This new online service introduced by ICID is developed to help various stakeholders in locating required business information through a few clicks. The online directory enlists all the services and products being provided by consultants, manufacturing companies, dealers, and other professional institutions dealing in irrigation, drainage and flood management. This online service is totally FREE and can be availed of by any service provider by submitting the required information on ICID website <http://www.icid.org/ypaddform2.php>. To view this new service, please visit http://www.icid.org/ypsearch.php

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

2nd World Irrigation Forum on the theme: Water management in a changing world: Role of irrigation for sustainable food production, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 6-8 November 2016.

www.worldirrigationforum.net

International RiverFoundation hosting International Riversymposium on the theme 'Great rivers of the world: Management for shared benefits', New Delhi, India, 12-14 September 2016.
http://riversymposium.com/

National Water Research Center (Egypt) International Conference on “Research and Technology Development for Sustainable Water Resources Management”  on the theme “Geo-Measurement, Field Investigation, and Monitoring” Special Sessions, Workshops and Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt, 4-6 December 2016.
E-mail: eng.mirmokhtar@gmail.com, website: www.redwarm2016-eg.org

13th International Drainage Workshop (IDW), Ahwaz City, Iran, 4-7 March 2017, Theme: Drainage and Environmental Sustainability. 
E-mail:13idw2017@gmail.com, website:http://idw13.org

68th IEC and 23rd ICID Congress on Irrigation and Drainage, 8-14 October 2017, on the theme: Modernizing Irrigation and Drainage for a new Green Revolution, Mexico City, Mexico, 8-14 October 2017.
Website: http://www.icid2017.org/ E-mail: cnm@mxcid.org, brobles@tlaloc.imta.mx, luis.rendon@cna.gob.mx, luis.rendon@conagua.gob.mx

Africa: Agriculture emissions to surpass fossil fuels - FAO
2 August 2016
The 2014 agriculture emissions released by Food Agriculture organization (FAO) show that greenhouse gas reached 5.25 billion tons of carbon emissions per year and is tending to cause further global warming. The new FAO data indicate that in 2014, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from crop and livestock management remained strong. There's a fear they may begin to grow faster than fossil fuel emissions, reversing decadal trends since the 1960s when fossil fuel emissions had grown several times faster than agriculture. "Emissions from agriculture represented about 14.6% of the 2014 total carbon emissions from fossil fuels but their growth rate compared to emissions from fossil fuels was more than double in 2014, at 1.3% annually," the report indicates.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201608030381.html

Preparing to face the future of agriculture in the United States
1 August 2016
Providing a safe and plentiful food supply for a growing population poses a critical challenge to agriculture in the United States and around the globe. In the face of challenges that include population increase, changing climate, excess nutrients, and invasive species, the world will need more productive, sustainable, and profitable farming systems. These farming systems must meet future societal needs, as well as maintain biodiversity, mitigate or adapt to climate change, and improve the quality of air, soil, and water. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network. This network consists of 16 Agriculture Research Service (ARS) and 2 non-ARS sites located in distinctive hydro climatic environments. It responds to and prepares for these agricultural challenges and enables long-term, transdisciplinary science across farm resource regions in the conterminous United States.
https://eos.org/meeting-reports/preparing-to-face-the-future-of-agriculture-in-the-united-states

United Nations finds that greenhouse gases are increasing from agriculture
23 July 2016
Food production accounts for approximately 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, 21 percent of these emissions come from deforestation and land use changes that are a result of agriculture. These figures come from a report published by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, with contributions from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the University of Minnesota, the CGIAR network, and international universities. The authors estimate that if land clearing for food production continues at its current pace, emissions from land use changes alone could increase by at least 30 percent in 2050. The baseline data used to develop the report comes from the Emissions Database of the FAO’s Statistics Division (FAOSTAT), which recently released statistics of global agricultural emissions to the year 2014. According to the FAO, this data is the first of its kind to be made publicly available.
http://foodtank.com/news/2016/07/united-nations-finds-that-greenhouse-gases-are-increasing-from-agriculture

Indian State plans to increase solar power use in agriculture
17 July 2016
One of the largest states in India is planning to shift all its electricity consumers in the agricultural sector from thermal power to solar power. According to media reports, the government of Maharashtra is working on a long-term proposal to shift all agricultural power consumers to solar power. The motive behind this plan is to reduce the subsidy being provided to farmers for electricity supply. Farmers are being supplied electricity at prices about a tenth of what some other consumers in the industrial and domestic sectors. Subsidy being provided to the farmers is around Rs 5,000 crore (US$750 million). This subsidy is recovered from other consumer classes in the form of higher tariff rates. At present, the unrecovered dues stand at Rs 15,000 crore (US$2.25 billion).
http://planetsave.com/2016/07/17/indian-state-plans-increase-solar-power-use-agriculture/

Cuba: Climate change resistant plant varieties created
3 August 2016
Professionals from the National Tropical Root Vegetable Research Institute (INIVIT) are generating varieties of cassava, sweet potato, taro and plantain designed to withstand climatic variations. These varieties require less water and are more resistant to pests, among other qualities. INIVIT Director Sergio Rodríguez Morales told the Cuban News Agency that works in this field began in the late 1990s. The specialist explained that climate change greatly affects vegetable crops, noting that an increase of just one degree Celsius in the maximum average temperature causes a 10% reduction in agricultural yields. Various varieties of root vegetables that can tolerate drought and the effects of hurricanes are currently being grown in Cuban fields. In all cases, campesinos have reported high crop yields, he added.
http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2016-08-03/climate-change-resistant-plant-varieties-created

