**1. Introduction**

The Karkheh River Basin (KRB) is one of the benchmark basins in the first phase of the CGIAR<sup>1</sup> challenge program on water and food (CPWF). The basin is located in the west south part of Iran, and an arid to semi-arid region (**Figure 1**). Most of the upstream area of the KRB is located in the Kermanshah, Lorestan, and to some extent in Hamedan provinces (Figur 1). Rainfed agriculture is the major agricultural system and farmers' agricultural production and incomes are quite low [1, 2].

The downstream region of the basin is mainly located in the provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam, where irrigated agriculture is the predominant farming system (**Figure 1**). The last part and outlet of the basin is "Hur al-Azim" wetland on the border of Iran and Iraq.

In general, KRB was not in good condition regarding water use, agricultural production, water productivity (WP), and the livelihood of the beneficiaries. These conditions provided the ideal situation for the CPWF to select KRB as a benchmark basin, indicating a representative basin from arid to semi-arid regions and directly impact improving people's livelihoods and enhancing basin WP for preserving it for the environment.

<sup>1</sup> Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research

*Approaches to Improve Water Productivity and Livelihood Resilience in the Karkheh River… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108720*

KRB was one of the nine benchmark basins of the CPWF Phase 1. It was implemented by CGIAR worldwide in the year 2004 and ended in 2008.

Three major research projects were launched in this basin mainly by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and with the cooperation and participation of national institutions affiliated with the Agricultural-Research-Education-Extension Organization (AREEO) of the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture of Iran.

The four major international projects approved for the KRB were: 1) Water productivity improvement (WP), 2) Strengthening livelihood resilience in upper catchments of dry areas by integrated natural resources management (LR), 3) Basin Focal Project of KRB (BFP), and 4) a small grant project namely as SG.

In terms of the dimensions and scope of the CPWF program in KRB, it can be acknowledged that the program covered all issues related to improving WP and socioeconomic issues related to the use of natural resources to improve the livelihoods of local communities in the basin. Regarding geographical distribution and main focus of the pivot projects, the WP project is located mostly in the irrigated areas in the Khuzestan (basin downstream), Kermanshah, and Lorestan (basin upstream) provinces and focusing on WP improvement issues including supplementary irrigation in basin upstream [3–5] (**Figure 1**). The LR project covered the entire area of upstream basin (**Figure 1**) [6, 7]. BFP project was also a large-scale pivot project that mostly dealt with large-scale WP and poverty issues for the entire basin area [2, 8].

Each of these focal projects had major and minor sub-projects and various core activities in areas related to the main project theme. **Table 1** summarizes the key sub-


**Table 1.**

*Specifications of the approved CPWF projects in KRB and their key sub-projects and or activities.*

projects or activities considered in the two comprehensive pivot projects, i.e., WP and LR projects.

In general, the purposes of these two participatory focal projects were to identify the basic issues, assess the status of agricultural WP, identify its sources of inefficiencies, provide the necessary technical and managerial solutions to improve poor agricultural and rural communities and increase income and improve their living conditions through comprehensive and appropriate management of natural resources. Ultimately, training and capacity buildings of all stakeholders, researchers, and experts of national agricultural research and extension services (NARES), and related local organizations were other goals of the projects [9].

It can be claimed that the CPWF program in the KRB is the first comprehensive international project in Iran that addresses water management and agricultural WP issues with participatory approach from field to basin scales and with the cooperation of international institutes, executive organizations, universities, and research institutes of the country.
