Agricultural Water Management in Africa: Lessons Learned and Future Directions provides an overview of the status of irrigation development and AWM practices and technologies in Africa and the global south. In addition, it provides guidelines, scenarios, and investment plans to guide the prioritization and operationalization of irrigation development and AWM under climate change. The African Union (AU) is driving investment and improvement in agricultural water management and transformation in Africa through the operationalization of the AU Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management in Africa (AU-IDAWM). The AU-IDAWM provides a framework that identifies four development pathways for enhanced agricultural water management practices across Africa. The pathways are as follows: (1) Pathway 1: Improved water control and watershed management in rain-fed farming, (2) Pathway 2: Farmer-led Irrigation Development (FLID), (3) Pathway 3: Irrigation scheme development and modernization, and (4) Pathway 4: Unconventional water use for irrigation.

• Highlights fit-for-purpose irrigation strategies at scale and identifies opportunities and challenges of irrigation practices
• Expands understanding of the pathways for AWM, presenting operation and maintenance procedures
• Includes bespoke designs guided by AWM pathway approach