Water Management Technologies for Climate Smart Agriculture in South Asia - A Review; HI-AWARE Working Paper 14

The purpose of the paper was to review selected agricultural water management technologies positioned as climate smart agriculture (CSA), in South Asia. Using the Delphi process, we shortlisted three technologies for the review: zero tillage (ZT), solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs), and micro-irrigation (MI). The technologies were then evaluated on their climate smart aspects. Our analysis found that introduction of climate smart technologies leads to a rise in productivity, water, and energy savings at field level. If we extend the analysis from the field to the basin level, we observe that widespread adoption of such technologies may increase water and energy consumption, thereby offsetting the initial efficiency gains of climate smart technologies. We also found a lack of rigorous impact assessment of these technologies, indicating scope for more internally valid evaluation methodologies.