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Sowing the seeds of resilience in Southern Africa's epic drought
1 August 2016
In the village of Chikandwe, in Southern Malawi, Fanny Maliko has planted one third of her farm-half an acre-with drought-resistant sweet potatoes. As a result, she expects her yields to double this year, which is nothing short of remarkable considering the drought that has devastated agriculture in all of Southern Africa. 2015 was South Africa' driest year since 1904, when scientists started weather measurements. In Malawi, the rainy season was delayed in the south by almost a month. Lake Kariba, which sits at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and is the world's largest man-made lake, held only 11 percent of its water capacity in January.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201608010813.html

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India floods kill more than 150 people
BBC News, 2 August 2016
Floods across India over the past three weeks have killed 152 people and displaced millions, officials said. Officials said 34 people had died and 1.1 million displaced in the north-eastern state of Assam alone. Efforts are also underway to rescue animals from the state's Kaziranga national park, which is one of the last habitats of the rare one-horned rhino. Wildlife officials said 80% of the park is under water and over 100 animals, including 17 rhinos, have died. Floods have also damaged large tracts of agricultural land and infrastructure in the northern states of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, as well as West Bengal state in the east. The PTI news agency said hundreds of people were stranded along the highways leading to Manali, a tourist resort in Himachal Pradesh. India's meteorological department has said that heavy rains are likely to continue.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36950206

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Pakistan: Traditional farming could create food security crisis: Scientists
23 July 2016
Both local and foreign scientists fear that the traditional farming methods could further hamper Pakistan’s agriculture productivity and create a food security crisis in Pakistan in the coming years. In an interaction with relevant government ministries and journalists, they emphasised the need to introduce latest technology in the agriculture sector to fulfil food requirements of growing population. “Government looks serious in improving economic outlook, food security and livelihood of its farmers by approving agriculture technology that will enable production of more crops by using fewer resources and minimizing impact to the environment.
http://nation.com.pk/business/23-Jul-2016/traditional-farming-could-create-food-security-crisis-scientists

NASA’s new mission: improving food security in West Africa
20 July 2016
A drive by NASA to stream climate data to West African nations using its earth-observing satellites could boost crop production in a region hit hard by climate change, experts say. NASA last week launched a hub in Niger’s capital Niamey that will use space-based observations to improve food security and better manage natural disasters, said Dan Irwin, manager of the SERVIR project, named after the Spanish word meaning “to serve”. The project, which will cover Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal and Niger, is one of four regional hubs worldwide, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
http://www.srnnews.com/nasas-new-mission-improving-food-security-in-west-africa/

Oman ranks second in GCC for food security
18 July 2016
Oman has been ranked second in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for food security, availability and quality on Global Food Security Index 2016. According to the report, which was published for June 2016 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Oman is one of the newest additions to the report, where it is also ranked 26 out of 113 countries. Following Qatar in the GCC and Czech Republic worldwide while preceding Kuwait on both fronts, Oman recorded 12 key strengths that granted the country’s position. Oman scored 100 for agricultural infrastructure, proportion of population under the poverty line, presence of food safety net programs, nutritional standards and public expenditure on agricultural research and development.
http://timesofoman.com/article/88262/Oman/Environment/Oman-ranks-second-in-GCC-for-food-security

India: Farmers told to adopt drip irrigation to curb water scarcity
1 August 2016
Taking into account the low groundwater level due to the erratic and scanty rains over the last two-three years, state legislative assembly speaker Haribhau Bagade appealed to farmers to bring their cultivable area under drip irrigation. Speaking at a water conservation event on Saturday, he also urged them to arrest every drop of rain water and use it judiciously so that they do not face scarcity during summer. "The government has undertaken a massive watershed development programme called Jalayukta Shivar (farm full of water) in 6,000 villages across the state and has set aside Rs 5,000 crore for the project," Bagade said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/aurangabad/Farmers-told-to-adopt-drip-irrigation-to-curb-water-scarcity/articleshow/53488046.cms

Zimbabwe: Irrigation schemes will boost production - MPs
23 July 2016
The Brazil More Food for Africa Programme has the potential to boost agricultural production and ensure the country regains its status as the breadbasket of Africa, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development said recently. Zimbabwe received agricultural equipment worth $38,6 million from Brazil under the More Food for Africa Programme as Government accelerated efforts to achieve targets set under the Zim-Asset Food Security and Nutrition Cluster. The equipment, which includes tractors, fertiliser spreaders and irrigation kits, was the first of three tranches coming under a $98 million loan facility secured from Brazil under the South American country's More Food For Africa Programme.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201607230268.html

Water rights and trading in Australia
3 August 2016
Water access rights are core assets for many agribusinesses. In the Australian Water Markets Report 2012-2013, the National Water Commission estimated that the value of water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is approximately $13 billion. Trading in water has become commonplace, not only for water users but increasingly for speculators or companies whose core business is not water or land related. With more than a decade of trading, article look at the benefits and challenges of trading water and what the regulators are expected to do next.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=24a992e3-a50a-43c8-b455-50863fb3db57

Africa: World awaits major crisis unless governments make interventions
31 July 2016
Access to safe and clean water is still a problem facing most African countries. Recent global statistics show that about 800 million people still lack access to safe and clean water, while about 2.5 billion do not have access to improved sanitation. This implies that Africa awaits major crisis unless governments become unified in giving priority to water security management and sanitation. Almost 98 per cent of the affected people live in the developing world and particularly in Africa, which accounts for almost 40 per cent of the population. According to water experts and stakeholders, for Africa to attain sustainable development on water security and sanitation, the governments in the continent should come up with proper financing mechanisms, taking into account huge funding requirements for the sector.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201608010558.html

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IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE - The Journal of the ICID
Articles available via complimentary online access at: http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ird