Modern irrigation techniques and technologies

Water scarcity is the major challenge being faced around the globe, chiefly pronounced in the developing countries. The existing utilizable water resources are not enough to irrigate the entire cultivable area of the world. The aggravated decreasing trend of per capita water availability resulting from rapidly escalating population therefore requires judicious use of available water resources than ever before. This can be achieved through controlling conveyance losses in distribution network and increasing application efficiency of irrigation water. For this purpose, an On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) package employing modern irrigation systems augmented with improvement of watercourses, laser land levelling and resource conservation technologies is imperative. Present toil was aimed at presenting in-depth discussion on aforesaid components of OFWM package. This book is useful for a broad range of users; from field engineers and extension specialists to water managers at the farm, district, and higher levels for enhancing the water productivity of irrigation projects as well as for a variety of objectives and applications.

Aftab H. Azhar, PhD: Irrigation Engineering (Australia); Irrigation Specialist at WAPDA, Lahore – Pakistan. Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraff, M. Engg. (AIT–Bangkok), Director General; and Maqsood Ahmed, PhD, Soil Science (Japan), Provincial Project Director (PRB) at Directorate General Agriculture (Water Management), Punjab, Lahore–Pakistan.