National Irrigation Policy, 2017.

This Policy moves from the consideration that exploiting irrigation potential plays a significant role in the improvement of agricultural sector for ensuring a sustainable agricultural production, and therefore a stronger irrigation sector increases raw materials for agro-industries, creates employment opportunities also for women and youth, so reducing the rural urban migration. After providing an overview of the past irrigation strategies and approaches, the Policy aims at ensuring food security, wealth and employment creation, and poverty reduction through accelerated development and improvement of the performance of the irrigation sector, innovative technologies including water harvesting, flood control, use of wastewater, and sustainable exploitation of groundwater. In order to achieve its goal of an improved and developed irrigation sector, the Policy sets out the following objectives and measures: improving resources for investments in the sector; undertaking irrigation research activities; promoting stakeholders participation in irrigation development projects; adopting an integrated approach to sustainable commercial irrigation farming involving crops, livestock, and aquaculture production.
The Policy focuses on the following irrigation development interventions: increasing land area under irrigation; developing drainage systems; improving security of land tenure and reducing land use conflicts; protection of water catchment and riparian areas; improving soil fertility management; control of pests and diseases; enforcement of standards for agricultural produce, and environmental protection; mitigating effects of climate change and environmental damages; promotion of public-private partnership through incentives for entrepreneurs; increasing farmers and water users’ associations participation in irrigation development initiatives; strengthening capacity building.