The Asian exception: irrigation

摘要

The availability of water is a fundamental requirement for crop growth. In many places, rainfall is scant or erratic and this can diminish crop yield and strongly affect the livelihoods of farming households. To cope with this problem, farmers can useirrigation, the artificial supply of water to increase crop production. Because irrigation takes away some of farming's climate risk, farmers who irrigate are more likely to further invest in their agricultural production—by using more fertilizer, forexample. It is therefore particularly in irrigated areas where we find the intensive agriculture associated with the Green Revolution.