How To Fight Water Scarcity And Pollution Through Irrigation

A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on overcoming water challenges in agriculture makes it clear that urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Since irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of fresh water, the use of more efficient irrigation systems can go a long way towards mitigating problems such as water scarcity.

- Denene Erasmus

Agriculture accounts for about 70% of water withdrawals worldwide, but about 90% in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Increasing scarcity of fresh water and growing competition, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, is a serious constraint on agricultural production.

According to the state of food and agriculture 2020 report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), approximately 1,2 billion people live in areas where severe water shortages and scarcity challenge agriculture, from very high drought frequency in dryland cropland and pastureland areas to very high water stress in irrigated areas. This means that about one in six people on the planet face severe water shortages and scarcity in agriculture. If areas with high (in addition to very high) severe drought frequency or water stress are also considered, the number of people affected increases to 3,2 billion, of whom more than 40% (1,4 billion) live in rural areas.

As the report further indicates, these current estimates of water scarcity in agriculture globally can serve as a global assessment of the future potential impacts of climate change on water constraints.

“Water in these areas is likely to be a constraint [on] agricultural livelihoods and for most households, and unless demand and user practices change or alternate water resources are found, people may be driven to migrate,” the report states. Previous research by the FAO has found that 128 million hectares of dryland cropland and 656 million hectares of pastureland face frequent droughts, while 171 million hectares of irrigated cropland are subject to high or very high water stress. This means that about 11% of dryland cropland and 14% of pastureland experience severe recurring droughts, while more than 60% of irrigated cropland is highly water-stressed.