Abstract
Sustainable water management is a core sustainable development goal (SDG) that also contributes to other SDGs, including food and water security, ecosystem health, and climate adaptation. To achieve these synergies, policies must target efforts to regions that best correspond with development objectives. This study designs a targeting strategy for irrigation expansion in southern Mexico—a region long considered to have strong potential for sustainable irrigation development. We use an integrated farm typology and decision tree approach to identify priority municipalities for irrigation expansion. We use multivariate statistics to examine the relationships among farm characteristics in 933 municipalities, classifying each according to four farm types: lowland, midland, midland-irrigated, and highland. We then partition municipalities into 11 farm-type subgroups, each ranked by priority level for receiving irrigation interventions following Mexico’s National Water Program guidelines. Results identify a ‘highest-priority’ subgroup of 73 municipalities comprised mostly of midland and highland farm types. These types are characterized by low irrigation use, small farmland areas, high vulnerability to climate, high marginalization (poverty), strong representation from indigenous communities, low maize yield, and high rates of subsistence production. Findings provide a crucial first approximation of where irrigation expansion would best address water policy priorities and sustainable development objectives in southern Mexico. This study also provides a useful framework for scaling organizations tasked with targeting development efforts across large spatial scales.
Highlights
Expansion of supplemental irrigation to rainfed farms will probably be necessary to close yield gaps, meet future demands for food, and enhance food and water security [1,2,3].Current irrigation practices are unsustainable in many highly productive regions [4] and crop water demand is likely to increase due to population and economic growth [5,6]
This paper develops a typology-based framework for targeting irrigation interventions in southern Mexico, a region long considered to have strong potential for sustainable irrigation development
The percent of farms with irrigation was significantly smaller in the study area (SA) group than in the outside the study area (OSA) group
Summary
Expansion of supplemental irrigation to rainfed farms will probably be necessary to close yield gaps, meet future demands for food, and enhance food and water security [1,2,3].Current irrigation practices are unsustainable in many highly productive regions [4] and crop water demand is likely to increase due to population and economic growth [5,6]. Expansion of supplemental irrigation to rainfed farms will probably be necessary to close yield gaps, meet future demands for food, and enhance food and water security [1,2,3]. Improved precipitation (green water) management enhances water use efficiency, but rainfed systems will remain vulnerable to climatic variability without supplemental irrigation [12]. It remains unclear if virtual water transfers could significantly impact blue water supply [13,14] without massive shifts in food policy and consumer attitudes (e.g., marketing of food from ‘sustainably-sourced aquifers’) [15]. Where and how agricultural water is sourced and managed remains a central sustainability concern
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