Over recent decades, there has been a shift in the focus of government irrigation schemes towards groundwater development throughout the Gangetic Plains, especially in the Nepal Tarai-Madhesh. This report explores the impact of landlord-tenant relations on access to groundwater irrigation. Tenant farmers have a reduced incentive to invest in pumping equipment and the boring of tube wells due to the high cost involved, insecure tenure and high rent payments, while landlords themselves have been shown to offer little support.

This report reviews several decades of global experience in transferring management of government-run irrigation systems to farmer associations or other nongovernmental agencies in an attempt to apply the lessons of success to the African smallholder irrigation context.

Although many irrigation systems in the dry zone of Sri Lanka have water shortage problems, water consumption is very high during land preparation. This paper analyzes the impact of institutional interventions on efficient water management, especially during the land preparation period. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors behind prolonged periods of land preparation so that system managers and farmers communities can develop appropriate interventions to reduce water consumption

In this paper, we will explore the ways in which sustainable intensification interventions

often overlook fundamental social dynamics in rural landscapes. We provide evidence of

the underlying social, political and environmental contexts that affect farmers’ land-use

decisions. While there are numerous initiatives to promote a Green Revolution for Africa,

many tend to be dominated by technical fixes that fail to understand rural farmers’ condi

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tions or aspirations and focus narrowly on increasing productivity. These technical solu

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IITA developed alley cropping (also called hedgerow intercropping by ICRAF) in the mid 1970s to alleviate the problems of reduced soil fertility, reduced yields and soil erosion that were associated with population growth and reduced fallow periods. In the early 1980s this technology was adapted by ILCA to serve as a source of feed. On-farm research was conducted in two locations of South-West and South-East Nigeria. The locations differ in terms of population density, soil fertility, land tenure and typical farm layout.

Grazing reserves in Nigeria are areas set aside for the use of pastoralists and are intended to be the foci of livestock development. The stated purpose of grazing reserves is the settlement of nomadic pastoralists they offer security of tenure as an inducement to sedentarization through the provision of land for grazing and permanent water. This paper reviews problems associated with grazing reserves and offers suggestions to make them more productive and relevant to the needs of the intended beneficiaries.

This introductory paper raises general issues and poses questions that are pursued in the other papers. The initial premise of this paper is that impact cannot be discussed in isolation from the broader context of research and development and the overall priorities guiding the centres research, training, and networking activities.

Proceedings of the workshop which focused particularly on gender analysis of rights to land and water, the implications of privatization and water markets for women's access to resources, how women (as well as men) can participate fully in collective action projects and the relation between problems like water scarcity and pollution, multiple uses of water in irrigation systems and gender.