Smallholder farmers in the Global South are gradually expanding land under irrigation as technologies such as solar-powered pumps become cheaper and more accessible. Farmer-led irrigation development (FLI) clearly holds potential to improve the lives of small-scale farmers, increase food and water security, enhance resilience to climate change and promote economic development. How can we support scaling of farmer-led irrigation development, also ensuring sustainability and inclusion?
Experts and stakeholders have started discussing at the global level the many inter-linked issues to consider and promising approaches that may be further deployed, such as financial mechanisms, affordability of energy costs, institutional arrangements, minimizing potential environmental impacts, and ensuring no one is left behind.
Building on a dedicated webinar series held in 2020 to stimulate debate on these issues, which has gathered more than 850 participants, the session will engage implementers and the audience to identify key actions at different scales to take sustainable and inclusive farmer-led irrigation development forward. Following a presentation of key insights emerging from the webinar series, a diverse group of implementers will dialogue on how to implement or transform these insights into investments, and the audience will be invited to share their perspectives.