Modern Irrigation Technologies for Smallholders in Developing Countries

The author identifies the pre-conditions relating to water availability, institutional support and economic opportunity that must be satisfied before smallholders in developing countries can adopt irrigation methods and benefit from them.

Modern Irrigation Technologies reviews the experience of smallholders with irrigation technologies in a range of diverse conditions in many different countries. Some people argue that modern irrigation technologies are the key to increased food production. However, projects introducing modern irrigation technologies in the developing world have often failed because the irrigation hardware, which has been developed for high-technology commercial agriculture, cannot be easily adapted for the use of the smallholder. The author identifies the pre-conditions relating to water availability, institutional support and economic opportunity that must be satisfied before smallholders in developing countries can adopt irrigation methods and benefit from them. The circumstances in which modern technologies were introduced are identified, and the relative success or otherwise of the initiatives are summarized. The book also contains a practical review of the range of irrigation hardware that is available and indicates the types of equipment that are more likely to meet the requirements of the smallholder sector. G.A.Cornish is an irrigation engineer with wide experience of technology transfer and staff training on irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia. He currently works at the Overseas Development Unit of HR Wallingford, UK. Modern Irrigation Technologies will be an invaluable guide to project workers, planners and smallholders involved in planning and designing irrigation projects.