixed with groundwater) were tested to evaluate their impact on halophytes’ growth and production. Irrigating with RO brine resulted in positive net returns for S. bigelovii, directed for fresh tips’ production, as well as for the grasses D. spicata and S. virginicus. However, more returns were obtained when RO brine passed through the aquaculture system where it got enriched with more nutrients due to fish waste. Irrigation with brine from the aquaculture system tripled S. bigelovii production (23.7 t/ha) and increased returns per ha of approximately US $76,000 over irrigating with RO brine directly, compared to the US $5571 and the US $1884 for D. spicata and S. virginicus, respectively. Halophytic crops constitute one of the very few sustainable options to improve food and nutrition security in salt-affected regions, contributing in lands’ rehabilitation and enhancing farming livelihood income. Halophytes also constitute an imperative component to consider for nutrient-dense production systems such as integrated agri-aquaculture systems (IAAS) implemented in desert environments, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were explored through a SWOT analysis.

This analysis examines the dynamics of employment in agriculture and the agri-food system in Tanzania and Malawi by assessing the population age structure and movements of youth (aged 15-24) and young adults (aged 25-34) in and out of agriculture and the agri-food system. Using internationally comparable integrated household and agriculture surveys, we discover that the average age of a person who works in farming as own-farm labour is 34 years in Tanzania and 31 years in Malawi. Examination of the movements into and out of the agri-food system demonstrates a high degree of short-term stability of youth and young adult participation in farming in both countries. Specifically, 59 per cent of rural Tanzanian youth and 56 per cent of rural Malawian youth are consistently engaged in farming. Yet there is considerable mobility between different sectors of employment. More than 57 per cent of the youth cohort that was not involved in the agri-food system during the baseline entered the sector in the subsequent wave, and 12 per cent of those involved in the agri-food system during the baseline moved out of the sector in the subsequent wave. Even though the high degree of stability in farming participation is encouraging, it is likely that the poor economic prospects outside farming are what is driving strong participation in single-occupation farming. Given that increasing youth employment is a priority public policy for the Governments of Tanzania and Malawi, it is recommended that the countries attempt to diversify the rural economy by developing the many economic opportunities within the agri-food system.

An integrated hydrogeological modelling approach applicable to hard-rock aquifers in semi-arid data-scarce Africa was developed using remote sensing, rainfall-runoff modelling, and a three-dimensional (3D) dynamic model. The integrated modelling approach was applied to the Hout catchment, Limpopo Province, South Africa, an important agricultural region where groundwater abstraction for irrigation doubled during 1968–1986. Since the 1960s, groundwater levels in irrigated areas have displayed extended periods of decline with partial or full recovery in response to major decadal rainfall events or periods. The integrated dynamic 3D hydrogeological flow model, based on the One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MODFLOW-OWHM), helped to understand recharge and flow processes and inform water use and management. Irrigation abstraction was estimated based on irrigated crop area delineated using the Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and crop water requirements. Using groundwater level data, the model was calibrated (2008–2012) and validated (2013–2015). Estimated mean diffuse recharge (3.3 2.5% of annual rainfall) compared well with estimates from the Precipitation Runoff Modelling System model. Recharge and groundwater storage showed significant inter-annual variability. The ephemeral river was found to be losing, with mean net flux to the aquifer (focused recharge) of ~1.1% of annual rainfall. The results indicate a delicate human-natural system reliant on the small but highly variable recharge, propagating through variable pumping to an even more variable storage, making the combined system vulnerable to climate and anthropogenic changes. The integrated modelling is fundamental for understanding spatio-temporal variability in key parameters required for managing the groundwater resource sustainably.

Despite frequent calls for transformative approaches for engaging in agrarian change and water governance, we observe little change in everyday development and research praxis. Empirical studies on transformative engagements with gender relations among smallscale or tenant farmers and water user groups are particularly rare. We explore transformative engagements through an approach based on critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996) and transformative practice (Leder, 2018). We examine opportunities to promote empathy and critical consciousness on gender norms, roles and relations in agriculture and resource management. We developed and piloted an innovative “Participatory Gender Training for Community Groups” as part of two internationally funded water security projects. The training consists of three activities and three discussions to reflect on gender roles in families, communities and agriculture, to discuss the gendered division of labour and changing gender relations over time and space, and to create empathy and resolve conflicts through a bargaining role play with switched genders. The approach was implemented in twelve villages across four districts in Nepal and India (Bihar, West Bengal). Our results show how the training methods can provide an open space to discuss local gender roles within households, agriculture and natural resource management. Discussing own gender norms promotes critical consciousness that gender norms are socially constructed and change with age, class, caste and material and structural constraints such as limited access to water and land. The activities stimulated enthusiasm and inspiration to reflect on possible change towards more equal labor division and empathy towards those with weaker bargaining power. Facilitators have the most important role in transformative engagements and need to be trained to reinterpret training principles in local contexts, and to apply facilitation skills to focus on transforming rather than reproducing gender norms. We argue that the gender training methods can initiate transformative practice with the gender-water-agriculture nexus by raising critical consciousness of farmers, community mobilisers, and project staff on possibilities of social change “in situ”.

