Innovations for Improving water use efficiency and agriculture productivity in dry areas

Transcription

1 Innovations for Improving water use efficiency and agriculture productivity in dry areas Global Food Security Challenges Milan Expo, Italy, 7-8 August, 2015 Pre-Conference of ICAE, Co-organized by the European Commission, EAAE and IATRC Mahmoud El Solh, Ph.D. Director General International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)

2 Implications of Water Scarcity for Human Poverty and Access to Food Water scarcity (measured by WPI the Water Poverty Index) contributes greatly to human poverty (HDI) in dry areas Direct relationship between access to water and level of food and feed security: Water Poverty explains about 43% of Food Insecurity.

3 Dry Areas: Fragile Agro-ecosystems with Multiple Stresses Physical water scarcity Rapid natural resource degradation and desertification Groundwater depletion Drought Salinity Climate change Poverty m Decrease of the Souss aquifer level in Morocco

4 elative change of mean annual precipitation 1980/1999 to 2080/2099 Relative change of mean annual precipitation 1980/1999 to 2080/2099, scenario A1b, average of 21 GCMs (compiled by GIS Unit ICARDA, based on partial maps in Christensen et al., 2007)

5 Cubic meter per capita % of total water resources WUE % Agricultural water declining Agriculture uses most of the water Agricultural water is declining Mostly used with low 100 efficiency wheat 45 Barley 55 Faba beans 47 Potatoes 32 Sugar beet Tomatoes 53 Cotton North Africa % Agriculture share of total Total available water per capita Agriculture share of water per capita

6 Approaches: 1. Agro-Ecosystem-based Irrigated Systems Low WP Salinization Marginal water Rainfed Systems ( Marginal mm Lands annual) & Rangelands Improve Systems WP ( annual) Sustainable use of Low Degraded and marginal nonuniform rangelands water rainwater Dry Desertification spells Low Rainwater yields mostly lost in evaporation GW depletion Water harvesting Supplemental irrigation

7 Approaches: 2. Benchmarking and out scaling

8 Approaches: 3. Selecting the right crops, from efficiency to productivity Increasing water productivity: More crop per drop Return WP = Unit of water used Better cropping patterns Reducing losses Improved water management Markets and added value Biological WP kg/m Beef Lentil Wheat Potato Olive Dates Economic Wp $/m Beef Lentil Wheat Potato Olive Dates

9 9 Scales and drivers to increase water productivity (WP) At the basin level: Competition among uses (Environment, Agriculture and Domestic uses) Conflicts between countries Equity issues At the national level: Food security, produce for hard currency Socio-political considerations At the farm level: Maximizing economic return Nutrition in subsistence farming At the field level: Maximizing biological vs. economic

10 Innovative agricultural practices and technologies to enhance water productivity and WUE 1. Deficit Irrigation 2. Supplemental irrigation 3. Water harvesting for fruit trees & forage production 4. Vallerani micro-catchments for rangeland rehabilitation 5. Sustainable intensification of production systems 6. Improving the WUE through raised-bed production 7. Greywater reuse 8. Hydroponics/Soilless Culture for high-value crops 9. Breeding for drought tolerance & WUE.

11 Water productivty (kg/m3 x10) 1. Deficit irrigation: Tradeoffs between water & land productivities y = x x R 2 = Land productivtiy (t/ha)

12 Kg wheat grain/m3 H2O 2. Supplemental Irrigation for Rainfed Systems Applying limited water to rain fed crops to improve and stabilize production Over 50% water saving Rainfed Full irrigation Supp. Irrigation

13 % of rainfall 3. Water harvesting for fruit trees and forage production 90% of rainfall is lost in evaporation and in salt sinks Water harvesting captures runoff and stores it Storage in small reservoirs, groundwater and soil profile 40-50% water saving Evaporation Transpiration 0 No interventionmicro WH Macro WH

14 % of rainfall 4. The Vallerani for rangelands (Badia) rehabilitation 120 Evaporation WH technologies integrated Mechanization, laser guided contouring, direct seedling planting Water stored in soils and aquifer Grazing management Rainfall runoff saving and improved productivity Combating desertification No intervention Transpiration Micro WH Macro WH

15 5. Sustainable intensification of irrigated systems Increasing water productivity Improving efficiency surface irrigation Enhancing soil fertility Modifying cropping patterns

16 6. Raised-bed & Grain Drill Combination Machine Reduce applied water by 30% Increased yields by 25% Reduced seed rate by 50% Increased WUE by 72% 70,000 acres (feddan) in Egypt in two years

17 FP: furrows irrigation FlP: flat bed irrigation RBP: raised bed irrigation

18 Out scaling of the broad-bed technology and additional funding provided by the countries Egypt: National Campaign for improvement of wheat followed the Food Security Project Approach for the dissemination of technologies: more than 1000 demonstration fields on improved wheat production technologies were planted during in 22 Governorates in addition to the Governorate of Sharkia used a pilot project site in Egypt. This expansion effort was supported by national funds amounting to 8.7 million EGP (about 1.700,000USD) over three years.

19 7. gray water treatment and use in rural areas Serving rural areas with no sewage system Separating house water from toilet water & treatment for aeration, activate aerobic bacteria & odor control Use for irrigation of trees etc. at the garden Increased yield, reduced water & energy and better environment Women role in management of the system

20 8. Hydroponics/Soil-less agriculture for cash crops More than 50% water saving 45% increase in grower s income in Yemen 60% increase in yield in Oman 80% reduction in agrochemical use Soilless Drip Surface Tomato Cucumber Peppers 337

21 9. Breeding Crops for Drought Tolerance and WUE Example: Synthetic Wheat, tolerance to excessive drought Parent Variety Yield t/ha % recurrent parent Cham 6*2/SW Cham 6*2/SW Cham Attila Yield of synthetic derivatives compared to parents under drought stress. (Tel Hadya mm)

22 9. Durum wheat genotypes selected for drought tolerance under rainfed (RF) and supplemental irrigation (SI) conditions Yield (kg/ha) Mean (kg/ha) Max(kg/ha) Rf (321 mm) Rf+SI ( mm) Fvrbl+SI ( mm)

23 9. Breeding for enhancing Water Productivity by changing the cropping season Winter vs. Spring Chickpea in West Asia & North Africa Mature winter crop Spring sown crop

24 9. Breeding for drought tolerance: Drought tolerant chickpea variety Gokce survived 2007 serious drought in Turkey as an example Gokce is used on about 80% of the chickpea production areas (over 550,000 ha). With a yield advantage of 300 kg/ha over other varieties, and world prices over USD 1000/t, this represents an additional USD 165 million for Turkish farmers, in 2007 alone. The Kabuli chickpea, Gokce, developed by Turkish national scientists and ICARDA scientists, has withstood severe drought in Turkey and produced when most other crops failed in 2007.

25 Conclusions Innovative technologies for enhancing water use efficiency and agricultural productivity in dry areas are available but more investment is needed in up scaling for large scale impact; More investment is needed in innovative research and science to address the complex challenges facing dry areas including climate change; More dialogue is needed with policy makers to develop appropriate policies that put more value on the use of scarce water resources in dry areas.

26 Thank You