Irrigated agriculture: A service-based approach to put irrigators at the center of policy formulation

Irrigated agriculture can help address challenges of food security and sovereignty, develop regions and farms, improve trade balance, and contribute to climate change adaptation. An irrigated area is a complex system in which the social, cultural, technical, economic, and environmental aspects of agriculture all play a part. Such complexity, however, is often disregarded by irrigation projects and policies, as they tend to approach irrigation from a restrictive perspective that focuses solely on hydro-agricultural development or the value chain.