Irrigated agriculture produces enough food to meet about one third of the world's food demand, contributes to about 40 percent of Asia's food production, and plays a key role in global and regional agriculture development and food security. Rapid socio-economic development in Asia in the past decades brought new challenges and opportunities to the irrigation subsector, with large rice-based irrigation systems in Southeast Asia mostly affected. In 1996, FAO organized a regional expert consultation in Bangkok on the Modernization of Irrigation Schemes: Past Experiences and Future Options. A new definition of modernization of irrigation systems to guide future understanding and efforts was coined at the meeting: "Irrigation modernization is a process of technical and managerial upgrading (as opposed to mere rehabilitation) of irrigation schemes combined with institutional reforms, if required, with the objective to improve resource utilization (labour, water, economic resources and environmental resources) and the water delivery service to farms." Options for advocating and promoting irrigation modernization were identified and recommended.
Almost ten years after the 1996 Regional Expert Consultation, FAO, with the support of the Evaluation Study of Paddy Irrigation Under Monsoon Regime (ESPIM) Project funded by the Government of Japan, and the Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam, convened the Regional Workshop on the Future of Large Rice-based Irrigation Systems in Southeast Asia in Ho Chi Minh City in October 2005 to re-appraise the perspectives and evolution scenarios, to identify strategies, opportunities and interventions for the sustainable management of large rice-based irrigation systems in Southeast Asia over the coming decades in the context of improved management of water resources, and to promote collaboration in the region. About fifty experts and representatives from international, regional, subregional and national agencies and institutions participated in the workshop.
The workshop discussed three critical questions whose answers could determine the way that large rice-based irrigation systems will evolve over the next 20 to 25 years, namely: how will agriculture and rice production evolve in Southeast Asia? What changes will be required in irrigation service provision by the large rice-based irrigation systems? How will ongoing and expected reforms and investment programmes measure up against the projected needs of the region? Typological classification, reflecting both technical characteristics of the schemes and their socio-economic contexts, was adopted to support discussions on evolution scenarios and strategic responses.
This Proceedings is a collection of the workshop papers and outcomes. It offers a useful reference work to professionals, researchers and government decision-makers on sustainable agriculture, water management and irrigation modernization. We would like to congratulate the organizers of the workshop and the participants for all their efforts.
He Changchui
Assistant Director-General and
FAO Regional Representative
for Asia and the Pacific
