The World Bank has been the largest source of assistance to developing countries for agricultural and rural development. This has included a range of structural and non-structural measures to harness, control, and manage surface and ground water to improve agricultural production. These measures involved diverse combinations of irrigation, drainage and flood control, water conservation and on-farm water management.

Agriculture in the developing world consumes more than seventy percent of water resources. In many areas it is in direct competition with rapidly growing urban populations for the same water. Even so, the World Bank markedly reduced its assistance for better AWM and irrigation sector reform. There are three reasons for this. The Bank's development agenda moved away from infrastructure to focus on social development and institutions during the late 1990s; the cost of applying safeguard policies was high for water projects; and inadequate focus on results and impacts hindered project and program designers' ability to demonstrate to the Bank's managers and policy makers the relevance of AWM for economic growth, poverty alleviation and income generation. This book evaluates the evidence, draws lessons and makes recommendations to increase the relevance of agricultural water management to the Bank's global development objectives.