Natural resources like soil, water and air are the key to sustain agricultural productivity with water being most critical these days. With increasing scarcity of freshwater across the globe, emphasis is being given to improve the productivity of water used in the production systems. Efficient utilization of water resources is growing concern among the farmers, water managers and researchers. Importance is being placed on using every drop of water before it is lost back to atmosphere. Improving physical water productivity in agriculture reduces the need for additional water and land in irrigated and rain fed systems and is thus a critical response to increasing water scarcity. Further, given the huge volume of water use in agriculture, a slight increase in water productivity will lead to significant savings in water resources. Over the past few decades, number of technological innovations and approaches have been evolved to improve the productivity of agriculture with special focus on water management, integrated farming systems, soil health management, crop protection and agro forestry. This book presents the most recent ensemble of technologies for improving water productivity of irrigated and rain fed ecosystems. The strategies for efficient management of water in combination with soil health improvement, crop protection, integrated farming systems and enterprise diversification are covered in detail. The unique feature of this book is the comprehensive coverage of the latest information from leading ICAR research institutes and State Agricultural Universities of the country. It will be of significant interest to researchers, teachers, students, NGOs and all other readers working in areas water management, irrigation and development studies.
