Location
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit, scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in developing countries. It is headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with regional offices across Asia and Africa. IWMI works in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to develop scalable agricultural water management solutions that have a real impact on poverty reduction, food security and ecosystem health. IWMI is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
IWMI’s Mission is to provide evidence-based solutions to sustainably manage water and land resources for food security, people’s livelihoods and the environment.
IWMI’s Vision, as reflected in the Strategy 2014-2018, is ‘a water-secure world’. IWMI targets water and land management challenges faced by poor communities in the developing countries, and through this contributes towards the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing poverty and hunger, and maintaining a sustainable environment. These are also the goals of CGIAR.
IWMI works through collaborative research with many partners in the North and South, and targets policymakers, development agencies, individual farmers and private sector organizations.
Members:
Resources
Displaying 1 - 5 of 959Mechanizing water lifting through pumps: a case study in Sri Lanka
A reliable supply of water is critical for agricultural intensification and yield improvement. Technological devices that lift, transport and apply water contribute to increased yield from improved crop varieties and high input cultivation. The increasing use of motor pumps is a significant contribution to the development of small-scale irrigation.
Community-managed groundwater irrigation on the Vientiane Plain of Lao PDR: planning, implementation and findings from a pilot trial
Laos has vast surface water resources. However, in areas located far away from surface water sources or those that are prone to surface water scarcity, groundwater is gaining recognition as a valuable source of water for agricultural development. Households in Ekxang village on the Vientiane Plain, for example, depend on rainfall for the cultivation of rice during the wet season and a wide range of vegetables and herbs in the dry season. Climate change poses a growing threat to crop production in such villages, altering wet season rainfall and making drought more common and severe.
River deltas: scaling up community-driven approaches to sustainable intensification
The residents of the Ganges and Mekong River deltas face serious challenges from rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, pollution from upstream sources, growing populations, and infrastructure that no longer works as planned. In both deltas, scientists working for nearly two decades with communities, local governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have demonstrated the potential to overcome these challenges and substantially improve people’s livelihoods.
Joint ventures in the Flag Boshielo Irrigation Scheme, South Africa: a history of smallholders, states and business
The report analyzes the changing tripartite constellations between South African black smallholders, the pre- and post-apartheid state, and the country’s large-scale agribusiness and irrigation industry. A recent mode of farming is the ‘joint venture’, in which smallholders hand over land and share in the net profits, while a strategic partner manages the cultivation with own inputs and equipment, and markets the output.
Gender-equitable pathways to achieving sustainable agricultural intensification
Women play an increasingly greater role in agriculture. Ensuring that they have opportunities—equal to those of men—to participate in transforming agriculture is a prerequisite for sustainable intensification. Increased gender equity in agriculture is both a practical and a social justice issue: practical because women are responsible for much of the production by smallholders; and social justice because in many cases they currently do not have rights over land and water resources, nor full access to markets, and often they do not even control the crops they produce.