Chapter 5 - Agricultural water management in maize-based systems: challenges, opportunities, and sustainable solutions in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

The farmers across the four countries are heterogeneous and thus the agricultural water management practices need to be customized for each locality. Therefore stakeholder participation at all levels needs to be effective and the interventions should follow the bottom-up approach. Farmers will adopt technologies when they have sufficient knowledge. This requires strengthening of farmer organizations, water user associations and irrigation farmers associations for effective public participation and where farmers can learn and be trained on new technologies and techniques. The intervention strategies and priorities need to follow the benefits, resources, potential and constraints (enabling conditions) framework. The interventions for adoption of AWM practices through the rainfall irrigation continuum from fully rainfed to fully irrigated and following the African Union under the irrigation development and agricultural water management framework pathways 1, 2, and 3 are critical for sustainable intensification of agricultural practices in the four countries. These pathways need to be implemented while considering the socioeconomic, biophysical, technological, and institutional drivers for adoption or disadoption.