Agriculture is still the engine of growth in the overall economic well-being in an increasingly globalized world. Therefore, many countries aspire the economic development through agriculture, thus making it the most important driver in water exploitation. While the demand is rapidly growing, water resources are becoming limited that leads to overall imbalance between demand and supply. A more efficient use of water in agriculture would certainly help. In response to this, considerable number of policy initiatives came into force that promoted irrigation development to keep up with the growing demand. However, many of them have not been brought to the ground yet due to their little-explored effect on the economic, agronomic and environmental conditions. The pathways of irrigation development – almost certainly essential for combating food security and poverty – need new approaches to close the gap between the conceptual frameworks and pragmatic approaches