Home 
Topics Water Country Water Actions Asia
 | |
Country Water Action: Asia
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The case study draws lessons from the 20-year experience of the International Development Enterprise (IDE) with micro-irrigation for smallholder income generation in Asia.
IDE is a non-profit organization incorporated in Switzerland, the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. The IDE family of organizations supports field programs in seven countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam and Zambia
Achieving the millennium development goals requires a major reorientation of worldwide development efforts away from pursuing general "economic development" and toward "poverty alleviation" as a distinct and more urgent goal. In contrast to current trends, the allocation of development resources must become biased toward rural areas, agriculture, and smallholder agriculture in particular.
Micro-irrigation stands out as a simple, practical, and widely applicable tool for enhancing the agricultural potential of smallholders and creating opportunities for more active and effective market participation.
Micro-irrigation is defined as self-contained irrigation systems for use on small plots of land (typically less than 0.5 ha) by small groups of people without the need for collective infrastructure.
Micro-irrigation technologies include treadle pumps and low-cost drip irrigation. Such technologies have had a widespread impact on rural poverty, helping some two million smallholder families to increase their net income by an average of US$100 per year for an initial investment of about $30.
The distribution of micro-irrigation technologies through the private sector at affordable, sustainable, and unsubsidized prices has proven to be an effective and efficient means of achieving widespread impact with minimal donor resources.
The income-generating potential of micro-irrigation is directly related to the degree to which smallholders are integrated with input and output markets. By developing smallholders' comparative advantage in the production of high-value crops and facilitating market environments that respond to their specific needs, smallholders are empowered to become effective market participants and to take advantage of market opportunities.
The economic and social benefits derived from micro-irrigation at the household level relate directly to a number of key action areas identified in the thematic framework for the Water and Poverty Initiative (WPI).
Treadle pumps and drip irrigation systems provide an affordable entry into irrigated agriculture, giving smallholders and opportunity to increase their production and generate income by selling their surplus
Micro-irrigation provides an affordable alternative for many smallholders who would not otherwise have been able to access irrigation water
Access to affordable irrigation options through the private sector empowers the poor to participate in markets and progressively increase their level of self-reliance. Increasing their food security and cash income also reduces their vulnerability and susceptibility to exploitation.
Treadle pumps and drip irrigation systems have been used in rehabilitation projects to help restore rural food production following natural disasters.
Micro-irrigation holds great potential as a means to effectively target development resources toward the rural poor in an environmentally sound and gender sensitive manner.
Michael Roberts, M.S., P.Eng.
Country Director
International Development Enterprises - Cambodia
PO Box 1577
House 10, Street 590, Boeung Kak 2, Toul Kork
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phone: 855 23 880 604, Fax: 855 23 880 059
E-mail: mroberts@online.com.kh
| © 2009 Asian Development Bank Privacy | Terms of Use |
 Top of page |
