Presentation at the Dupont Forum. The panel will look at how investing in technologies is insufficient on its own to enact effective agricultural water management, and will explore the importance of accompanying context appropriate policies and institutions.

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Photo:SteveMcCurrach/IWMI
AWM Solutions: Unlocking
the potential for
smallholder agriculture in
sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia
Meredith Giordano
Principal Researcher
International Water Management Institute
Washington, DC

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Presentation Summary
1. Background
2. Key Messages
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Concluding Remarks

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Presentation Summary
1. Background
2. Key Messages
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Concluding Remarks

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Identifying AWM Solutions:
Water within the larger context of rural livelihoods
• Contributes to smallholder
livelihoods
• Benefits women and men
• Cost-effective
• Suitable for out-scaling
• Addresses resource sustainability
AWM solution: technology,
practice, institution, policy
that…

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Presentation Summary
1. Background
2. Key Messages
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Concluding Remarks

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India > 50% of the irrigated area watered by smallholder pumps.
Africa - Smallholder AWM reaches more farmers than public irrigation.
1. Smallholder AWM: A vibrant and growing sector
Agricultural Water Management in Ghana
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
No. of farmers Irrigated area (ha.)
Public irrigation schemes Small reservoirs
Motorized pumps Buckets, watering cans

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2. Provides incomes when farmers need it most
Madhya Pradesh - rainwater harvesting - dry season cropping and livestock - incomes up
>70%.
Burkina Faso: small reservoirs - vegetable and rice production – dry season incomes up
by US$200-600.
Tanzania:
community
managed river
diversions
(CMRD) increase
yields and
incomes.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Mkindo Hembeti Dakawa
Income(US$/ha./season)
Irrigated
Non irrigated
Estimated income in CMRDs in Mvomero, Tanzania
Improved Traditional Scheme
Unimproved traditional
scheme
Formal Scheme

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3. Leverages an existing farmer-driven trend
• Farmers increasingly initiate and finance.
• Technologies exist and adoption rates are increasing.
• Investment costs typically low and profit margins high.
Madhya Pradesh, India: Farmer investment in individual rainwater harvesting

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4. Potential to impact millions
SSA: motor pumps
• 185 million potential rural beneficiaries
• Net revenues up to US$22 billion/yr.
Tanzania: motor pumps could benefit 2-4
million people (8-12% of rural households).

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BUT…

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5. Risks from unchecked spread of the sector
Challenges – equity, efficiency and sustainability
Access: women and
resource poor farmers
face challenges accessing
affordable AWM.
Market Inefficiencies:
negatively affect
farmer decision-
making and technology
access.
Sustainability:
uncontrolled spread of
small-scale AWM can
lead to environmental
damage.

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6. Lacks supportive institutional structures
Smallholder AWM lacks an institutional ‘home’.
Nariarlé Basin, Burkina
Faso: Local informal
actors fragmented,
preventing collective
bargaining.

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7. Targeted investments can help address AWM constraints and
enhance the agricultural sector's potential
Improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers
Increase access to water
Rainwater harvesting
• Create suitability maps
• Show farmers the benefits
• Garner local support
• Offer smart subsidies
• Provide technical support
Shallow groundwater
• Map groundwater resources
• Develop affordable drilling
• Raise awareness and create
demand
• Monitor environmental risks
Small reservoirs
• Reduce investment costs
• Pilot new management
approaches
• Acknowledge multiple uses
Catalyze smallholder
value chains
Innovative financing
mechanisms
• Pilot financial instruments
• Support rental markets
• Explore irrigation service
providers’ model
• Link specialist financing to
existing programmes
• Encourage women to own
equipment
Helping farmers buy
equipment and become
profitable
• Provide better information
• Educate about marketing
• Provide crop storage
facilities
• Promote ‘try-before-you-buy
scheme’
• Use networks to disseminate
information
Create policy synergies
between sectors
Addressing the influence of
external sector policies
• Align energy, import and
water policies
• Develop alternative energy
sources
• Privatize procurement and
marketing of irrigation
equipment
• Review tax policies and
import duties
Take a watershed
perspective
Managing social and
environmental impacts
• Consider multiple AWM
investments
• Develop systems to promote
cooperation
• Improve evaluation of
investments
• View impacts in broad
context

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Presentation Summary
1. Background
2. Key Messages
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Concluding Remarks

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Invest in water storage: increase dry season production
High demand, increases resilience and opens opportunities.
Individual rainwater harvesting
• Wet and dry season farming
• Cropping intensity increased
(122% to 198%).
• Increased incomes (>70%)
• Multiple use options.
• Reduced groundwater/ electricity
use.
• Payback period: 3 years
• Financial B/C ratio: 1.5-1.9
Changes in crop production in the dry season
Madhya Pradesh, India
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Wheat Gram
Prod_before Prod_after
Quintals

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Invest in value chain improvements: increase access
Costs and financing constrain farmers; Extension services limited
The Irrigation Service Provider
Model – Pump Rental Plus
• Local entrepreneur owns 1+ pumps.
• Paid per hour for irrigation.
Benefits:
• Incomes for entrepreneurs.
• Income from dry season crops for
farmers.

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Invest to create policy synergies
AWM solutions can often be found through linkages with other sectors
Smart Solar Power
Promotion Program
• Solar power as cash crop with
a guaranteed market at
attractive price.
• Reduce financial cost of
subsidies
• Incentives to sell back solar
power rather than pump
groundwater
• Reduce the carbon footprint

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Invest in a watershed perspective
Examining the range of impacts and the institutional capacity to manage trade-
offs could help improve the benefits from future AWM investments.
Mkindo Watershed, Tanzania: Participatory impact assessment of AWM solutions
Social Impacts Environmental Impacts
Technology Equity Gender
Poverty
Reduction
Water
Quality
Water
Quantity
Natural
Resources
Gravity based furrow
system for paddy rice
production
+/- - + - - -
Diesel pumps – irrigating
from rivers
+/- + + - - -
Livestock watering ponds + + + NA + +
Livestock watering canal - + + NA NA -
Large scale irrigation for
cash crop production
- NA Unclear - - -

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Presentation Summary
1. Background
2. Key Messages
3. Investment Opportunities
4. Concluding Remarks

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• Supporting smallholder AWM makes economic sense and
leverages farmers’ initiatives and own investments.
• The scale of current trend is astonishing but the
potential is even greater.
• Range of opportunities exist (technical, policy and
institutional) that can:
o leverage the investments already made to unlock this
potential;
o safeguard the sector’s proven benefits on food
security and poverty alleviation;
o extend the benefits to broader groups of
smallholders; and
o address potential adverse effects.
Significant opportunity, great potential

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Thank you
For more information, please visit: http://awm-solutions.iwmi.org/