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Managing water, sustainability and poverty
reduction through collective community action
Suhas P. Wani, K. H. Anantha and William D. Dar, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
A
ccess to and management of land and water resources need
to improve significantly to ensure sustainable and inclusive
development. With increasing demand for food production
to meet the needs of the growing population, increasing incomes
and changing food habits, water scarcity will intensify. Estimates
indicate that present food production requires some 7,000 km
3
/
year of consumptive fresh water. Of this, 1,800 km
3
/year origi-
nates from bluewater (run-off) use in irrigation and the remaining
5,200 km
3
/year from direct greenwater (rainwater as soil mois-
ture) use in rain-fed agriculture.
Two hot-spot regions of the world emerge in terms of water needs
for food and livelihoods: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Asia. For SSA
indications suggest a tripling of agricultural water demand by 2025,
and an almost five-fold increase by 2050.1 By 2025, an estimated
1.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with absolute
water scarcity, with almost half of the world living in conditions of
water stress. Nearly 1.2 billion people across the world live in areas
of physical water scarcity, while another 1.6 billion face what can
be called economic water shortage. The situation is only expected
to worsen as population growth, climate change, investment and
management shortfalls restrict the amount of water available to
people. Land degradation and moisture stress have largely resulted
in low crop yields, as the current farmers’ yields are two to five times
lower than achievable crop yields in Asia and Africa.2 At the same
time climate change brings additional risks and further unpredict-
ability of returns for farmers. This calls for improved governance
of land and water resources and a closer integration of policies,
combined with increased and more strategic investment targeting
food security and poverty alleviation.3
Need for a holistic approach
In this regard, a major concern is to rehabilitate existing vast tracts
of degraded land and manage water resources efficiently to ensure
livelihood support for rural populations in these regions. Considering
the existing mismatch between resource availability and management,
the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) and its partners have demonstrated several innovative
up-scalable options to effectively tackle the problem at micro-level.
The integrated watershed management approach aims at applying a
holistic approach to water management that acknowledges the vital
role played by both greenwater and bluewater flows in sustaining direct
and indirect ecological functions and services benefiting humans.
4
Both greenwater and bluewater are generated in the landscape, and
integrated water resource management is the key for sustainable
development and management of water at small catchment scale,
which is recommended for enhancing the efficiency of
water in rain-fed areas.
5
Indications are that greenwater
dominates food production, as consumptive use of green-
water is four times larger than that of bluewater. Field
measurements of rain-fed grain yields and actual green-
water flows indicated that by doubling yields from 1 to
2 t ha
-1
in semi-arid tropical agroecosystems, greenwater
productivity may improve from approximately 3,500 m
3
t
-1
to less than 2,000 m
3
t
-1
. Further, the conventional
sectoral approach to water management produced low
water use efficiencies resulting in increased demand for
water to produce food. Therefore, there is a need for a
holistic approach based on converging all the necessary
aspects of natural resource conservation, their efficient
use, production functions through enabling policies and
much-needed investment in fragile areas. This calls for
a community-based approach involving stakeholders as
decision makers.
Innovative model for watershed management
ICRISAT has developed and adopted a consortium
model of watershed management. This espouses the
principles of collective action, convergence, coopera-
tion and capacity building with technical backstopping
by a consortium of institutions comprising national
agricultural research systems, development agencies
like government line departments, and non-govern-
mental organizations (NGOs) to address the issues of
equity, efficiency, economics and environment.
6
The
new integrated community watershed model provides
technological options for the management of run-off,
water harvesting,
in-situ
conservation of rainwater for
groundwater recharging and supplemental irrigation,
appropriate nutrient and soil management practices,
waterway systems, crop production technology, and
appropriate farming systems with income-generating
micro-enterprises for improving livelihoods while
protecting the environment. The current model of
watershed management adopted by ICRISAT and its
partners involves environment-friendly options and the
use of new science tools which, along with the concept
of the consortium approach, emphasise empowering
farmers through capacity building and adopt a concept
of convergence in every activity in the watershed.
7
To provide the necessary knowledge to farmers, an
ICRISAT-led consortium provided technical backstopping
W
ater
C
ooperation
, S
ustainability
and
P
overty
E
radication