1 ICID News Update ForJanuary Private Circulation 2008 Only NeNeNews UpdaUpdaws tetete INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE Established 1950 January 2009 From Secretary General’s Desk... President’s Message Dear Friends, Dear Colleagues operation and maintenance, but new The year 2009 is indeed special for ICID and Friends, irrigator and professional skills. New as it connotes our Diamond Jubilee Year knowledge, new ways of doing I take this and signifies the richness of the institution business, and new thinking lie at the opportunity to having experienced many swings in its heart of the advances required. invite you to the 5th cherished mission to contribute for Global Asian Regional By coming together as a world body in Peace and Prosperity. With the decision Delhi in December, we will have a th th Conference and to hold the 60 IEC together with 5 ARC 60th IEC meeting unique opportunity to put our minds to in New Delhi by expanding the schedule to be held in New work collectively on the most severe for nearly a week spanning between Delhi from 6-11 challenges facing the irrigation and December 6 and 11, 2009, you would December 2009. agri-food sectors at this point in have the advantage of benefiting from history. both the Regional Congress and IEC I am indeed grateful that the Indian workbodies. National Committee (INCID) with the I therefore invite you to jot the dates of December 6-11, 2009 on your In his Presidential message (please see support of Govt. of India, Ministry of Water Resources and Central Water calendars, and New Delhi as the place the adjoining box), President Chandra had to be. Let us avail ourselves of the flagged the opportunities that New Delhi Commission have agreed to host these two concurrent events which richness, diversity and culture of India. offers for a productive workbody and Let us explore together this land of Council meetings by larger attendance. are of highest importance within ICID and to the Asia region as well. ancient civilization, wonder and These meetings are being organized at excitement - the home to the Taj short notice by hosts, INCID as the The theme of the 5th Asian Regional Mahal, and our own ICID Central decision in shifting IEC venue was just Conference is Improvement in Office. In addition to the business side recent. Our website brings out the full Efficiency of Irrigation Projects of the meetings, there is sightseeing, details of the first information bulletin through Technology Upgrading and shopping of gold, silver, precious which will also be available in an exclusive Better Operation and Maintenance. gems, silk, spices, and handicrafts, website for the ARC / 60 IEC, being This theme is very significant given and visits to some of the finest water designed by INCID. that the largest irrigated region in the resources projects in the world. It is my pleasure to join President Chandra world lies in Asia, and some of the Please come with your families and and INCID Chairman Bajaj in extending a oldest irrigation schemes are also found in Asia. Not coincidentally is experience some of the finest hearty welcome to New Delhi, home for hospitality of our hosts, INCID and your Central Office. We look forward to also the fact the largest number of mouths to feed reside in Asia, and the CWC, as well as the ICID Central the golden opportunity of receiving you Office, who I know will go all out to with family in your Central Office during number is growing! How to feed and clothe this burgeoning population is a provide a most pleasant and fruitful the occasions which is not far from the IEC and Asian Regional Conference. venue for the conference given its central challenge for the world community, location amidst the embassies and high considering the enormous pressures I look forward to welcoming you to commissions of the Diplomatic corps. on land and water resources in Asia, Delhi. dwindling supplies of water, and the Best regards, extensive pollution. Current irrigation Yours truly, infrastructure cannot sustain the demands for food and fibre. Productivity and sustainability will M. Gopalakrishnan require not just improvements in Chandra Madramootoo Secretary General, ICID efficiency, technology, and better President, ICID An Update on Topic 2.3 World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul, latest Draft Topic Scoping Paper and of 5th World Water Forum Turkey from 16-22 March 2009. A Draft Draft Session Plan are also available on Topic Scoping Paper and a Draft Session VMS of WWF-5 and on the ICID website. ICID is the Coordinator for Topic 2.3 Plan is continuously reviewed, updated The Scoping Paper for Topic 2.3 will form Water for Food for Ending Poverty and and circulated to the Consortium Partners the basis for the presentations and Hunger of Theme 2 - Advancing Human / Consultative Partners through various discussions to be organized under four Development and the Millennium channels including Virtual Meeting Space sessions addressing the following key Development