Food insecurity is a recurrent problem in northern Ghana. Food grown during the rainy season is often insufficient to meet household food needs, with some households experiencing severe food insecurity for up to five months in a year. Flood recession agriculture (FRA) – an agricultural practice that relies on residual soil moisture and nutrients left by receding flood water – is ordinarily practiced by farmers along the floodplains of the White Volta River in northern Ghana under low-input low-output conditions. Opportunities abound to promote highly productive FRA as a means of extending the growing season beyond the short rainy season (from May to September) into the dry season and thereby increase household income and food security of smallholder farmers. This study uses an optimization modelling approach to explore this potential by analyzing the crop mix and agricultural water management options that will maximize household income and enhance food security. Results indicate that growing cowpea, groundnut and melon under residual-moisture based FRA and high value crops (onion, pepper, and tomato) under supplementary irrigation FRA maximize household income and food security. The cash income from the sale of FRA crops was sufficient to purchase food items that ensure consumption smoothing during the food-insecure months. The study concludes that the full potential of FRA will be realized through a careful selection of crop mixtures and by enhancing access of farmers to improved seeds, integrated pest management and credit and mainstreaming FRA through targeted policy interventions and institutional support.

Sitting on one of the world’s best aquifers, large swathes of West Bengal has groundwater in abundance. Even so, the state’s farmers incur one of the highest irrigation costs in India. In spite of a series of groundwater and electricity policy changes, West Bengal’s farmers fare no better. This paper brings findings from a yearlong research pilot based in Monoharpur village of Birbhum district. The pilot shows how the current electricity tariff structure has made irrigation unaffordable for small and marginal farmers, and has made irrigation services market tightly oligopolistic. If not revised, the agricultural economy, especially that of summer paddy which ensures household security of poor farmers, is likely to taper off in future.

Groundwater irrigation has been central to India’s irrigated agriculture. India is the largest extractor of groundwater, pumping nearly 250 km3 every year for irrigation. The abstraction of groundwater is closely coupled with access to subsidized or free electricity in the country. Supply of free electricity has led to the perverse groundwater-energy nexus in the country. This nexus has resulted in grave economic and environmental repercussions. There is a mounting fiscal burden of energy subsidies in the country, which has led many power utilities at the helm of bankruptcy. At the same time, free power has attributed to the groundwater depletion at an alarming rate in many parts of the country. Hence, it becomes important to understand whether these economic and environmental costs of groundwater irrigation are commensurate with its benefits. This study takes a look at the energy productivity of groundwater irrigated agriculture in the districts of India and assesses its contribution to the agricultural output.

Fecal sludge (FS) contains a significant amount of plant nutrients. FS (treated/untreated) has been used as soil ameliorant in several countries. Use of FS-based compost on lettuce may meet reservations due to possible microbiological contamination. The objectives of this research are: (1) To determine the fertilizer value of different formulations of sawdust and fecal sludge compost (SDFS) pellets, and (2) to compare the effect of these SDFS formulations with poultry manure, commercial compost, mineral fertilizer, and non-fertilization on lettuce cultivation. The SDFS products were made by enriching, and pelletized with ammonium sulphate, mineral-NPK, or ammonium sulphate + muriate of potash + triple superphosphate. Lettuce was cultivated in a greenhouse and an open field. The result showed that the saleable fresh weight lettuce yield obtained from all SDFS pellets with/without enrichments were higher than those obtained from commercial compost, poultry manure, mineral fertilizer, or no fertilizer. Cultivation in the open field gave higher yields than those in the greenhouse. No helminth eggs were detected in composts or lettuces. Some fecal coliforms were detected in lettuces fertilized with almost all fertilizers tested, including NPK and non-fertilized control. A properly treated fecal sludge-based fertilizer can be a sustainable solution for lettuce production, which helps urban and peri-urban agriculture.

