water management for irrigation and thus production on 

 the farmer's field. 



It has been projected (FAO 1977) that the following 

 new developments, estimated to cost $100 billion at 

 1975 prices, will be needed by 1990 to make even 

 moderate gains in per capita food production in 

 developing countries: 22 million hectares of newly 

 irrigated land, 45 million hectares of rehabilitated 

 irrigation systems, and 78 million hectares of improved 

 drainage. But increasing production by only 10 percent 

 on existing irrigated land in the developing countries 

 would produce the same increase as 9 million hectares 

 of newly irrigated land which, using FAO-estimated 

 prices, would cost $25.2 billion. Moreover, unless 

 yield potentials from irrigation are realized more 

 fully, costly investments in new irrigation can hardly 

 be justified. Although improvements in physical 

 drainage works are important on many projects, good 

 farm water management systems would help solve many 

 problems of waterlogging and salinity. 



Ongoing Work 



The United states possesses a large stock of farm 

 irrigation technology, both hard and soft, and has had 

 considerable experience in helping to adapt this 

 technology to conditions in developing countries. 

 Universities in the western United States began 

 research on this problem about 80 years ago and for the 

 next half century state extension services, the soil 

 Conservation Service (SCS) , the Bureau of Reclamation, 

 together with private manufacturers of irrigation 

 equipment and a limited number of consulting firms, 

 gained competence and experience. More recently, AID, 

 with university and USDA assistance, has gained 

 experience in developing countries. 



Other experienced agencies and institutions include 

 the international lending agencies, FAO, some of the 

 international research centers, and agricultural 

 organizations such as the International Agricultural 

 Development Service (IADS) and the Agricultural 

 Development Council (ADC) . 



CGIAR has since its formation been greatly 

 concerned about farm water management. It is 

 convinced, however, that the answer will not be found 

 in an international research center in the mode of the 

 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) or the 

 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center 

 (CIMMYT) , because the problem is not primarily 

 research, but rather diagnosis and innovative 

 experimentation, i.e. , a "clinical" approach is needed. 



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