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The intersection of water and agriculture

The intersection of water and agriculture. Jean-Marc Faur è s UN Food and Agriculture Organization Rome, Italy. IPIECA biofuel water workshop, Rome, 9 November 2010. Outline. How the world is fed: agriculture, food and water Water scarcity and the role of agriculture

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The intersection of water and agriculture

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  1. The intersection of water and agriculture Jean-Marc Faurès UN Food and Agriculture Organization Rome, Italy IPIECA biofuel water workshop, Rome, 9 November 2010

  2. Outline How the world is fed: agriculture, food and water Water scarcity and the role of agriculture Trends and prospects for water and agriculture The agriculture-water-energy interface Concluding remarks

  3. Water requirements: why so much for agriculture ?

  4. 1. How the world is fed: agriculture, food and water

  5. Water needed for crop production

  6. Water requirements of major food products

  7. Water requirements of major food products

  8. Main sources of food supply (Global average, 2002)

  9. Energy requirements for human diet 1 kcal ≈ 1 liter of water Rule of thumb #1:

  10. Source of water in food production

  11. Which water are we talking about ? “Green water”: rainwater stored in the soil and available for biomass production:  75,000 km3/yr  rainfed agriculture “Blue water”: freshwater from rivers, aquifers and lakes:  45,000 km3/yr, 12,500 “available”  irrigated agriculture  cities, industries  aquatic ecosystems .....

  12. Areas in green: agriculture mainly under rainfed Areas in blue: agriculture mainly under irrigation Circles depict total crop depletion August 2006 Distribution of rainfed and irrigated agriculture

  13. 2. Water scarcity and the role of agriculture

  14. Why irrigation ? Provides water for crop productions in regions where rainfall is not sufficient for agriculture Allows for double or triple cropping where climate allows for a single crop per year and intensification where land is scarce Reduce uncertainty and vulnerability to climate vagaries Allows for investment in other farm inputs: seeds, fertilizers, crop protection Allows for selection of (expensive) high value crops

  15. Irrigation in the world today 300 million hectares 70% of all freshwater appropriation 20% of cultivated land 40% of agricultural production 60% of cereal production

  16. Agriculture is the main user of water • AbstractionConsumption Cities 3% Industry 4% Industry 21% Cities 10% Agriculture 69% Agriculture 93% • About 50% of available water resources is already used

  17. 3. Trends and prospects for water and agriculture

  18. Main driving forces today Water scarcity and increasing concern for environmental sustainability Competition for water Environmental claims Pollution Demography Reduced demographic growth rate Urbanisation, changes in diet preferences Trade and globalisation Climate change

  19. Sources of growth in developing countries(2005/07 – 2050)

  20. Harvested area increases 2005/07 – 2050

  21. Increase in irrigation 2005-2050 Unused irrigation potential Increase of area equipped for irrigation in 2050 Area equipped for irrigation in 2005/2007 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Near East North Africa Latin America South Asia East Asia sub-Saharan Africa

  22. Changes in irrigated land and accompanying water withdrawals

  23. 4. The agriculture-water-energy interface

  24. Projections for biofuel production

  25. Water requirements of biofuels

  26. with 2 500 litres of water, we can: feed one person for one day or drive 15 km on biofuel Rule of thumb #2:

  27. Impact of bio-ethanol production on water Source: Hoogeveen et al. 2009

  28. Rainfed agriculture: Pressure on land resources Irrigated agriculture: Pressure on water resources Impacts of biofuels

  29. NAS (2007): water and biofuels in the US Currently a marginal additional stress on water at the regional to local scale. Significant acceleration of biofuels production could cause much greater water quantity problems depending on where the crops are grown (incl. already depleted aquifers). Water quality already affected due to large amount of N and P required to produce corn. Future increases in the use of corn for ethanol production may translate in considerable increase in harm to water quality.

  30. Sugar-oil : the price link Data: Nymex and EIA, J. Schmidhuber (2005)

  31. 5. Concluding remarks

  32. Conclusions World water system already under heavy stress due to agriculture and other uses: China, India, already facing serious water constraints Agriculture main water user (70%) Future water demand for agriculture in the rise Climate change likely to result in increased demand for irrigated water Bioenergy likely to add to pressure on water: depending on type of crop depending on farming system: rainfed/irrigated depending on region through secondary effect on other productions

  33. “Check-list” on water and biofuel Understand which water we are talking about, and impact of biofuel production on land water Assess the direct impact both on the quantity and quality of water Assess indirect impact through price of major commodities and substitution effects Seek win-win options through where competition for land and water is low

  34. Thank You www.fao.org/nr/water

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