Agricultural Water Management: Water,- Society and Technology Interactions

Worldwide, a variety of processes puts increasing pressure on water resources. Global climate change causes temperatures to rise and precipitation and rainfall patterns change. An increasing degree of urbanization causes people to move from the countryside to cities. This process creates increasing competition over water resources, like rivers and groundwater, between cities and their surrounding areas. Furthermore, population growth and rising global welfare create an increased demand for food. With agriculture being the dominant water user worldwide, this process has a significant impact on agricultural water management and challenges us to find sustainable solutions, a solution that takes all perspectives into account. This MOOC focuses on the role of agricultural water management, from crop characteristics and irrigation water requirements to models of agrarian development and water management demands. The course consists of several learning modules combined with a case study. Case study videos and interviews from Morocco are used to apply the knowledge from the learning modules. This creates the opportunity for you to immediately apply your gained knowledge in a real-life situation. We developed this course in close cooperation with IAV (Institute Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II) in Rabat, Morocco. Specifically, professor Hammani (director of the institute) and researcher Ms. Kettani supported us greatly during the development of this MOOC. The case is situated in the Tadla irrigation scheme, where we were supported by the ORMVA-T. Special thanks goes to Mohamed Saaf, chef of ORMVA-Tadla, for the support we received in the field.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Explain the allocation, distribution, governance and use of water
• Apply the basic principles of estimating irrigation water requirements
• Explain relations between water management practices and local agricultural conditions
• Understand the relation between water technologies, management & governance
• Analyse the interrelations between institutional and infrastructural designs for sustainable water management in agriculture

Assumed Knowledge:
The level of the course is intermediate. To optimally learn in and complete the course we expect you to have a bachelor degree, in a field related to agricultural water management. This can be from the technical side (water management, agronomy) or from a more social side (development studies, political science).