Irrigation in the World - the Future will not be like the Past

Abstract

Irrigated farming performs an essential task in meeting the basic food needs of billions of people in the world. In the future, the irrigated sector will have to provide an even larger proportion of total food supplies. But country-wide, regional and seasonal water scarcity in developing countries poses severe problems for national governments and the international development community. The challenges of growing water scarcity are exacerbated by the increasing costs of new water, wasteful use of already developed water supplies, degradation of soils in irrigated areas, depletion of ground water, pollution of water and its impact on human health, and the massive subsidies and distorting incentives which govern water use.
Fundamental forces and their implications for change are identified: competition for water, environmental concerns, irrigation technology, economic and political liberalisation. The paper comes to the conclusion that the future needs more than today's professionalism in drawing up new ideas and relief plans. It requires true decisive action in solving all those problems already identified; it cannot afford to delay taking such action.