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Tehran declaration .ICID
25 Oct 2011 13:52
The 22nd ICID Congress, the 8th international Micro-irrigation Congress and the 62nd IEC meeting of ICID were held between 19-23 October 2011 in Tehran, Iran .more than 1200 delegates from 55 countries attended these.
The 22nd ICID Congress, the 8th international Micro-irrigation Congress and the 62nd IEC meeting of ICID were held between 19-23 October 2011 in Tehran, Iran .More than 1200 delegates from 55 countries attended these. More than 300 papers were accepted .Representatives from FAO-UN; ADB joined the IEC events, given the importance of the topics of the congresses, and other sideline joint meetings on investment in agricultural water sector.
While the congress was focused on considering the theme in "Water Productivity towards food security" the micro-irrigation congress deliberated on issues related to "innovations in Technology and Management of Micro-irrigation for the enhanced productivity". As a result of intense deliberations following the presentations , the following recommendations emerged:
1. Throughout the world the increasing sign of water stress, accentuated by the climate change are too imminent. The changes in the pattern of precipitation and temperatures impacts agriculture sector severely, particularly rain fed. Increasing physical water productivity reduces the need for additional water required in irrigated lands to meet the increasing demand for doubling food production, meeting other water requirements, while at the same time providing sufficient water for the sustainability of ecosystems.
2. As water becomes a more limiting resource than land and other resources it's logical to focus on "maximizing water productivity ". Creating an enabling environment allows the adoption of improved water management and other rain fed agriculture technologies to achieve this productivity increase. Where needed, the national policies can be changed involving all stakeholders to encourage maximizing water productivity by valuing water. A financial policy which reallocate to water use efficient practices and options can yield the desired results.
3. Rain fed agriculture is very important to enhance food security and ecosystems sustainability. However, the rain fed produces much the below the potential achievable. returns on investment in rain fed systems is high and hence essential in many areas where with of supplemental irrigation , water harvesting and soil and water conservation in addition to facilitating access to necessary input, better results are achievable.
4. Impacts of climate change and droughts on rain fed production require more emphasis and consideration. It's important to increase support to research and capacity building in rain fed agriculture. Especially for understanding the impacts of climate change and adaption measures in addition to optimizing water management.
5. Cost of desalination of water for agriculture use is prohibitively high. Therefore water productivity efforts should focus on :
(i) Decreasing water losses in different phases of supply, distribution and consumption.
(ii) Improving irrigation methods, optimizing farming , garden and green areas patterns; and
(iii) Reuse of wastewater for agricultural and city green areas.
6. Irrigation water productivity (IWP) is a promising tool to evaluate the effectiveness of water allocated to agriculture from economical and environment consideration particularly within water stressed regions. Local knowledge and modern technological information are required to increase water user efficiency.
7. It's important to realize that irrigation has only a part role in the crop production process. In order to have high water productivity there are other important key players in this process which should be aligned with irrigation technology and management. The examples are , proper agro technology, improving the soil condition, better seeds, appropriate fertilization , and above of all the importance of farm management is to be emphasized.
8. Evaporation from the field is an actual water loss within irrigation schemes , which is not recoverable. So attempts should be directed to the technology and management of irrigation planning and operation to minimize such water losses.
9. Supplemental irrigation is the key strategy, so far underutilized on a regional basis to unlock the yield potential under rain fed water scarcity condition. Realizing that sub-surface drip irrigation is more effective than conventional drip irrigation systems in decreasing water evaporation and deep percolation especially in warm regions and light soils.
10. The concept of crop water requirement needs to be reconsidered with the aim to focus on the actual water consumed by crops. Irrigation technology should be directed to the systems which minimize losses and hence moving towards more water productivity.
11. Water management practices and technologies with high irrigation efficiencies should be studied and recommended for planning and decision making, based on basin water balance rather than measurement at the farm level.
12. There is an urgent need to improve designs and to increase micro-irrigation systems efficiency by incorporating latest research findings. Recognizing the priority of training literate farmers to apply pressurized and micro-irrigation systems in countries with low literacy level of the farmers.
13. Recognizing that increase in water productivity based on crop for drop needs to be given prime importance in the 21st century.
