Agriculture Water Management

By 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, a 50% increase compared to 2000.  Agriculture must
provide this increase against the decreasing availability of and competition for land and water from
other uses, whether non food crops, urbanization or industrial development. Most of the crop land is in
fact rainfed and this is where remains the largest yield gap in crop productivity among the different Regions of
the World. 

According to the comprehensive assessment on water management in agriculture

(2007), improving rainfed farming could double or quadruple yield. One main reason why
yield gaps exist is that farmers do not have sufficient economic incentives to adopt yield
enhancing seeds or cropping techniques. Other reasons include lack of access to
information, extension services and technical skills. Poor infrastructure, weak institutions
and discouraging farm policies can also create huge obstacles to the adoption of
improved technologies at farm-level. Other factors can be that available technologies
have not been adapted to local conditions.

Solutions lie with public sector investments in infrastructure and institutions, and
sound policies to stimulate adoption of technologies that reduce costs as well as
improving productivity, thus increasing agricultural incomes. Changes in crop
management techniques can also help closing yield gaps. Plant breeding plays an
important role in closing yield gaps by adapting varieties to local conditions and by making them more resilient to
biotic (e.g. insects, diseases, viruses) and abiotic stresses (e.g. droughts, floods). The first step is to target water
as without water people face crop failure and hunger.

Target description
To meet the requirements of this target, productivity of rainfed farming
systems will have to be increased. The efforts under this target will focus
on the opportunities for improving rain fed farming potential to boost yields
and income, especially in areas of low productivity.
Measures to improve land and water productivity may include:

 Making more rainwater available to crops when most needed

(capture water -rainwater harvesting, soil and water conservation-,
and using it -deficit irrigation; supplementary irrigation
etc.);
 on-farm water management to minimize water losses by evaporation;
 use of improved crop varieties;
 use of improved cropping systems and agronomics, such as conservation tillage;
 development of financial frameworks to provide incentives for the adoption of best practices and new
technology;
 use of low quality water in non-conventional (not for direct human consumption) applications such as forestry;
 Evaluation of rainfall patterns to determine quantity and quality available for agriculture use and rethinking crop
scheduling.
Increased land and water productivity in rainfed systems will imply technologies and practices but also need to
be supported by capacity building, financing, marketing systems and adequate policies and institutional
changes. The main stakeholders in the improvement of rainfed systems will include farmers, land-owners,
extension services in agriculture and rural development, local governments, regional/state governments and
federal governments. Costs will necessarily increase for the farmers, but will be offset by increased yields, and
thus greater total revenues.

Individual countries will have to assess their needs and develop strategies that are economically and
technologically feasible given the constraints of the locality. Consideration also will need to be given to the
social, cultural and environmental issues surrounding land and water use in the locality. Individual countries will
need to develop measurement tools to assess the progress toward the target. Once these tools have been
developed, they can be used to determine the appropriate percentage increase as compared to the 2005 – 2007
baseline.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations:

http://www.fao.org/land-water/water/water-management/agriculture-water-management/en/