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Book (stand-alone)REWAS - REal WAter Savings tool 2025
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No results found.Water shortages in the Asia-Pacific region critically impact food security, as irrigated agriculture accounts for nearly 90 percent of freshwater withdrawals. The lack of reliable freshwater for irrigation directly affects farmer productivity and incomes. Traditionally, efforts to save water in agriculture have focused on improving irrigation techniques (e.g. drip irrigation, sprinklers). However, evidence shows that while these methods reduce water withdrawals, they often lead to increased water consumption at a larger scale. Instead of focusing solely on field-level water savings, it is crucial to consider water availability for other sectors, which is known as "real water savings."To bridge this gap, the REal WAter Savings (REWAS) tool was developed. It provides a practical approach for evaluating the larger-scale impacts of field-level crop-watering interventions. Based on FAO's principles of water accounting and productivity, the REWAS tool emphasizes the reuse of drainage, runoff, and groundwater percolation by downstream users rather than viewing them as losses.This document explains the concepts underlying the REWAS tool and provides examples of its successful application in various contexts. It also offers guidelines for assessing the basin-scale water savings of field experiments. By applying these concepts, stakeholders and decision-makers can better manage agricultural water systems at a broader scale, leading to real water savings across regions. -
Book (stand-alone)Field guide to improve crop water productivity in small-scale agriculture
The case of Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda
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By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, which requires an increase of food production by 70 percent compared to 2005 (FAO,2018). Nearly all the increase will occur in developing countries, where agriculture plays a major role to provide employment, income and to improve food security. One of the major challenges of increasing food supply is the limited water resources. Agriculture, as the driver of freshwater exploitation has, therefore, to be transformed into more resource efficient production (FAO, 2003). The world’s limited freshwater resources are potentially threatened by the expansion of agriculture. Increasing the potential output per amount of water used is an appropriate practice to improve production efficiency while protecting water resources. Therefore, increasing the productivity of agricultural water use in a sustainable manner is essential to ultimately sustain the social and economic conditions of livelihoods. Crop water productivity has grown into one of the major approaches to cope with water scarcity and advance crop-water relation. The number of conceptual frameworks and implications is ample, but there is always a growing need to review the step-by-step approach beyond. In this Field guide, practical pathways are presented to provide a comprehensive approach for assessing and improving crop water productivity in small-scale agriculture. The Field guide draws lessons learned in three countries (Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda) within the framework of FAO project “Strengthening Agricultural Water Efficiency and Productivity at the African and Global Level” funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). -
Book (stand-alone)Unlocking the potential of protected agriculture in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saving water and improving nutrition 2021
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No results found.The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political and economic union of Arab states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Unites Arab Emirates. The GCC was formed in 1981 to strengthen the members’ economic, social and political ties by harmonizing regulations in various fields including economy, finance, trade and customs. The region extends over a territory of 2 673 108 km2 and is home to about 50 million people. The common denominators of the GCC countries are limited natural fertile land, scarce water resources and harsh climate. Depending on the country, the agriculture sector may use as much as 75 percent of the national available water resources. This has enormous environmental costs and significantly affects the sustainability of overall development in the Arabian Peninsula. According to Al-Rashed and Sherif (2000), the lack of renewable water resources is one of the critical constraints to sustainable development in the GCC countries. Rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula is scarce and infrequent. Over-exploitation of fossil groundwater resources, mostly to meet irrigation demands and create greenery lands, has already affected the productivity of aquifers, both quantitatively and qualitatively, despite the fact that much of the freshwater demand in the GCC countries is already covered using desalinated water. Reducing water consumption and increasing water efficiency are essential to enhancing agriculture and moving towards increased self-sufficiency with the production of high-quality, safe and diversified foods in the GCC countries. Exploiting the full potential of protected agriculture should save significant amounts of water, which can be used not only for agriculture but for other needs as well.
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