The needs assessment identified that the most relevant technologies for poverty reduction in the country are the following:

• Rainwater harvesting: Method which captures rainwater and stores it as surface water. This category includes small dams and river weirs.
• Shallow wells: These allow extracting water from shallow aquifers at a relative low cost.
• Several technologies such as river diversion with gravity irrigation, pumping technologies, soil and water conservation, drip irrigation, surface irrigation and Californian systems. This last one is a low pressure system which lifts water to a high point and then distributes it. When a motor pump is used, this system is well adapted for plots between 0.25 to 2 hectares where vegetables, rice or fruit trees are grown.

The major constraints common to all technologies which hinder the sustainability and efficiency of agricultural water management investments are related to institutional issues, maintenance and servicing, and financing.

Read more about the needs assessment carried out in Niger...