Many smallholder farmers around the world are investing their own resources in irrigation and taking significant financial and social risks to improve their production. Despite the high potential for economic growth, and improved income and nutrition, we have heard the comments and criticisms. Small-scale irrigation is too expensive and not cost effective.
Smallholder agriculture is just too labor inefficient, better to employ rural labor to manually water crops. Small-scale irrigators are too inexperienced, they simply lack knowledge to irrigate properly and will waste scarce water. Small-scale irrigating is not modern and lacks the technology that improves yields and saves water. Even more misleading statements prevail about smallholder women farmers who get stuck in the drudgery of watering crops with buckets because its ‘most appropriate’ for their farm size and skills.
Over time, many of us who work in research and practice have come to ignore such myths about small-scale irrigation. We dismiss them as obvious fiction and not worthy of our time to indulge. We see smallholders succeeding – expanding their farms, improving their livelihoods. Yet, such myths intersect and reinforce each other, deepening beliefs based on existing patterns, outdated thinking, or anecdotes. More importantly, shrugging off these misstatements comes at a cost for farmers and for industry. Decision-makers may choose to block public investments and programs based on myths, rather than support smallholder agricultural water management founded in research and science. Private sector actors may be influenced by anecdotes and assumptions that increase risk perception and reduce willingness to expand irrigation businesses into new and frontier markets. By letting myths go without challenging them, we may be contributing to setting smallholder farmers on a path for failure from the outset.
A collection of blogs seeks to remedy this. Afterall, beneath the surface, myths reflect a lack of evidence and a need for more information. The fuzziness exists because data is often lacking or information hard to access. With this recognition, we will be featuring a series of blogs based on the Water for Food Conference convened by DWFI earlier this year.
To be sure, tackling myths requires thought leadership and accepting that an alternative to a myth may be rejected or unpopular, at least at first. In some cases, we will need high quality research across disciplines and sectors involving data collection and long-term analysis. In other cases, data and information already exist but require better communication and outreach. Some small-scale irrigation myths may be busted, others may not, but most attempts will provoke debate that reveals important nuances. Smallholder farmers - and all those that they feed – deserve this investment of our time and knowledge.
This series seeks to forge a path to challenge the lore that prevents changes needed in small-scale irrigation. Watch this space and join us in the discussion.
About the series:
This blog is part of DWFI’s Smallholder Farming Mythbuster Series, which examines the narratives that too often shape how small-scale irrigation is funded, regulated, and supported. Drawing on research, field experience, and insights, the series addresses widely held assumptions about smallholder farmers, technology, cost, labor, and water use. By challenging outdated ideas and surfacing real-world data, the series aims to support smarter policy and investment, and better outcomes for the millions of farmers who depend on irrigation to secure their livelihoods and feed their communities.
