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Improving irrigated agriculture performance through an understanding of the water delivery process
Author(s) -
Clemmens Albert J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.236
Subject(s) - productivity , irrigation , agriculture , process (computing) , service (business) , business , population , scale (ratio) , environmental science , environmental economics , environmental resource management , water resource management , computer science , geography , economics , economic growth , marketing , ecology , archaeology , biology , operating system , demography , cartography , sociology
The performance of large‐scale irrigation projects worldwide has been disappointing to the international community. Continued poor performance could limit our ability to provide food and fibre for a growing, more affluent world population. Improvement in the productivity of large irrigation systems is a key component to assuring future adequate food and fibre supplies. This paper discusses the reasons for poor performance of these schemes and proposes a method to improve their performance. A main problem is that operation of these irrigation systems is not tied to productivity. As a result, the dispersive nature of these large open canal distribution systems causes extreme variability in water delivery service to users. The remedy is to break the system down at key intermediate locations within the network and to improve physical and administrative control at those locations. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.