Research Topics
The missing link between (irrigated) agriculture and WASH in particular owes to the general trend of governments’ priorities on increasing food production through irrigation without a due consideration of health impacts of irrigation agriculture. Besides, increasing demand for irrigation water and domestic water use and the sharpening competition among the sectors calls for a better coordination of the uses and these needs to be based on a more comprehensive understanding of the links and their combined effects on health and nutrition.
Furthermore, in the least developed countries, where the majority of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, there is a need to look beyond WASH, at the multi-purpose water use systems including irrigation agriculture and the links between WASH and agriculture based on a system-understanding of the hydrological cycle under the influence of anthropogenic water uses.
This research project addresses the nexus effect of such closely linked sectors and the potential link with irrigation agriculture.