Agricultural Water Management in Africa: Lessons Learned and Future Directions provides an overview of the status of irrigation development and AWM practices and technologies in Africa and the global south, and provides guidelines, scenarios, and investment plans to guide the prioritization and operationalization of irrigation development and AWM under climate change. The African Union (AU) is driving investment and improvement in agricultural water management and transformation in Africa through the operationalization of the AU Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management in Africa (AU-IDAWM). The AU-IDAWM provides a framework that identifies four development pathways for enhanced agricultural water management practices across Africa. The pathways are as follows: (1) Improved water control and watershed management in rain-fed farming, (2) Farmer-led Irrigation Development (FLID), (3) Irrigation scheme development and modernisation, and (4) Unconventional water use for irrigation.

This book explores the status of AWM at a continental scale as guided by the AU-IDAWM pathways. It also incorporates case studies from the global South (Asia and Latin America) to foster south-south knowledge sharing. The book considers cross-cutting issues such as the water-energy-food nexus and circular economy within the context of sustainable AWM development.