Water and the Rural Poor

Puspa Raj Khanal;Santini, G.;Douglas J. Merrey

Water and the Rural Poor

Interventions for Improving Livelihoods in Asia

Year of publication 2014

Pages 161 p.

Author Puspa Raj Khanal;Santini, G.;Douglas J. Merrey

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 978-92-5-108263-8

Series title RAP Publication

Series number 1020-6221|1014-2789|18194591|0428-9560

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Investments in water have played a critical role in promoting socio-economic development in rural Asia. Sustainable management of water resources remains a prerequisite for development and reducing poverty and hunger. Water is a key factor affecting agricultural production and reduction of rural poverty. Most small farmers live in areas with poor natural resource conditions, where water-related constraints are a root cause of low production and increasing vulnerability to natural disasters and c limate variability. The importance of securing water availability for rural livelihoods is therefore increasing. This report demonstrates that there is tremendous potential for well-targeted water interventions to enhance livelihoods and support rural development even in water-scarce environments. It argues that future investments in agricultural water management should complement other interventions to support rural transformation and poverty reduction programmes. The region is confronted with a double transitional challenge of maintaining rapid economic growth and managing natural resources sustainably. Rural livelihoods are in transition and are evolving in complex ways, shaped by both global forces and local contexts.

Language English

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

Document

Rural Water Livelihoods Index (RWLI) 2008

Also available in:

No results found.

There are many indications that water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource, a point often made over the last 10 years (Falkenmark, 1997, SEI, 1997, Molden, 2007. Access to water is now recognised as a prerequisite for poverty reduction (Sullivan and Meigh, 2003), but in today’s complex and changing world, competition for water from many different sectors can divert attention from its role in the improvement of human livelihoods (Llamas and Rogers, 2005). To better manage this vital resour ce, we need to develop ways of quantifying it which reflect this complexity, while providing robust representations of reality. Some 75% of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas across the world, and for them, water access can literally mean the difference between life and death. The Rural Water Livelihood Index (RWLI) attempts to assess some of the more fundamental, water-related components which influence rural livelihoods, and which can support rural poverty reduction. In this way it can help decision makers target investments more effectively, ensuring funds get allocated to where there is most need.
Book (stand-alone)

On-farm Irrigation Development Project in the Old Lands (OFIDO)
Technical assessment – Final report
2020

Also available in:

No results found.

The Government of Egypt is committed to enhancing food security and developing the country’s agricultural sector through the sustainable management of its natural resources and the active improvement of its institutional capacities. The national “Poverty Reduction and Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy” well align with this objective by calling for the promotion of a more efficient and market-oriented agriculture and optimal use of land and water resources. The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), in line with the national Strategy, implemented the On-Farm Irrigation Development in the Old-Lands project (OFIDO), an agribusiness development programme funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Fund (IFAD), with the aim to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor living in selected command areas in Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt. In order to evaluate and define future investment strategies and policies for the implementation of successful interventions in Agricultural Water Management, the Government of Egypt entrusted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to conduct an independent Technical Assessment and provide a comprehensive overview of the performance of improved irrigation systems in three Governorates in the project area of intervention. The Technical Assessment was carried out in two main complementary phases which allowed a thorough evaluation of both the technical and the economic components of the project.
Project

Rapid assessment study: Towards integrated planning of irrigation and drainage in Egypt, in support of the Integrated Irrigation Improvement and Management Project (IIIMP)
Final Report 2005
2005

Also available in:

No results found.

Supporting capacity development for sustainable agricultural water management The International Programme for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID) is a multi-donor trust fund managed by the IPTRID Secretariat as a Special Programme of FAO. The Secretariat is located in the Land and Water Development division of FAO and draws on a worldwide network of leading centres of excellence in the field of irrigation, drainage and water resources management. IPTRID aims to support ca pacity development for sustainable agricultural water management to reduce poverty enhance food security and improve livelihoods, while conserving the environment. IPTRID provides advisory services and technical assistance to governments and funding institutions to stimulate increased and more effective investment, assisting in the formulation and implementation of capacity development strategies and programmes. IPTRID was created in 1990 by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Prog ramme (UNDP) in collaboration with the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). First located at the World Bank in Washington, the IPTRID Secretariat was transferred in 1998 to the FAO in Rome. IPTRID is developing partnership with an increasing number of funding institutions and governments. During the last ten years, it has been supported by more than 20 international organizations and government agencies and has cooperated with more than 60 partners in about 40 developing c ountries and countries in transition. The present programme is co-financed by FAO, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, the World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).