EnvironmentHimalayan glaciers now shrinking 65% faster than a decade ago
A new report estimates that Himalayan water underpins about 20 percent of India's GDP and sustains its wheat, rice and tea economies.
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Irrigation
Environment
EnvironmentClimate change will make solar irrigation dearer, African study finds
A new IFPRI study projects that farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa will need solar pumping systems up to 30 per cent larger by 2050-70, narrowing solar's cost advantage over diesel — though falling panel prices should more than cover the difference.
EnvironmentDrought warnings only pay off when water governance lets farmers act, IWMI says
Better forecasts do not automatically mean fewer losses, IWMI's Mohsin Hafeez told a CGIAR webinar on drought resilience, citing sensor-guided irrigation in Tanzania that cut water use by an average of 60% while lifting yields.
CropsKenyan counties put soil and irrigation research to the test in Kisumu dialogue
Officials from Kisumu, Siaya, Busia and Vihiga counties reviewed fertiliser-recommendation and irrigation-advisory tools with national ministries and researchers, feeding into two policy briefs under the iSPARK project.
EnvironmentEthiopia has 5.3 million irrigable hectares and has developed a tenth
IWMI and Ethiopian ministries have co-developed the country's first public-private partnership strategy for small-scale irrigation, built on seven business models and pilot schemes in Sidama and Central Ethiopia.
EnvironmentUS irrigated land stops growing as water use per acre falls
American irrigated area grew more than tenfold from 1890 but has stalled since 1997, even as the water applied to each acre has fallen sharply.
AgribusinessFood-system investment could add 5 million jobs across MENA, Afghanistan and Pakistan
A World Bank Group report finds that US$12 billion a year in water-efficient irrigation and farm innovation, backed by policy reform, could double fruit and vegetable output, lift cereal yields 72 percent and create 5 million jobs in the region by 2050.
EnvironmentKazakhstan relines 812 km of canals and a cotton farmer's yield rises by half
A World Bank-backed project has rebuilt irrigation and drainage across four regions, improving service on more than 100,000 hectares and putting remote pump controls in the hands of operators.
EnvironmentKyrgyz Republic wins $95.75 million to rebuild irrigation on 82,000 hectares
The programme aims to lift water conveyance efficiency from 35 percent to at least 70 percent and to benefit more than 450,000 people, with co-financing bringing the first phase past $170 million.
EnvironmentUSDA surveys 23,000 farms on how they conserve soil and water
Nearly 23,000 American farmers, ranchers and landowners will be asked about tillage, irrigation, fertiliser and installed conservation practices for the Conservation Effects Assessment Project.
EnvironmentNew aqueduct and canal works secure water for Argentina's herds and orchards
A livestock aqueduct in southern Córdoba has brought 50,000 hectares back into production and a rebuilt irrigation system in the Río Negro Valley has added 4,000 hectares, both under the World Bank-supported GIRSAR programme.
EnvironmentEthiopia hands irrigation decisions to farmers — and asks them to pay a share
Under the farmer-led irrigation development programme, farmers choose the system they want and contribute cash towards it, while the government facilitates rather than builds.
AgribusinessA brewery plan became a 1,000-hectare farm employing 300 in Guinea
BMI Farms in Tanene grew from a rejected beer-factory proposal into an irrigated fruit and juice business, one of the agribusinesses through which IDA grants of $6.5 million have drawn $36 million in private capital and created over 14,800 jobs in Guinea.