US-financed irrigation and drainage research : applications for developing countries

The review covers irrigation research projects in federal, state, university, and private sector programs, as well as A.I.D. research-related assistance to 14 irrigation projects in 11 countries overseas. More than a third of the research surveyed involved irrigation agronomy. Other major categories are research projects dealing with environmental aspects, system control, performance assessment, on-farm application, and hydrology. The report concludes that, since irrigation projects are heavily influenced by local conditions, U.S. irrigation research is of dubious relevance to developing countries; most directly relevant is domestic U.S. research on fundamental topics such as plant/water/soil relationships, solute movement, and salinity. Although carrying the risk of redundancy, localized applied research, emphasizing problemsolving, is best suited to developing countries" needs.