In many regions of the world, irrigation is vital to food security and agricultural productivity. Prudent management of irrigation systems and water use becomes paramount under a probable scenario of rising climatic variability and population growth where increased irrigation is necessitated. Irrigation system managers are faced with the competing objectives such as water use minimization and crop yield maximization in selecting an irrigation strategy. Of interest is Vico and Porporato’s work which defines three key factors in selecting an optimal irrigation strategy, namely sustainability, profitability and crop yield, and demonstrates that each factor comes at a cost to the others.
