**5. Constraints in the adoption of smart water management tools and strategies into farming operations**

There is a generalized feeling among farmers and field extensionists in relation to irrigation, who almost unanimously and systematically consider today that this agronomic practice is the major limiting factor in crop productivity in most farms. Efforts done to effectively improve water productivity are affected by two main constraints in the adoption of smart water management applications in fieldpressurized irrigation systems:


The first constraint is being painfully addressed as a result of decreasing irrigation water availability, due to climatic global change, but the second constraint requires an urgent upgrade in irrigation decision-makers' knowledge and professional abilities, at the farm level. Highly motivated extensionists, with specific quantitative goals to address these constraints are needed in most agricultural areas, in the scope of well-financed collective policy schemes, to obtain the highest economic return for each water drip available. Efforts to provide short-term, accredited, and practical courses on irrigation system performance and maintenance at the farm level to operators and agronomists are urgently needed in most agricultural irrigated areas.
