Where there is water, there is life. A reliable source of clean water is necessary to grow nutritious food and to lead a healthy life.

But climate change is wreaking havoc on rainfall patterns and causing surface water to be lost to evaporation. Sometimes there is not enough water, and other times there is too much. Now, even farmers who have always been able to rely on predictable rainfall are having to adapt as climate patterns shift.

But with irrigation, it’s possible to bring this source of life to the world's poorest rural people in the right quantities and when they need it.

This is not a new technology. From the Archimedes screw and the Persian qanat system of underground tunnels, to dams built in the Andes highlands and modern drip systems, farmers have relied on irrigation for millennia.

Modern irrigation and water management techniques are helping small-scale farmers progress from low-productivity subsistence farming to irrigated agriculture – while using practices that build their climate resilience and conserve natural resources.

Three IFAD projects show the difference irrigation can make.