Irrigation Water Management

Population growth and changing nutritional behavior lead to an urgent need for increased food production which must be mainly achieved by raising productivity given the limited water resources. Irrigated agriculture is becoming increasingly important as an adaptation option; yet currently, water-use efficiency is low; thus, water productivity needs improvement. There is a wide range of expertise in agricultural sciences, irrigation, and water management, but scattered in domains of climatic, biophysical, socio-economic and institutional settings which limits wide-spread utilization. Moreover, there is also a limited exchange of knowledge between science, water administrations, commercial sectors, and water end-users. Targeted cooperation between these sectors would unfold a huge potential for the utilization of indigenous knowledge in Africa, resulting in enhancing agriculture. The specific research topics include but not limited to:

• Improving the efficiency of water use for a sustainable agriculture
• Reducing soil and water pollution