Welcome to Water Management of Vegetables (WAVE)
Published on 10th Dec 2008
Editorial Note by Madhusudan Bhattarai .jpg "Low cost drip irrigation in Asia")
Vegetable cultivation requires lots of irrigation water as well as frequent and controlled irrigation compared to the cultivation of cereal crops. Thus, better access to water and especially access to controlled irrigation technologies is sometimes the most critical factor in a farmers’ decision for increasing vegetable acreage. This is the case especially in the developing countries where agricultural water scarcity is increasingly getting worse. The water scarcity problem is looming everywhere on the planet, which is furthermore exacerbated by climate change effects (high fluctuation of rainfall, sudden changes in river basin scale water flows, etc). All of these factors have led to uncertainties in water supply for agriculture and even more so for the cultivation of vegetables as it needs more controlled irrigation
Unlike cereal crops and other high-value crops, much of the world’s current production of vegetables are done by small-scale farmers and by farmers with little capital, small land holdings and those who are increasingly facing more and more scarcity of water resources on their farm. Therefore, access to irrigation water is key to a farmers’ decision for producing vegetable crops, cultural practices to use and technology adoption. In this context, a better understanding of water management issues of vegetables is critical for enhancing incomes and household food security in the tropics, where smallholder vegetable production is a critical component of poverty alleviation and rural development strategies.
The issue on water management of vegetables is equally critical in developed countries where most of the vegetables are produced under protective culture and with controlled water supply systems. In many developed economies, the pressure of intersectoral water reallocation and increasing water demands from other sectors of the economy like environmental uses, city water supply and industrial sector, has increasingly been threatening water allocation for agriculture production, including for vegetable. For example, the acute water shortage for agriculture in many parts of southern Europe (southern Spain), western USA (California) clearly suggests that the water management issues in vegetable farming is equally critical in developed economies, and it is not only of the problems of developing world alone. Therefore, there is a need to effectively optimize the use of available water resources for vegetable production.
Irrigation water is already a major limiting factor in crop production in most parts of the semi-arid and sub-humid regions of the tropics, even with plenty of rainfall areas of monsoonal Asia, water scarcity is particularly more during dry seasons due to lack of adequate irrigation structures. Here, small-scale irrigation and micro-irrigation (even ground water irrigation), which provide better water control by individual is better suited for high value crops and vegetables. This is also a requirement to adjust high fluctuation of water needs under micro-irrigation by crop types and by local factors than that of large-scale canal irrigation system.
The initial high private investment cost for micro-irrigation prohibits its adoption by many small-scale farming and resources poor farmers. To address this initial high-cost of setting up of micro-irrigation technologies, several national agencies and international agencies, including development NGOs, are trying to develop low-cost micro-irrigation system recently. These low-cost technologies are not as durable as standard irrigation scheme but they have advantage in terms of its breaking down the initial investment costs so that many smallholder farmers in the tropics can adopt it and can raise their income and livelihoods. Once they learn how to grow vegetables and use the techniques, they eventually also adopt other high-cost technologies.
Vegetable supplies and consumption are still below desirable levels in most developing countries. Lack of appropriate irrigation technology limits smallholder vegetable production in most developing countries, and particularly so in dry season of Asia. Low-cost drip irrigation technology is one of such micro-irrigation technologies recently being promoted by several development NGOs (IDE, Kick start, and several other development NGOs). Such affordable irrigation technology provides an option even for smallholders and resources poor growers to opt for vegetable and high value crop production with better access to water and also better control on water uses.
Therefore, this WAVE community page has been especially set up by Global Horticultural Initiatives (GlobalHort) for better tailoring the global information and issues in one place for the water management of vegetables. This should greatly assist the global community in getting information across the globe on vegetable production and water management issues, and those engaged in rural development issues globally, to have better access to information sharing around the globe, and also publication/sharing of their experience.
This is GlobalHort's attempts in coordination with AVRDC-the World Vegetable Center and other leading research centers around the world to facilitate a more thematic discussion on specific subject areas of horticultural production. Water management of Vegetable is also an interface thematic issue on water and vegetable sectors; and also now the most important global public policy issues because of increasing water scarcity worldwide. All of these suggest for better adaptation of the vegetable cultivation to these external and internal pressures on the vegetable farming. We expect that the global debates and discussions on this thematic topic here would help to shape better public policies on vegetables cultivation as well as agricultural water management.
We would appreciate it if you could use the GlobalHort Portal's WAVE community page for sharing your important information, publications, on going project activities and project results on interface of water and vegetable cultivation subject or water management of vegetable production.
For any general queries on WAVE and about GlobalHort activities, please send an email to Jerry Miner (jminer@globalhort.org) at GlobalHort; for socio-economics and policies and institutional issues of the subject matter to Madhusudan Bhattarai (madhu.bhattarai@worldveg.org), and for technical issues on water needs of vegetable and vegetable production related subject areas to Manuel Palada (manuel.palada@worldveg.org) at the AVRDC- the World Vegetable Center.
Madhusudan Bhattarai, Agricultural Economist, AVRDC –The World Vegetable Center
Solar-powered irrigation systems prove to be very successful in Benin
Published on 11th Jan 2010
According to a new study, solar-powered irrigation systems have significantly enhanced both the household incomes and the nutritional intake of villagers in sub-Saharan Africa.The two-year study found the pumps installed in the West African nation of Benin were a cost effective way to deliver water, especially during the dry season. Only 4-percent of the cropland in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, most communities rely on rain-fed agriculture
WAVE RESOURCES
Farm Level Optimal Water Management: Assistance for Irrigation under Deficit (Flow-aid)
Gestion de l'eau, acteurs, usages (G-eau)
International Development Enterprises (IDE)
International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management (INPIM)
International Society for Horticultural Science. Commission on Irrigation and Plant Water Relations.
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
The World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC)
- Newsletter article "Using Water Well" by M. Bhattarai and O. Hanschke
VI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops. November 2-6, 2009, Viña del Mar (Chile)
The Vegetable Section of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), the Conveners and Organizing Committee invite you with great pleasure to participate in the Sixth International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural crops. The Symposium will be held in November 2-6, 2009 in Viña del Mar, Chile.
The Symposium Program will consist of invited papers, contributed papers, posters and exhibits. The Organizing Committee will accept contributed papers on the basis of selection and recommendation of the Scientific Committee.
Papers presented in the Symposium will be published in a volume of Acta Horticulturae, subject to acceptance by the editorial board. Posters will be displayed during the Symposium.
The Scientific Program will include the following subjects:
- Recent advances on crop coefficients and horticultural crops evapotranspiration.
- Plant-water relations and physiological indicators for irrigation management.
- Irrigation scheduling using soil water content measurements, weather stations network and remote sensing.
- Regulated deficit irrigation and partial drying root.
- Use of recycled and poor quality water for irrigation.
- Irrigation systems, water management and productivity.
- Climate change impact on irrigation practices.
The African Market Garden: Advanced Horticulture for the Poor. Produced by Dov Pasternak of ICRISAT. The African Market Garden (AMG) is a low-pressure drip irrigation system combined with a comprehensive crop husbandry package. This technique generates income for small producers, contributes to better nutrition and mitigates the effects of climate change through the use of irrigation.
Socioeconomic Impact of Low-cost Tank with Drip Irrigation for Vegetable Production: A Community-scale Case Study in Nepal. Produced by M. Bhattarai of AVRDC for the World Water Congress, Montpellier, Sept. 2008.