{"id":13539,"date":"2026-06-20T12:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-hosts-australia-awards-symposium-on-irrigation-and-water-resource-management\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:28:24","slug":"iita-hosts-australia-awards-symposium-on-irrigation-and-water-resource-management","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-hosts-australia-awards-symposium-on-irrigation-and-water-resource-management\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA hosts Australia Awards symposium on irrigation and water resource management"},"content":{"rendered":"Irrigation specialists from Australia, Cameroon, Ghana,  and Nigeria gathered for a symposium at <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">IITA<\/a> headquarters on 28 March, as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.australiaawardsafrica.org\/\">Australia Awards Africa<\/a> short course on Irrigation  and Water Resources Management for Agriculture (IWRM). The Australia Awards, funded by the Australian government  and managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs  and Trade, offers awardees the opportunity to study  and participate in research  and professional development activities.\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_18721\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18721\" style=\"width: 1900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18721 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Soil-Scientist- and-Course-Leader-Gunnar-Kirchhof-addresses-participants-at-the-symposium-slider.jpg\" alt=\"IITA hosts Australia Awards symposium on irrigation  and water resource management\" width=\"1900\" height=\"731\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18721\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Soil Scientist  and Course Leader Gunnar Kirchhof addresses participants at the symposium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nIn his opening address, <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/dashiell-kenton\/\">Kenton Dashiell<\/a>, IITA Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery, welcomed the group  and said that IITA\u2019s research is channeled towards making agriculture a profitable venture  and a means of moving farmers from lower to middle or upper class. He also expressed the need for IITA to start a project on irrigation.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/researchers.uq.edu.au\/researcher\/901\">Gunnar Kirchhof<\/a>, Soil Scientist  and IWRM Course Leader at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uq.edu.au\/\">University of Queensl and<\/a>, Australia, explained the important role irrigation plays in the world. By providing water for agricultural activities throughout the year, irrigation helps to increase agricultural productivity,  and as a result, improve food security  and livelihoods.\n\nHe noted, however, that dry l ands likely experience higher temperatures, greater frequency of droughts,  and increased water scarcity. According to Kirchhof, \u201cthe similarity between the Australian  and many African agroecological environments, places Australia in an excellent position to work with African irrigation professionals to achieve food security through efficient  and sustainable irrigation systems.\u201d\n\nIn his keynote address, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bowenuniversity.edu.ng\/bowen\/about-us\/university-leadership\/the-vice-chancellor\/\">Vice Chancellor Joshua Ogunwole<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bowenuniversity.edu.ng\/bowen\/\">Bowen University<\/a> in Osun State, Nigeria, appreciated the efforts of IITA in championing African agriculture. He also encouraged the participants to start creating solutions to African agricultural problems, because \u201cwe are the ones who know our background, l and,  and resources\u201d.\n\nParticipating IWRM experts, academics, researchers,  and policymakers made key recommendations for irrigation in the dry l ands, including:\n<ul>\n \t<li>Sensitization for end-users through capacity development.<\/li>\n \t<li>Promotion of the watershed approach to l and, water,  and biomass management.<\/li>\n \t<li>Inculcating a maintenance culture in end-users.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThey also noted that private investors, research institutions, government,  and farmers must consider it a responsibility to partner  and work together to make irrigation a constant practice in the dry l ands.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Irrigation specialists from Australia, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria gathered for a symposium at IITA headquarters on 28 March, as part of the Australia Awards Africa short course on Irrigation and Water Resources Management for Agriculture (IWRM).<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":13540,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[197],"class_list":["post-13539","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","item-year-197"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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