Game changers for irrigated agriculture – do the right incentives exist? Presentation of Mr. Jeremy Bird, Director General, IWMI at the 1st World Irrigation Forum, Mardin, Turkey, September 2013

1. Game changers for irrigated agriculture –
do the right incentives exist?
Jeremy Bird
International Water Management Institute
1st World Irrigation Forum
Mardin, Turkey, 29 September 2013

2. Humanity’s greatest challenge
To feed 9 billion people in
p p
2050, we need
to produce 50-70% more
p
5 7
food and raise
nutrition levels…
…and at the same time
reverse environmental
degradation
g

3. …problems are more than just scarcity
0.80
6,000
0.70
5,000
0.60
4,000
0.50
Water &
land
y
scarcity
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
3,000
Slow
2,000
growth in
1,000 y
p
productivity
0
0.00
1940
1960
1980
2000
2020
Unequal
sharing of
benefits
Unequal
sharing of
risks
INDIA NEWS CTOBER 1, 2009
India's Drought
Worst Since 1972
Water for a food-secure world
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4. What next ‐ reaching the limit of irrigated area?
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

5. …or a broader perspective – the rainfed to irrigated
continuum
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

6. Re‐thinking storage to manage climate variability – but
institutional complexity
institutional complexity
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

7. Game changers for irrigated agriculture –
do the right incentives exist?

8. What if the benefits of canal
commands increase to meet
higher demand - within the
resilience of natural ecosystems?
Identify i
Id tif incentives to influence
ti
t i fl
behaviour at all levels

9. ..some new approaches to rehabilitate and adapt
• e.g. encourage distributed
storage to improve system
flexibility and reliability
• modernize irrigation
g
systems e.g. pressurized
systems
• incentives for fee collection
and service delivery, NIMF
g
• recognize role of
conjunctive groundwater
use
• …

10. What if the potential for
p
increasing the productivity of
agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
can be realized?
Identify li
Id tif policy measures and
d
business models

11. Small‐scale irrigation in Africa
Back on the agenda in
Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and
elsewhere
Unlocking the potential for
smallholder agriculture to
smallholder agriculture to
improve the lives of
smallholder farmers in 5
countries in sub‐Saharan
ti i
bS h
Africa and 2 states in India
(Giordano et al, 2012)

12. The Bright Spots Initiative
Comprehensive study of 286
cases in 57 countries where
individuals and communities
that have adopted sustainable
crop intensification systems.
Bright spots influenced:
12.6 million households
covering 37 million hectares
increased yields by an average
i
d i ld b
of 79% with average carbon
sequestration of 0.35 t C ha‐1
yr‐1.
Relative yield change after/with proje
y
a
ect
11
10
Maize
Sorghum/millets
Pulse crops
Rice
Wheat
Cotton
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
2
4
6
8
-1
Yield before/without project (Mg ha )
10
Pretty et al., 2006; Noble et al, 2006
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

13. What if degraded lands are
brought back into production and
saline waters produce food and
g
generate income?
Out of the box thinking on
technical approaches and
institutional cooperation

14. Serial Biological Concentration…..

15. What if conjunctively managed surface
and ground water resources becomes a
reality?
y
Address both over-abstraction
and under-utilization

16. Contrasting
groundwater
issues – require
i
i
diverse responses
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

17. Managed Aquifer Recharge to stabilize
groundwater in Central Plains of Thailand
`
Falling GW level trends can be
reversed and year-round rice/sugar
year round
production maintained
Water for a food-secure world
www.iwmi.org

18. What if systems are in place to address
co pet g
competing uses a d identify win-win
and de t y
solutions ?
Creating the space for intersectoral dialogue

19. Examples of water transfers exist
Agricultural
production levels
maintained…
…as allocation to
agriculture was
reduced and
transferred to
urban use

20. …and co‐management of competing uses
rice – shrimp production in Viet Nam (and Bangladesh)
rice shrimp production in Viet Nam (and Bangladesh)
Higher income
US$2,150 /ha
8700 farmers
f
adopted innovation
Reduced pollution
Improved locally‐
responsive zoning
together with
sluice gate
sluice gate
management
S
Social conflicts
between brackish
(shrimp) and
freshwater (rice)
environments
S
Low income
< US$ 1,500/ha
Polluted aquatic
environment
20

21. What if there is a greater balance
between natural capital and the
built environment?
Bringing ecosystem services
into the discussion on
sustainable intensification of
t i bl i t
ifi ti
f
agriculture

22. Natural and built infrastructure… striking a
balance – increasing the total benefit stream
g
Intensively utilized basin
Natural basin
Hydropower
Hydropower
Crops
Industrial
Crops
Industrial
Regulation of
water balance
Regulation of
water balance
Recreation
Recreation
Erosion control
Erosion control
Nutrient
cycling Soil
formation
Nutrient
cycling Soil
formation
Climate
regulation
Climate
regulation
Multifunctional “green” basin
Hydropower
Provisioning services
Crops
Industrial
Regulatory services
g
y
Cultural services
Recreation
Regulation of
water balance
Erosion control
Supporting services
Nutrient
cycling S il
Soil
formation
Climate
regulation

23. What if waste and used water could have
a second life in agriculture and pollution
d lif i
i lt
d ll ti
reduced at same time?
Closing the nutient loop

24. A problem, but also
an opportunity?
pp
y
Wastewater
Piped water

25. Innovative RRR initiatives – to close water
and nutrient cycles
and nutrient cycles
Wastewater Water
Wastewater – Water
(irrigation, aquaculture)
Agro‐industrial waste ‐ Energy
MSW, Faecal sludge ‐ Nutrients (ag. production)

26. Reducing risk and uncertainty

27. Elements of sustainable intensification
Elements of sustainable intensification
• Maintaining downstream flows and water quality
• Mi i l ff i
Minimal off‐site movement of pollutants
f ll
• Utilizing natural infrastructure for water storage, flood
prevention
• Maintaining habitat for pollinators and conserving
biodiversity, forest cover and grasslands
• Sequestering carbon to improve
Sequestering carbon to improve
soils and mitigate climate change
• Maximizing energy efficiency,
minimizing water consumption,
i i ii
t
ti
resource reuse.
Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI

28. If we combine these
approaches with reduction
of food waste we can feed
2 billion more people while
reducing agriculture’s
footprint
f t i t
Photo: Tom Van Cakenberghe/IWMI

29. Water L d
W t Land and E
d Ecosystem Vi i
t
Vision:
A world in which agriculture thrives within
vibrant ecosystems where communities
ecosystems,
have higher incomes, improved food
security and the ability to continuously
improve their lives
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