Water conservation and management in semi-arid and arid lands for sustainable agriculture

With the population explosion in Nigeria, water requirements have been expa nded resulting in competition between agricultural municipal and industrial users for a finite water supply. Water is the major limiting factor in ari d land agriculture. Crop yields in the regions are low due to the temporal and spatial variations in rainfall and the lack of appropriate soil, water and crop technology. This has resulted in Frequent shortfalls in food produ ction and a deterioration of the resource base in many areas. Efforts to al leviate those problems through research are discussed. This paper gives an extensive review of the various water conservation options that may be adop ted in arid land agriculture especially in the serni-arid and arid Northern Nigeria. Some of the reviewed water conservation options that are consider ed feasible for immediate adoption are proposed. In addition, those conserv ation options that require additional research prior to being considered fo r adoption are also high-lighted. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All r ights reserved.