Villains or heroes? Farmers' adjustments to water scarcity

Although farmers are often seen as wasting water and getting a disproportionate share of water, irrigation is losing out in the competition for water with other sectors. In cases of drought, water restrictions are overwhelmingly imposed on irrigation while other activities and domestic supply are on...

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Published inIrrigation and drainage Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 419 - 431
Main Authors Molle, François, Venot, Jean-Philippe, Lannerstad, Mats, Hoogesteger, Jaime
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.10.2010
Wiley
Subjects
Adjustment
Allocations
balance
basin
Basins
china
conjunctive use
coping strategies
Domestic
drought
environment
farmers
Gain
Humanities and Social Sciences
india
Irrigation
jordan valley
rareté de l'eau
resilience
résilience
SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Shortages
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Sociology
Stockpiling
stratégies d'adaptation
sécheresse
usage de sources multiples
water
water allocation
Water scarcity
water supply
watersheds
Middle East
Asia
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Summary:Although farmers are often seen as wasting water and getting a disproportionate share of water, irrigation is losing out in the competition for water with other sectors. In cases of drought, water restrictions are overwhelmingly imposed on irrigation while other activities and domestic supply are only affected in cases of very severe shortage. All over the world, farmers have been responding to the challenge posed by both short- and long-term declining water allocations in many creative ways, but these responses have often been overlooked by policy makers. This paper examines how farmers have adapted to water scarcity in six different river basins of Asia and the Middle East. It inventories the different types of adjustments observed and shows not only their effectiveness in offsetting the drop in supply but also their costs to farmers and to the environment and their contribution to basin closure. The conclusion calls for a better recognition of the efforts made by the irrigation sector to respond to water challenges and of its implications in terms of reduced scope for efficiency gains in the irrigation sector. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ird.500
This research is largely derived from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (www.iwmi.org\assessment) and was supported by a grant from the Government of Netherlands to the Comprehensive Assessment.
istex:EE9F8BFEF6CA184311D910D96B170EFE609A1535
L'irrigation et les réponses des irrigants aux pénuries d'eau.
ArticleID:IRD500
Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
ark:/67375/WNG-CTVG68HC-0
Government of the Netherlands
This research is largely derived from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture
www.iwmi.org\assessment
and was supported by a grant from the Government of Netherlands to the Comprehensive Assessment.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1531-0353
1531-0361
1531-0361
DOI:10.1002/ird.500