Irrigated agriculture plays a major role in the livelihoods of nations all over the world and in South Africa it is not different. With the agricultural water use sector being the largest of all water use sectors in South Africa, there have been increased expectations that the sector should increase efficiency and reduce consumption in order to increase the amount of water available for other uses.In a recent study on irrigation efficiency, the approach is that irrigation efficiency should be assessed by applying a water balance to a specific situation rather than by calculating various performance indicators such as conveyance efficiency or application efficiency. Unfortunately the concept of irrigation efficiency is frequently misunderstood leading to the widespread belief that water just disappears with low irrigation efficiencies and re‐appears with improvements. The purpose of an irrigation system is to apply the desired amount of water, at the correct application rate and uniformly to the whole field, at the right time, with the least amount of non‐beneficial water consumption (losses), and as economically as possible. The fraction of the water abstracted from the source that can be utilised by the plant, can be called the beneficial water use component and optimised irrigation water supply is therefore aimed at maximising this component. It implies that water must be delivered from the source to the field both efficiently (with the least volume for production along the supply system) and effectively (at the right time, in the right quantity and at the right quality). Optimising water use at farm level requires careful consideration of the implications of decisions made during both development (planning and design), and management (operation and maintenance), taking into account technical, economic and environmental issues.The South African framework covers four levels of water management infrastructure: ‐the water source, bulk conveyance system, the irrigation scheme and the irrigation farm. The water balance approach can be applied at any level, within defined boundaries, or across all levels to assess performance within the whole Water Management Area. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the pursuit of information to support policies and actions to alleviate hunger and poverty through irrigation and drainage, this paper attempts to provide correlations between water scarcity, communities and poverty. Many reviews have found strong direct and indirect relationships between irrigation and poverty. One of the main goals of the international community is to eliminate hunger and poverty and in this perspective, through the Millennium Development Goals, much progress has been achieved and evidence obtained. Sustainable Development Goals and various other United Nations initiatives intend to move forward this agenda by making it a part of broader development frameworks. In this paper, the important elements of irrigation and drainage that affect the alleviation of hunger and poverty are discussed. These elements are grouped into governance, rights-based developments, water rights and pricing, management, efficiency improvement, and the role of technology. Both the potential and the need for innovative technology and solutions in irrigation are underlined, which can be used to cater for the challenges in different subsectors. The main focus of these solutions is on maximizing productivity and efficiency, reducing water losses, achieving sustainable intensification and managing demands on water resources and the associated trade-offs. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.key words: irrigation and drainage management; water management to alleviate hunger and poverty; irrigation modernization; water scarcity; poverty and hunger sur la réduction de la faim et de la pauvreté. Ces éléments sont regroupés dans la gouvernance, le développement basé sur les droits, les droits de l'eau et la tarification, la gestion, l'amélioration de l'efficacité, et le rôle de la technologie. Le potentiel ainsi que la nécessité de faire usage de la technologie et des solutions d'irrigation innovantes sont soulignés, et être utilisé pour relever les défis des différents sous-secteurs. L'objectif principal de ces solutions est la maximisation de la productivité et de l'efficacité, la réduction des pertes d'eau, la réalisation de l'intensification durable et la gestion des demandes en ressources en eau et les compromis associés.

Innovative technology that uses ultrasonic sound to clean drip pipes was developed to embrace the efficiencies offered by drip irrigation in order to preserve precious water resources and to get a return on the investment. The technology known as Greendrum technology uses only sound for cleaning and maintenance of drip irrigation pipes. It uses ultrasonic sound in a small body of water to effectively and quickly clean drip irrigation lines and pipes with ease. It is environmentally friendly and does not use any chemicals. Through testing by the Agricultural Research Council–Institute for Agricultural Engineering (ARC‐IAE), results were obtained and analysed that gave some insight into the performance of drip irrigation systems under field conditions and how effective the cleaning process of the Greendrum technology was. There was a tendency that the emission uniformity (EU) and coefficient of variation (CV) as measured in the field of all the dripper types, deteriorated over time. Greendrum dripline cleaning machine results showed that there was a 73% positive change in the CV of the dripper line from a bad CV of 10.6% to an excellent CV of 2.85%. As the drippers could not be cleaned in any other way, the Greendrum ultrasonic sound way was extremely effective and totally restored the drippers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The purpose of an irrigation system is to apply the desired amount of water, at the correct application rate and uniformly to the whole field, at the right time, with the least amount of non-beneficial water consumption (losses), and as economically as possible. We know that irrigated agriculture plays a major role in the livelihoods of nations all over the world and South Africa is no exception. With the agricultural water-use sector being the largest of all water-use sectors in South Africa, there have been increased expectations that the sector should increase efficiency and reduce consumption in order to increase the amount of water available for other uses.Studies and research over 40 years, on the techniques of flood-, mobile-and micro-irrigation have contributed to the knowledge base of applying irrigation methods correctly. In a recent study on irrigation efficiency, the approach is that irrigation efficiency should be assessed by applying a water balance to a specific situation rather than by calculating various performance indicators. The fraction of the water abstracted from the source that is utilised by the plant is called the beneficial water-use component, and optimised irrigation water supply is therefore aimed at maximising this component. It implies that water must be delivered from the source to the field both efficiently and effectively. Optimising water use at farm level requires careful consideration of the implications of decisions made during both development (planning and design), and management (operation and maintenance), taking into account technical, economic and environmental issues. An exciting, newly-developed South African Framework for Improved Efficiency of Irrigation Water Use covers 4 levels of water-management infrastructure: the water source, bulk conveyance system, the irrigation scheme and the irrigation farm. The water-balance approach can be applied at any level, within defined boundaries, or across all levels to assess performance within the entire water management area.

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