The Arab region needs a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water. Agricultural water management has always posed challenges and opportunities in the Arab world. However, unprecedented and accelerating drivers such as climate change, population growth, and land degradation make agricultural water management a more urgent priority than ever before. In addition, as part of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, Arab countries have committed to work towards an ambitious set of development targets, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unless the right policies and investments are put in place, it will be difficult to achieve the SDGs, including ending hunger and providing clean water and sanitation for all. This paper is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute to foster dialogue on agricultural water policies and investments in the context of the FAO led Regional Water Scarcity initiative. The purpose of the paper is to frame the key challenges and opportunities in the sector – including emerging innovations in digital agriculture, water accounting, water supply and wastewater reuse – and to lay out broad strategic directions for action.

IWMI, a managing partner of FISH, conducted an assessment of youth participation in SSF, aquaculture and value chains between November 2017 and May 2018. The assessment was conducted in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, with a particular focus on the FISH focal countries of Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia in Africa and Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Solomon Islands in the Asia-Pacific. The objectives of this study were to (i) assess the participation of youth in fisheries and aquaculture, including opportunities and challenges for participation, (ii) understand what WorldFish and key partners (government organizations, nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] and others) are doing in the focal countries in relation to youth participation, and (iii) (based on the former two points) provide potential areas for further research that could support improved youth participation in aquaculture, SSF and value chains. In this report, definitions of SSF and aquaculture are adopted from WorldFish.

Agricultural land suitability analysis (ALSA) for crop production is one of the key tools for ensuring sustainable agriculture and for attaining the current global food security goal in line with the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) of United Nations. Although some review studies addressed land suitability, few of them specifically focused on land suitability analysis for agriculture. Furthermore, previous reviews have not reflected on the impact of climate change on future land suitability and how this can be addressed or integrated into ALSA methods. In the context of global environmental changes and sustainable agriculture debate, we showed from the current review that ALSA is a worldwide land use planning approach. We reported from the reviewed articles 69 frequently used factors in ALSA. These factors were further categorized in climatic conditions (16), nutrients and favorable soils (34 of soil and landscape), water availability in the root zone (8 for hydrology and irrigation) and socio-economic and technical requirements (11). Also, in getting a complete view of crop’s ecosystems and factors that can explain and improve yield, inherent local socio-economic factors should be considered. We showed that this aspect has been often omitted in most of the ALSA modeling with only 38% of the total reviewed article using socio-economic factors. Also, only 30% of the studies included uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in their modeling process. We found limited inclusions of climate change in the application of the ALSA. We emphasize that incorporating current and future climate change projections in ALSA is the way forward for sustainable or optimum agriculture and food security. To this end, qualitative and quantitative approaches must be integrated into a unique ALSA system (Hybrid Land Evaluation System - HLES) to improve the land evaluation approach.

A reliable supply of water is critical for agricultural intensification and yield improvement. Technological devices that lift, transport and apply water contribute to increased yield from improved crop varieties and high input cultivation. The increasing use of motor pumps is a significant contribution to the development of small-scale irrigation. The objective of this study was to identify and analyze the trajectories of technological innovations and uptake for agricultural water management in farming systems in Sri Lanka, with a special focus on identifying impacts, emerging issues and potential responses to the rapid proliferation of motor pumps in the intensification of agriculture in the country. The Government of Sri Lanka promoted the rapid adoption of water pumps through interventions such as the development of groundwater wells for agriculture; provision of subsidies and credit facilities for purchasing micro-irrigation equipment; and government policies on tax, tariffs and extension support. At the same time, the high profit margin realized from cash crop cultivation motivated farmers to invest in water lifting and related technologies. Finally, water scarcity and restrictions on the use of surface water, i.e., canals, prompted a shift to using water-lifting technologies to pump groundwater. The use of water pumps in agriculture has expanded the area under cultivation; increased cropping intensity, especially during the dry seasons; changed the cropping pattern from low-return rice cultivation to high-return cash crop cultivation; and enhanced household incomes. Expanded and intensified cultivation has provided more opportunities for women to participate in agriculture, generating additional income, and enhancing their purchasing power and decision-making at the household level. Some farmers do not have groundwater wells and water pumps because they lack the necessary capital to make the initial investment. Smallholder farmers, in particular, are reluctant to risk their limited income on new technologies. This may lead to the further marginalization of poor farmers. Inclusive intensification will require helping farmers to access irrigation technology, for example, through carefully targeted subsidies and access to credit. Using water pumps can provide benefits to both users and non-users, but uncontrolled groundwater extraction may also create new problems by putting enormous pressure on common property resources. The government will need to take on a dual role to both promote the inclusive growth of small-scale irrigation, and to prevent and mitigate its negative environmental impacts. This second role may include establishing a regulatory system, setting standards for well construction, and monitoring and enforcing standards on extraction and water quality. There is an urgent need for institutional measures and governance arrangements to guide and regulate groundwater irrigation, especially in the context of intensive cultivation us

