Water-smart agriculture (WaSA) is an approach that balances water availability, access, and use across different sources in a socially, environmentally, and technically sustainable way. It seeks to maximize returns while protecting environmental flows and ensuring equality. WaSA was developed as water challenges are most sensitive to climate change, and agriculture depends on water cycles. WaSA brings policy and practice coherence to water for agriculture and links water to development. It overlaps with climate-smart agriculture and sustainable intensification but specifically focuses on water-related challenges. The objectives of WaSA in East Africa are maximizing outcomes, ensuring sustainability, and transitioning to prosperity through principles of increasing productivity, value, and sharing of water resources.

1. Water-Smart Agriculture
What is WaSA and Why now?
EA
Peter Lochery, CARE

2. Genesis of the term
• GWI EA part of a three-region approach
(EA, WA, CA) to improving water
management for smallholder farmers
• Search for a ‘big idea’ from mid 2013 to
help conceptualize the challenge and
appropriate responses; including:
– Overcoming water as a constraint to
agricultural development; managing risk
– Maximizing water use as an asset to
generate value
– Ensuring sustainable resource use
• Collaboration with CGIAR WLE
• East Africa context of variable rainfed
systems, land pressures / soil
degradation

3. So what is Water Smart Agriculture?
In its simplest sense, Water Smart Agriculture is an approach to farming that balances
water availability, access and use across the range of water sources, and according to
principles of socio-economic, environmental and technical sustainability. It seeks to
maximize returns whilst protecting environmental flows and ensuring equality within
farming systems.

4. Why develop another organizing
concept now?
• CSA, CA, SI, do not focus on water-specific
challenges but root them in other contexts
– Hydrological cycle is ultimately the most
sensitive variable to climate change
– Unpacking ‘what is water-specific’ and what to
do about it is part of the wider, nested
challenge, of addressing climate impacts
– Agriculture ‘pivots’ on what happens to the
water cycle, particularly in areas of low
technological input
– Need to bring greater policy and practice
coherence to water for agriculture; and link
water to wider development challenges to
encourage greater investment

5. CSA, SI and WaSA
• Climate Smart Agriculture
– sustainable increases in
productivity, achieving
resilience, reducing GHG
emissions and enhancing
food security and
development – the so-called
‘triple win’
• Sustainable Intensification
– yield increases without
adverse environmental
impact and without more
land being brought into use
• Already substantial overlap
between CSA and SI...

7. A theory of change in East Africa

8. Objectives
Principles Productivity Value Sharing
Maximizing
outcomes: water is
used to provide the best
possible set of socio-
economic outcomes, given
constraints
Increasing water
productivity through
water management,
fertility, cropping
system
Using WaSA to move
into higher value
production
Ensure fair and
transparent access to
water
Ensuring
sustainability: water
is not overexploited and its
use does not lead to
ecosystem damage
Maintaining
productivity and
investment in the face
of uncertainty
Exploiting
opportunities for
value production
Rewarding eco-
efficiency. Penalizing
high risk activities
Transitioning to
prosperity: better
water management leads to
step changes in
socioeconomic
development, building
‘growth with equity’
Achieving food security. Using water for
higher value products
Supporting efficient
resource use as value
increases
Building learning
and sharing: the
‘doing’ of WaSA embeds
learning and sharing as a
key ongoing activity
Institutions ensure
incentives for ‘best use’
Move towards
sustainable
intensification
Institutions to enable
transparent and
informed negotiation
over resource
allocation and use
Towards a set of principles

9. The purpose behind a new ‘brand’
• Enabling diverse groups (from
local to national) to
organize/galvanize support
around a concept
• A global ‘clustering’ of
activities to achieve a larger
aim (more efficiently
managing the use of green
and blue water)
• Providing a conceptual ‘pivot’,
for practical guidance…forcing
thinking forward
• Unpacking - CSA

10. Impacts, results, challenges: GWI EA
• Substantial increases in
income levels for poor
farmers (x2-x3 recent
examples from Ethiopia)
– Increased farming area /
greater market engagement
/ high value crops
– Dry season farming
• Strong district buy-in;
extension by demonstration
• Early adopters….evidence of
ripple effect
• But issues that need
addressing too

11. • Moving forward
– Launch of
Sourcebook on Water
Smart Agriculture in
East Africa at World
Water Forum
– Move towards
formation of a WaSA
Alliance
– Continued focus on
investments and
bottom-up learning