Irrigation Water Management in Latin America

Abstract

Latin American countries show a great potential for expanding their irrigated areas. Irrigation is important for strengthening local and regional economy and for enhancing food security. The present paper aimed at providing a brief review on key aspects of irrigation management in Latin America. Poor irrigation management can have great impact on crop production and on environment while good management reduces the waste of soil and water and help farmers maximizing their profits. It was found that additional research is needed to allow a better understanding of crop water requirements under Latin American conditions as well as to provide farmers with local derived information for irrigation scheduling. The advantages of deficit irrigation practices and the present and future opportunities with the application of remote sensing tools for water management were also considered. It is clear that due to the importance of irrigated agriculture, collaborative work among Latin American researchers and institutions is of paramount importance to face the challenges imposed by a growing population, environment degradation, and competition in the global market.

Horticultural Production in Burkina Faso: A Comprehensive Socio‐Economic Analysis

“…It covers less than 2% of the cultivated area (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), ) and in this respect, the region lags far behind other tropical regions in South Asia and Latin America (FAO, ; You et al, ). In Latin America and Asia, irrigation techniques and cropping systems are usually quite advanced (Ringler et al, ; Oliveira et al, ), whereas the current cropping patterns in Sahelian Africa are still traditional. Horticultural production is scattered over a large number of small sites (Pasternak and Bustan, ; Pasternak et al, ; Reuben et al, ).…”

Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Solar and Wind Based Irrigation Systems in Northern Colombia

“…Crop parameters: Crop parameters were obtained for the evapotranspiration conditions of the selected crops by using the methodology and data from the FAO Manual No 56 [11], due to the fact that there is little information about the crop parameters of irrigated South American crops [4].…”

“…Currently in Colombia irrigation management is centralised by the Irrigation Districts. The last of the Irrigation Districts was constructed in the late 1970s, a time when massive investment in irrigation was made by international financing institutions such as the World Bank [4]. However, currently only 14% of the potential irrigation area is irrigated by Irrigation Districts and the actual % may even be lower as the operations & maintenance have not always been properly handled by the government entities who generally own the systems [5].…”

“…The areas of Colombia with good water resources are mostly concentrated in the Pacific and the Amazon regions. Although the National Precipitation Index is over 2500 mm/year, in parts of the Caribbean Coast and the Eastern Plains subhumid climates the rainfall only amounts to 600-1000 mm/year, meaning that irrigation is important for guaranteeing crop growth and development during the drought periods that can occur during the crop season [4,[6][7]. The seasonal variations in precipitation make it necessary to design systems that can ensure water supply in dry periods.…”

The Importance of Ground Truth: An Open-Source Biometric Repository

“…There has been a large effort in many countries to develop technology for surveillance infrastructures through millions of CCTV systems and biometrics for homeland security technologies (Welsh & Farrington, 2009). In the biosecurity area, sensor networks for monitoring of critical resources such as water, soil, and the satellite monitoring of crops have also been deployed (Oliveira, Trezza, Holzapfel, et al 2009;Ni-Meister, 2008;Wesseling & Feddes, 2006). Although these technologies are increasingly being relied upon to capture and identify important information, they cannot effectively solve these threats without reliable, efficient, and timely interpretation.…”