The Land for Agricultural Development Project for Bolivia will establish a decentralized beneficiary-driven land distribution mechanism that allows organized landless or poor farmers to acquire suitable agricultural lands and implement investment subprojects. The project has three components. The first component consists of a revolving line of credit to finance land purchases. Productive Associations will be responsible for repayment of the land acquisition loans and the acquired lands will serve as collateral. The second component is for the provision of matching grants for infrastructure and productive investments on the purchased lands. The third component covers project management, technical assistance, and monitoring and evaluation.

The methods for predicting changes in soil moisture and water table depth under irrigation and drainage are discussed in this paper. These methods are based mainly on linearized differential equations of soil water movement and on system of algebraic equations that take into account soil surface, soil profile and aquifer water balances. Some differences in infiltratiton under flood irrigation and sprinkling, including conditions with a high water table, are analyzed, as well as water exchange between the unsaturated zone and aquifer water. The practical aspects of such analysis are applied to soil water management | En el presente trabajo se discuten los metodos del pronostico del regimen de humedad del suelo y el nivel de las aguas freaticas, los cuales se basan principalmente en la resolucion de las ecuaciones diferenciales lineales del movimiento del agua en el suelo y del sistema de ecuaciones algebraicas de balance del agua de la superficie del suelo, de la zona de aireacion del suelo y de las aguas freaticas. Se describe el analisis de las particularidades de la infiltracion del agua en el suelo bajo riego por gravedad y por aspersion, incluyendo las situaciones cuando el nivel freatico se localiza cerca de la superficie del suelo. Se analizan tambien las particularidades del intercambio del agua entre la zona de aireacion y las aguas freaticas. Se dan conclusiones practicas para el manejo del regimen hidrico de los suelos

"... Based on a global model of supply and demand for food and water, this report shows that if current water policies continue, farmers will indeed find it difficult to meet the world’s food needs. Hardest hit will be the world’s poorest people. The results from the model used in this report also show the consequences of changing the course of water policy. Further inattention to water-related investments and policies will produce a severe water crisis, which will lead in turn to a food crisis. A commitment to sustainable use of water, through appropriate policies and investments, however, will lead to a more water- and food-secure world. Water may be a scarce resource, but humans have developed many ways of using it more efficiently — that is, getting more from each unit of water. But water-saving policies, practices, and technologies are of no help if they are not used. Inappropriate incentives and institutions often hinder effective use of water. This report spells out the future results of our current choices." -- Authors' Introduction | Non-PR | IFPRI1; Environment and Natural Resource Management

... Based on a global model of supply and demand for food and water, this report shows that if current water policies continue, farmers will indeed find it difficult to meet the world’s food needs. Hardest hit will be the world’s poorest people. The results from the model used in this report also show the consequences of changing the course of water policy. Further inattention to water-related investments and policies will produce a severe water crisis, which will lead in turn to a food crisis. A commitment to sustainable use of water, through appropriate policies and investments, however, will lead to a more water- and food-secure world. Water may be a scarce resource, but humans have developed many ways of using it more efficiently — that is, getting more from each unit of water. But water-saving policies, practices, and technologies are of no help if they are not used. Inappropriate incentives and institutions often hinder effective use of water. This report spells out the future results of our current choices. -- Authors' Introduction

IFPRI1; Environment and Natural Resource Management | "... Based on a global model of supply and demand for food and water, this report shows that if current water policies continue, farmers will indeed find it difficult to meet the world’s food needs. Hardest hit will be the world’s poorest people. The results from the model used in this report also show the consequences of changing the course of water policy. Further inattention to water-related investments and policies will produce a severe water crisis, which will lead in turn to a food crisis. A commitment to sustainable use of water, through appropriate policies and investments, however, will lead to a more water- and food-secure world. Water may be a scarce resource, but humans have developed many ways of using it more efficiently — that is, getting more from each unit of water. But water-saving policies, practices, and technologies are of no help if they are not used. Inappropriate incentives and institutions often hinder effective use of water. This report spells out the future results of our current choices." -- Authors' Introduction | Policy Report | Non-PR

IFPRI1; Environment and Natural Resource Management | Rosegrant Mark W., 'Panorama global del agua hasta el ano 2025 cómo impedir una crisis inminente', , IFPRI, 2004

A fin de cuantificar las perdidas del suelo y la escorrentia superficial en una siembra tradicional de maiz y caraota, y determinar la eficiencia del uso de barreras vivas y barreras muertas como practicas agronomicas de conservacion de suelos, se instalo un ensayo sobre un suelo Typic haplustults, en la parcela experimental de FUSAGRI, en el Sector Ojo de Agua; Hoya de Curimagua; Estado Falcon. Se establecieron 16 parcelas de erosion de 10 m. de largo por 2 m. de ancho colocadas en sentido de la pendiente. Los tratamientos se distribuyeron siguiendo un diseno de bloques al azar con cuatro tratamientos (siembra tradicional con barreras vivas, siembra tradicional con barreras muertas, siembra tradicional y suelo desnudo) y cuatro repeticiones. Las observaciones se realizaron semanalmente desde la siembra hasta 39 dias despues de cosecha, midiendose las perdidas de suelo y el escurrimiento. Los sedimentos fueron analizados para determinar perdidas de nutrimentos y particulas de suelo predominantes. Paralelamente se estimaron las perdidas de suelo a traves de la Ecuacion Universal de la Perdida de Suelo (USLE). Realizado el analisis estadistico se reflejan diferencias significativas en perdidas de suelo, con valores de 0.012; 2.81; 5.03 y 7.79 Mg/ha para barreras muertas, barreras vivas, siembra tradicional y suelo desnudo respectivamente. Las perdidas de nutrimentos dieron diferencias significativas. Para el periodo del ensayo, la erosividad de la lluvia fue de 1.747,2 Mj/ha-mm*hr; la erosionabilidad del suelo de 0,00106 Mg/ha + Mj/ha/mm*hr consideradas como moderadamente baja y baja respectivamente. Concluyendo que los factores topografia y cobertura vegetal son los determinantes en el proceso erosivo de los suelos.

Los modelos de simulacion permiten generar datos a partir de variables de interes, con la finalidad de acelerar el proceso de toma de decisiones, o de tener una idea, fisicamente mas basada en resultados, para una determinada propuesta. Estos modelos pueden utilizarse para: optimizar el diseno de estructuras, la captacion de agua in situ y el manejo de escurrimientos superficiales, con las ventajas antes mencionadas. En este trabajo se mencionan los aspectos metodologicos de la simulacion de lluvia con un enfoque sencillo, cuyos requerimientos son una microcomputadora y registros historicos de la zona de estudio. Posteriormente, se mencionan los procedimientos para la aplicacion de la metodologia en tres casos: (1) prediccion de sequia intraestival (2) manejo de escurrimientos superficiales, y (3) captacion de agua de lluvia in situ, mencionandose la disponibilidad de los parametros para el modelo de simulacion en la cuenca del rio Texcoco. | Simulation models allow data generation from variables currently measured, with the objective of accelerate the decision-making process, or have an "educated guess" for a given proposal. Those models can be used to optimize the design of structures for in situ water harvesting, and runoff management, with the advantages previously mentioned. In this work methodology aspects of rainfall simulation are mentioned using a very simple approach, whose requirements are a personal computer and historical records of the study area. Later on, procedures for the application of the methodology are described for three cases: (1) dry spell prediction (2) runoff management, and (3) water harvesting, mentioning the availability of parameters for the model for the Texcoco watershed.

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