Water availability for agriculture will become a growing constraint in areas already under environmental and social stress due to population growth, development, and climatic variability. This limits the potential for expanding irrigated areas and for sustainable intensification, and compromises the ability of smallholder farmers to cater to the increased demand for food. This chapter assesses the key global challenges to water availability and how increasing scarcity and competition for water resources are affecting agricultural productivity, especially that of smallholder producers in Asia and Africa. It further analyzes emerging water management practices that can be sustainably adapted to the needs of smallholder farmers. We provide evidence of the economic viability and potential to improve farmers’ income from such solutions. The opportunity for scaling up high-impact solutions is also assessed against available empirical evidence.

The Indus River Basin faces severe water quality degradation because of nutrient enrichment from human activities. Excessive nutrients in tributaries are transported to the river mouth, causing coastal eutrophication. This situation may worsen in the future because of population growth, economic development, and climate change. This study aims at a better understanding of the magnitude and sources of current (2010) and future (2050) river export of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) by the Indus River at the sub-basin scale. To do this, we implemented the MARINA 1.0 model (Model to Assess River Inputs of Nutrients to seAs). The model inputs for human activities (e.g., agriculture, land use) were mainly from the GLOBIOM (Global Biosphere Management Model) and EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Model) models. Model inputs for hydrology were from the Community WATer Model (CWATM). For 2050, three scenarios combining Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs 1, 2 and 3) and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 2.6 and 6.0) were selected. A novelty of this study is the sub-basin analysis of future N export by the Indus River for SSPs and RCPs. Result shows that river export of TDN by the Indus River will increase by a factor of 1.6–2 between 2010 and 2050 under the three scenarios. N90% of the dissolved N exported by the Indus River is from midstream sub-basins. Human waste is expected to be the major source, and contributes by 66–70% to river export of TDN in 2050 depending on the scenarios. Another important source is agriculture, which contributes by 21–29% to dissolved inorganic N export in 2050. Thus a combined reduction in both diffuse and point sources in the midstream sub-basins can be effective to reduce coastal water pollution by nutrients at the river mouth of Indus.

The rapid development of farmer-led irrigation is increasing agricultural productivity, incomes, employment and nutrition, but it might well not achieve its full potential. Small-scale irrigators tend to be younger, male and better-off. Women and resource-poor farmers – the majority of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa– are disadvantaged and often excluded from the numerous benefits to be gained from irrigation. Equity in access to water management technologies and practices is constrained by numerous factors, including high investment costs, absence of financial services, poor market integration, inadequate information services, and labour constraints. Lack of institutions for collective management of natural resources, such as water, further restricts access for resource-poor farmers, increasing inequity. In the absence of sustainable natural resources management approaches to agricultural intensification, this situation may become more acute as natural resources become increasingly valuable, and therefore contested. Realising the full potential of farmer-led irrigation requires contextualised policies, institutions and practices to improve equity, markets and sustainability and help ensure that sector growth is inclusive and beneficial.

The increasing frequency and intensity of droughts and floods, coupled with increasing temperatures and declining rainfall totals, are exacerbating existing vulnerabilities in southern Africa. Agriculture is the most affected sector as 95% of cultivated area is rainfed. This review addressed trends in moisture stress and the impacts on crop production, highlighting adaptation possible strategies to ensure food security in southern Africa. Notable changes in rainfall patterns and deficiencies in soil moisture are estimated and discussed, as well as the impact of rainfall variability on crop production and proposed adaptation strategies in agriculture. Climate moisture index (CMI) was used to assess aridity levels. Southern Africa is described as a climate hotspot due to increasing aridity, low adaptive capacity, underdevelopment and marginalisation. Although crop yields have been increasing due to increases in irrigated area and use of improved seed varieties, they have not been able to meet the food requirements of a growing population, compromising regional food security targets. Most countries in the region depend on international aid to supplement yield deficits. The recurrence of droughts caused by the El Nio Southern Oscillation (ENSO) continue devastating the region, affecting livelihoods, economies and the environment. An example is the 2015/2016 ENSO drought that caused the region to call for international aid to feed about 40 million people. In spite of the water scarcity challenges, cereal production continues to increase steadily due to increased investment in irrigated agriculture and improved crop varieties. Given the current and future vulnerability of the agriculture sector in southern Africa, proactive adaptation interventions are important to help farming communities develop resilient systems to adapt to the changes and variability in climate and other stressors.

