A report on Revitalizing Asia's Irrigation: To Sustainability Meet Tomorrow's Food Needs was recently released by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The report outlines three options for meeting the food needs of Asia's population: 1) to import large quantities of cereals from other regions; 2) to improve and expand rainfed agriculture: and 3) to focus on irrigated farmlands.

Colin Chartres, director general of IWMI said that, "Asia's food and feed demand is expected to double by 2050. Relying on trade to meet a large part of this demand will impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries. The best bet for Asia lies in revitalizing its vast irrigation systems, which account for 70 percent of the world's total irrigated land." 

Irrigation in farmlands can be improved by reinforcing the already old irrigation infrastructures across Asia; government support and regulation of innovative approaches such as ground water use; and the involvement of the private sector in publicly managed irrigation systems, the report said.

For details, see the report at: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/SWW2009/PDF/Stockholm_WW_2009_Media_Release_ENG.pdf