Devkota (2026) Innovations for Soil Health and Water Management for Climate-Resilient Dryland Agriculture in the CWANA Region

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: MELSpace (ICARDA (The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas))
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-09
• Authors: Krishna Devkota
• DOI: None

Research Groups

• Research institutions focused on dryland agriculture in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region (e.g., ICARDA and regional national agricultural research systems).

Short Summary

This study evaluates the quantitative impacts of integrated soil and water management innovations on food security and climate resilience in the CWANA region. The findings demonstrate that scaling practices like conservation agriculture, raised-bed planting, and agrivoltaics significantly improves yields, water-use efficiency, and carbon sequestration.

Objective

• To quantify the impacts and assess the scalability of integrated soil and water management innovations for building resilient dryland food systems in the face of climate extremes and resource scarcity.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional (Central and West Asia and North Africa - CWANA), covering over 1 million hectares of implemented practices.
• Temporal Scale: Long-term resilience assessment based on multi-country trials and scaled agricultural interventions.

Methodology and Data

• Models and Approaches: Genotype × environment × management (G×E×M) approaches, precision agriculture, and integrated renewable energy solutions (agrivoltaics).
• Data sources: Multi-country field trials, remote sensing data, and observational data from large-scale implementation programs (e.g., conservation agriculture and raised-bed planting initiatives).

Main Results

• Conservation Agriculture (CA): Scaled over 1 million ha; increased soil organic matter by 7% and carbon sequestration by 15%, reduced erosion by 50%, and improved yields by 20–30% with an annual CO₂ sequestration of 0.5 t/ha.
• Water Management: Raised-bed planting (125,000 ha) saved 25% water and increased yields by 30%. Supplemental irrigation raised wheat yields by >1.5 t/ha and improved water use efficiency (WUE) by up to 35%.
• Irrigation Technology: Ultra-low energy drip irrigation achieved 90% application efficiency using 50% less energy.
• Salinity Control: Wastewater reuse with salt-tolerant species reduced soil salinity by 15–20%.
• Agrivoltaics: Improved WUE by 20–25% and yields by 10–15%, while generating 4.5 kWh/m²/day of solar energy.
• Yield Gap: Precision agriculture and data-driven tools narrowed yield gaps by >40% under erratic rainfall conditions.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive quantitative synthesis of diverse dryland innovations, moving beyond isolated trials to demonstrate regional scalability.
• Integrates renewable energy (agrivoltaics) and digital tools (remote sensing, G×E×M) with traditional soil and water conservation to provide a holistic pathway for dryland transformation.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text (typically supported by CGIAR initiatives and regional development partners).

Citation

@article{Devkota2026Innovations,
  author = {Devkota, Krishna},
  title = {Innovations for Soil Health and Water Management for Climate-Resilient Dryland Agriculture in the CWANA Region},
  journal = {MELSpace (ICARDA (The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas))},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openalex.org/W7124232565}
}

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