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Stockholm, 24 August 2006 – Scientists discussing the landmark Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture released here this week are asking policy makers to re-evaluate their perception of, and position on rainfall urging them to plan for it as a primary source of freshwater for a variety of uses including agriculture.
Stockholm, 24 August 2006 – Scientists discussing the landmark Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture released here this week are asking policy makers to re-evaluate their perception of, and position on rainfall urging them to plan for it as a primary source of freshwater for a variety of uses including agriculture.
The scientists who see immense potential in increasing agricultural production and productivity by investing in rain-water harvesting are recommending development of policies that will not only recognise the role of rain in food production, but also encourage and support investment in rain harvesting for agriculture.
"Not one policy, planner or policy maker in the entire world ever thinks of rain as water," Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute observes. "For policy makers, water is only the runoff from rain that feeds into rivers, lakes and underground acquifers and this is all they formulate policies about and plan investments in."
The Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, underrtaken by the CGIAR with support from the CBD, Ramsar Convention and FAO, sees upgrading rainfed agricultural systems as one of the most effective means of averting water scarcity and increasing food production particularly in developing countries where poverty, hunger and malnutrition are rife.
By re-directing investment to rainwater harvesting and simple technologies for conveying water to farms, scientists project that agricultural production could grow at a rate of one per cent per annum leading to doubling of food yields to 4.5 tonnes per hectare by 2050.
More than 80 per cent of crop production worldwide directly relies on rainfall, with only about 20 percent relying on irrigation water diverted from rivers and groundwater. Less than five per cent of food production in Sub-Saharan Africa relies on irrigation, this region withdrawing only a tenth of what is used by developed countries to produce food.
"Most of the world's agriculture is rainfed and therefore the greatest impacts to food production and increasing water productivity will be derived by urgently focussing on upgrading rainfed agriculture," David Molden, coordinator of the Comprehensive Assessment told journalists. "The Assessment shows that we must no longer think of this the sector that uses most water but as a livelihood supporting activity for three billion people worldwide, and a means of getting out of poverty."
He said rainfed agriculture needs only a tenth of the investment that could otherwise be directed at development an irrigation infrastructure, yet has the potential to reap five to six times more food and water productivity. Traditionally most investments in water management for agriculture were directed at large scale irrigation developments neglecting rainfed areas, hence the underdevelopment of rainfed agriculture in developing countries.
The planning and management of both Agriculture and Water in most countries are mutually exclusive, each with a ministry of its own, the planning and decision-making being independent of each other. Scientists would like to see more interaction of the two.
Prof Nuhu Hatibu of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) said policy makers must bridge the gap between irrigated and rainfed agriculture by exploring rainwater harvesting and storage for use in dry seasons. The two systems should be complementary.
The scientists listed several compelling reasons to shift investments to improve the productivity of water and land in rainfed areas, including:
- There is a large unmet potential to increase productivity in areas where yields are low—through small-scale water harvesting and supplemental irrigation, combined with better land management.
- More rural poor depend on rainfed agriculture than on irrigated agriculture, so targeting the poor implies focusing on smallholders in rainfed areas.
- Investment costs to upgrade rainfed systems are typically lower than those of large-scale irrigation. The systems can be quickly implemented and can yield fast and high marginal returns.
- Water-driven environmental degradation can be checked because there likely is (but not necessarily) less pressure on blue water resources and less competition with wetlands.
- Large-scale irrigation development has high environmental (river and groundwater depletion and salinization) and social costs (people displaced by large reservoirs).
Note to Editors:
The Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA), the first of its kind critically examining policies and practices of water use and development in the agricultural sector over the last 50 years. The CA was co-sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on Biological Diversity in a bid to find solutions to the challenge of balancing the water-food-environment equation (www.iwmi.org/assessment).
The assessment was led by the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute, one of 15 agricultural research centres supported by the CGIAR. The CGIAR is a strategic agricultural research alliance dedicated to generating and applying the best available knowledge to stimulate agricultural growth, raise farmers' incomes and protect the environment. It supports 15 research centers worldwide conducting groundbreaking work to nourish the future. For more information, please visit www.cgiar.org/.
The World Water Week in
ASARECA is the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa with 10 member countries in the region
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