*EPF204 06/22/2004
Poor Countries Need Help Managing Water, U.S. Official Says
(Low-cost, adapted technologies required, USDA's Butler says) (540)

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Correspondent

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso -- The United States is working with developing countries to help them manage water for agriculture and sanitation more effectively, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official says.

Managing water resources, using both primitive and advanced technologies, is particularly important in developing countries, where agriculture is the primary income source and accounts for more than 90 percent of water withdrawals, said James Butler, U.S. deputy under secretary of agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services.

Butler made the remarks June 21 at a ministerial conference on agricultural science and technologies. The West African-focused conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, runs through June 23.

"Clearly, farmers are the most important stewards of water," he said. "No one has a greater stake in water."

Existing short-term water management technologies can be adapted now for use in developing countries, Butler said. Also needed, he said, are long-term water management technologies to deliver water and give early warnings for floods and droughts.

Approximately 15 percent of the USDA budget for international research is devoted to water-related research and exchange programs, he said.

In addition, USDA is collaborating with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to monitor reservoir height variations in 70 lakes around the world, including 15 in Africa, Butler said. Monitoring allows analysts to predict and locate regional droughts and improve crop production estimates for irrigated regions downstream from the lakes.

USDA has an Internet site that provides weather data and real-time estimates of such indicators as precipitation and soil moisture for forecasting crop production. The site at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ can be accessed worldwide.

Yet more research and international cooperation are needed to demonstrate to policymakers in developing countries the need for local and regional policies promoting use by farmers of improved water technologies, Butler said.

In December 2003, USDA representatives met with representatives of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to discuss how rich countries can use science and technology to improve water management for farmers in Africa, Butler said.

One way to increase supply is using improved irrigation methods that minimize percolation of irrigation water into soil and evaporation into the air, said Larry Clark, chief of science and technology at USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Another way is to minimize soil erosion, according to Kenji Yoshinaga, director of land and water development at the FAO. Erosion from lands cleared of vegetation causes excessive runoff of rain water.

Farmers in poor countries should think of water as a natural resource to be managed, Yoshinaga said. They need affordable, energy-efficient technologies to manage the quality of ground and surface water, including monitoring for the presence of pesticides, metals and nutrients in water, he said. They need other technologies for treating wastewater, including runoff from farm fields, he said.

Through better water management, Butler said, farmers can grow crops with diverse water requirements and possibly access new markets as a result.

The conference is co-sponsored by USDA, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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