International Water

Erratic rainfall, land degradation, soil erosion, poverty and burgeoning population characterize the dry regions in Asia. To develop sustainable natural resource management options for increasing the agricultural productivity and income of the rural poor in these regions, a new Integrated Farmer Participatory Watershed Management Model was developed by ICRISAT in partnership with the national agricultural research systems (NARS). This model was applied at selected benchmark locations in Asia by ICRISAT through the project RETA 5812 “Improving management of natural resources for sustainable rainfed agriculture in Asia”, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The challenge for catchment research is to generate technologies and management systems that is now being addressed by the Management of Soil Erosion Consortium (MSEC) project RETA 5803 “Catchment approach to managing soil erosion in Asia”. This project is funded by ADB and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) serves as the facilitator. The workshop “Integrated Watershed Management for Land and Water Conservation and Sustainable Agricultural Production in Asia ” was held to review these projects. Forty-five scientists fro