Water security is essential for all life on earth, and not least for food security and sustainable food production. Jennie Barron, Professor within agricultural water management, emphasise the challenges in a new blog post published for the Swedish FAO Committee in conjunction with the International Water Day.
"Water is essential in our food production systems, – to ensure biomass and to sustain essential ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Globally, 95% of food production is land-based (e.g. FAO SOLAW 2022), meaning it is fundamentally reliant on the weather conditions and soil-water interactions for crops and livestock at the field and landscape level. To manage variable rainfall conditions for crop production, we globally irrigate 25 % of cropland to alleviate dry spells and droughts, and maintain drainage systems to cope with floods and soil health on about almost 20 % of cropland. These are essential water management practises to secure food supplies globally in current and potential future variable rainfall, but also a cause for controversy and potential adverse environmental impacts..."
Read the full blog post at the Swedish FAO committee's website.
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