1990 Supplement Publications of the International ... - IRRI books

GENERAL INFORMATION
Some 15 percent of the world’s total area of cultivated land is irrigated:
of this land more than 70 percent is located in the world’s developing
regions. The ‘Green Revolution’, which triggered phenomenal growth
in agricultural productivity, income and other benefits during the
1960s and 1970s, owed its success to irrigation. In many cases,
however, the desired benefits of irrigation (particularly the higher crop
yields that were anticipated) fall far short of expectations. Raising the
productivity of irrigated areas to universally higher standards through
better management is one of the greatest challenges world agriculture
faces today and in the future.
It was to help meet this challenge that IIMI, the International Irrigation
Management Institute, was founded in 1984, as an independent,
international nonprofit organization with its headquarters in Sri Lanka,
and decentralized field operations in more than 10 countries in Africa
and Asia. llMl is the first world body set up specifically to promote
irrigation management concerns. The Institute undertakes multidisciplinary,
collaborative research in operating irrigation systems, thematic
research on management issues of broader or multicountry
concerns, management training, and the exchange and dissemination
of information.
The Institute’s priority research themes are: irrigation institutions;
water resources for irrigation; financial resources for system sustainability;
irrigation facilities; irrigation organizations; support services
to farmers; institutional change.
The Institute’s mission is to strengthen national efforts to improve and
sustain the performance of irrigation systems in developing countries,
through the development and dissemination of management
innovations. Irrigation management is seen as the process in which
institutions or individuals set objectives for irrigation systems; establish
appropriate conditions; and identify, mobilize and use resources,
so as to attain these objectives; while ensuring that all these activities
are performed without causing adverse effects. Pursuance of these
objectives requires research, technological innovation and dissemination
of innovations through training and information. An essential
part of the information dissemination process is conducted through
technical publications.
300 CENTER PUBLICATIONS