Climate change is posing a serious challenge for developing countries like India. The agriculture sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. In turn, it is making food security and livelihoods of smallholders, more vulnerable to climate change. This study adopted the IPCC’s integrated indicator approach for assessing the vulnerability of the agriculture sector to climate change in Assam and Odisha by means of creating a vulnerability index and by comparing the spatial profile of vulnerability across the districts of the two states. Several socio-economic and biophysical indicators were identified and categorized into 3 components of vulnerability: sensitivity, exposure and, adaptive capacity. Running PCA on these indicators generated weights. Since, Principal Component 1 explains the maximum variance in the dataset, the correlation of indicators with Principal Component 1 has been used for computing the composite climate vulnerability indices. The districts are ranked on the basis of their performance on indices based on 3 components of vulnerability and composite vulnerability. District-wise spatial vulnerability profile has been created to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable districts. The results of the study indicate that the most vulnerable districts of Assam are – Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, and Dima Hasao; and that of Odisha are - Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Malkangiri, Nuapada, Kalahandi, and Koraput. The predominant indicators contributing to vulnerability have been identified which suggest that vulnerability in Assam is more due to high exposure while in Odisha, it is largely attributed to low adaptive capacity and high sensitivity. There exists a large difference in the extent of vulnerability among the districts and there is a need to develop specific policy interventions to address climate change at the district level in order to reduce the vulnerability of smallholders and to increase the resilience of the agriculture sector to climate change.

Climate-smart villages mean implementing a portfolio of best locally suited climate-smart agricultural practices in an integrated manner to build resilience of the local community. Land and water interventions form a crucial part of a climate-smart agricultural practices portfolio, with water availability being the key limiting factor of crop growth. To aid in this decision-making process of prioritizing land and water interventions, a simple and robust spreadsheet tool based on a water balance is developed. The tool integrates and simulates impacts of land and water interventions on the water balance to determine their impact across climate-smart agricultural objectives of agricultural productivity, climate change adaptation and mitigation. The tool was implemented in two villages in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The tool performs well in simulating village water balance and its impact on the yield of rainfed and irrigated crop areas. Results show that considerable differences exist within the portfolio of land and water interventions, with only a combination of supply, demand and moisture conservation practices being able to help achieve climate-smart agricultural objectives. In the best case scenario, yield can be increased by up to 10% and greenhouse gas emission intensity reduced up to 17%. Comparison with stakeholder perception analysis highlights the utility of this tool in providing additional quantitative information in the decision-making process.

This report builds on prior work to provide a new, comprehensive, and balanced view of water security in Pakistan, stressing the importance of the diverse social, environmental, and economic outcomes from water. The report highlights the complex water issues that Pakistan must tackle to improve water security and sheds new light on conventional assumptions around water. It seeks to elevate water security as an issue critical for national development. The report assesses current water security and identifies important water-related challenges that may hinder progress in economic and human development. It identifies unmitigated water-related risks, as well as opportunities where water can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. The report analyzes how the performance and architecture of the water sector are related to broader economic, social, and environmental outcomes. It models alternative economic trajectories to identify where intervention can lead to a more water-secure future. A consideration of water sector architecture and performance and how these determine outcome leads to recommendations for improving aspects of sector performance and adjusting sector architecture for better outcomes. The sector performance analysis considers (a) management of the water resource, (b) delivery of water services, and (c) mitigation of water-related risks. The description of sector architecture considers water governance, infrastructure, and financing.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the objectives of activity 7.5 - supporting river basin organizations in conducting an economic analysis of water use and the application of full cost recovery principles; in developing financial and economic incentives for water conservation and improvement of water productivity in rural areas of the Component No. 1: “National Framework Concept for Water Management and Integrated Water Resources Management” of the European Union Program of “Sustainable Water Management in Rural Areas of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. Data collection and analysis were carried out in 2017, and the report was printed in 2019. Most statistics were provided before December 31, 2017. The data were obtained from statistical collections, as well as from the annual reports of the BISA and MKM.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the objectives of activity 7.5 - supporting river basin organizations in conducting an economic analysis of water use and the application of full cost recovery principles; in developing financial and economic incentives for water conservation and improvement of water productivity in rural areas of the Component No. 1: “National Framework Concept for Water Management and Integrated Water Resources Management” of the European Union Program of “Sustainable Water Management in Rural Areas of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. Data collection and analysis were carried out in 2017, and the report was printed in 2019. Most statistics were provided before December 31, 2017. The data were obtained from statistical collections, as well as from the annual reports of the BISA and MKM.