Water Management, Hydrology & Drought Resilience

Water is the single most limiting factor in agriculture across much of the world, and managing it well is becoming harder as rainfall grows erratic and competition for freshwater intensifies. Every drop that falls on a field can be stored, lost to evaporation, drained away, or taken up by a crop — and the difference between those fates often decides whether a season succeeds or fails. The Water Management, Hydrology & Drought Resilience session addresses the full water cycle as it touches farming, from rainfall and infiltration to irrigation, storage, and the movement of water through soils and catchments. It brings hydrologists, irrigation specialists, and agronomists together to examine how farms can use water more efficiently, capture more of what nature provides, and prepare for the dry spells that climate change is making more frequent and severe.

When is deficit irrigation a smart strategy rather than a gamble? How can a catchment be managed so that upstream choices do not starve downstream users? These connected questions of efficiency and equity thread through the programme, which blends field-scale practice with landscape-scale hydrology. Participants in this Agriculture Conference will look closely at how agricultural water management and drought resilience can be strengthened through better scheduling, soil-moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, and the selection of water-thrifty crops. The discussion ranges across irrigation technology, hydrological modelling, groundwater stewardship, and policy for shared water resources. By connecting the technical and the systemic, the session helps participants build farms and landscapes that stay productive even when water is scarce.