Goals (MDG) for the 5th (VMS) of WWF-5 and ICID website. The questions: Managing Water for Sustainable Agriculture • Water for Food and Rural Development 2 ICID News Update January 2009 Session I - How to achieve the Non Irrigated Agriculture addresses this challenge and endeavours required food production to meet the to demonstrate effective irrigation growing demand? Sixty percent of the agricultural production practices in its member countries. Our is coming from non-irrigated farms Session II - How can food market contribution would be through knowledge covering 1.2 billion hectares of land. We measures boost rural development development and technology transfer. and poverty alleviation? can add to these six billion hectares of natural grass land and pastures which ICID working groups under theme ON- Session III - Water for bioenergy or are contributing to human food chain. In FARM advocate a paradigm shift in food? spite of such a relatively vast rain fed knowledge and practices related to Session IV - How can better water cultivated and non cultivated areas within irrigation : management reduce poverty and the human access to be utilized for its hunger? - A synthesis. (Wrap-up welfare, its contribution to the human • Irrigation principles and practices. Session) food basket is limited. • Appropriate technology. • Modern irrigation practices. A total of 14 hours have been allocated The productivity of rainwater, (also by the Forum Organizers for Topic 2.3, referred by some as green water), in • Irrigation principles and practice during which Sessions I, II and III will be these regions is relatively low. There is organized in parallel with a duration of 4 considerable scope for improvements, It has been more than half a century hours each while Session IV will be a which could enhance the world food since the scientific approach to the plenary session with 2-hour duration. supplies. ICID in cooperation with other concepts of irrigation water management Session I will act as the introductory international agencies, concerned with has commenced and yet, many basic session, followed by Sessions II and III global food security, may bring the issue principle of irrigation science remain in whereas in Session IV the findings of within their working group activities to ambiguity. The basic concepts of irrigation previous three sessions will be integrated. play an important role in this endeavor such as irrigation water requirement and Each Session will be handled by a which would certainly contribute to the irrigation efficiencies are being Convener, Co-Convener and a Reporter enhancement of food security and more questioned. besides the panelists chosen from importantly to improve livelihoods in Consortium Partners and Consultative rural areas. Potential Evapo-transpiration, which is Partners for Topic 2.3. usually calculated indirectly from The scattered researches show that non meteorological data, is used as an For further details please visit ICID irrigated agricultural production, website as well as on VMS of WWF-5 indirect reference for crop water particularly the grain production, can be website. requirement. There are considerable over doubled by : better management of estimations involved in this procedure Dr. Saeed Nairizi on rainfall, some agro-technical improve- due to assumptions made in this context. ments, investments in infrastructures This includes evaporation from bare the Strategy Theme and technology, biotechnological land, which is not consumed by crops, ‘On-Farm’ enhancements and farmers’. the full land coverage by crop canopy, which is not normally the case, and no ICID workbodies are grouped under four Irrigated Agriculture constraint on availability of moisture for Strategy Themes, namely, Knowledge, evaporation. There is also over estimation Basin, Systems and On-Farm. During The world irrigated agriculture with area resulting from using meteorological data 59th IEC meeting at Lahore, Pakistan, covering 18% of cropped land is which are mainly collected from synoptic Vice President Hon. S. Nairizi (Iran) producing 40 percent of world’s harvested weather stations, whereas the crop may Theme Leader – ‘On-Farm’ made his food production. experience less temperature in the field. presentation on ‘On-Farm’. In brief, the So, less evapo transpiration may occur presentation brought out key issues. This demonstrates importance of irrigated agriculture where obviously much in real world. There are statistics showing that more attention has been devoted. The than a billion people of world don’t have expansion of area under irrigation and Efficiencies are another misconception access to adequate food for their survival increase in yield per hectare has taken in irrigation practices. Irrigation water and another billion people are under- place in many parts of the world during loss is quite a vague concept, depending nourished due to the existing gap between last 50 years. But it seems that we are on the angle and scale you look at it.