Keynote address on irrigation

Good civil engineering amounts to making the best possible use of available resources by the most appropriate means. Definitions are general and of world-wide application. But in terms of irrigation science and technology, it is necessary to consider aspects other than those of pure science and engineering. There is an important geographical constraint to irrigation engineering, determined by climatic and economic factors.

Although irrigation is practised in almost all countries in the world, and makes a significant contribution to the agriculture of the industrialized western world, it is far more significant and important in the lives of the people in the developing countries. Most of the people of these countries live in sub-tropical and tropical latitudes, and it is in these countries that 80% of the irrigated land in the world is found. It is also in these countries that about 2000 million people or half the world1s population are undernourished. When considering the appropriateness of irrigation technology, it is therefore important to look at it in relation to the countries and people who are primarily dependent on it.