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Published: 1990

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Irrigated agriculture will play a major role in reaching the broader developmental objectives of achieving food security, poverty alleviation and improvements in the quality of life in the developing world, especially in the context of global population growth from 5 bilion todayto at least 8 bilion by 2025. The constraints posed by land and water scarcity and the associated need to increase the carrying capacity of the land in a sustainable manner will require significant improvementsin efficiency and flexibility of irrigation and drainage systems in developing countries in the next few decades. Technological innovation and adaptation are important ingredients in bringing about these improvements. This proposal is a first step toward the launching of an internationally-supported initiative to enhance R&D in irrigation and drainage technology in developing countries. It assesses the importance of irrigation and drainage in agriculture, review the status of current R&D and identifies priorities for research (modernizing irrigationand drainage systems; ensuring sustainability and improving maintenance) and action (human resource development and networking). It gives preliminary consideration to the functions of an organization designed to implement the R&D initiative. It also emphasizes the need for collaboration with the work of other national and international agencies involved irrigation research so that the proposed initiative in R&D in technology is complementary to ongoing efforts, cost effective and ...