WATER - saving drops for future crops

WATER is a critical & strategic resource for agricultural production, playing a significant role in food security.

Key facts:

• Irrigated agriculture represents 20 percent of the total cultivated land;
• It contributes to 40 percent of the total food produced worldwide;
• Irrigation, on average, increase crop productivity per unit of land at least twice in comparison to rainfed agriculture;
• Currently, agriculture accounts for almost 70 percent of all freshwater consumption globally;
• Agricultural water is used for irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer applications, crop cooling and frost control;
• Intensive groundwater pumping for irrigation depletes aquifers and can lead to negative environmental consequences;
• In addition, agriculture remains a major source of water pollution (fertiliser run-off, pesticide use and livestock residues) affecting groundwater quality;
• Future demand for water will require as much as 25 to 40% of water to be re-allocated from lower to higher use productivity;
• Implementation of proper management strategies (irrigation scheduling, crop specific irrigation adjustment, bigger share of more efficient foliar feeding) that improve water use efficiency is crucial.

I would like to recommend my brief presentation highlighting the advantages of foliar nutrition of plants, that could contribute to more sustainable water management:

https://www.slideshare.net/MichaSota2/foliar-fertilizer-for-balanced-mineral-nutrition-of-crops

Further reading recommended:

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water-in-agriculture (data, sustainability management), 

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/other/agricultural/index.html (agricultural water)

https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/13/3267/2020/ (open-access modelling tool).

Image credits: from above cited source (paper by Burek et al. 2020; DOI: 10.5194/gmd-13-3267-2020).

#water #watermanagement #soil #land #agtech #agritech #plants #crops #agriculture #agribusiness #farming #farm #nutrition #plantprotection