Raman Parmar, 48, a farmer of Thamna village Gujarat’s Anand district had become the country’s first solar power farmer. By connecting a solar powered irrigation pump to an electricity grid, Raman had received the first payment for his ‘solar crop’ in the form of a cheque of Rs 7,500 from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
Changes to farming systems require managing trade-offs—many of which have not yet been considered, according to IWMI/WLE senior researcher Soumya Balasubramanya in the new Economist report Fixing food 2018: best practices towards the sustainable development goals.
The 2017 CGIAR annual report features some success stories from WLE, including the establishment of a new Sri Lankan sanitation policy that turns septic waste into a resource, and the work of the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) in promoting sustainable groundwater use. The WLE publication, Global Sequestration Potential of Increased Organic Carbon in Cropland Soils, was also featured.
Scientists and government officials are collaborating with communities to test out new approaches to reversing land degradation—methods that might have potential to change the status of the entire highlands region from vastly degraded to successfully restored.
IWMI received a commendation from the Government of Ghana for its contribution to incorporating organic fertilizers into the government's Fertilizer Subsidy Programme.
