Water in               TOWARDS RESILIENT AGRICULTURE

Agriculture                     Water in agriculture is central to feeding the planet, providing
                                livelihoods, and building resilience to climate shocks and extremes.
                                Yet sustainable achievement of these objectives is threatened by
                                growing demand for food and fiber, unsustainable resource use,
                                and ever increasing climate volatility and change.



              Our objective is to support a more water-resilient food system, in line
              with local and global dietary needs, that boosts livelihoods, respects the
              environment, and promotes resilience to climate shocks.


                            We work to strengthen our global and local understanding of the role
                            of water in our food systems for evidence-based decision making, to
                            improve water productivity in rainfed and irrigated agriculture by
                            addressing economic and absolute water scarcity in agriculture, to
                            improve service delivery and innovation for higher performance and
                            accountability, and to focus on building resilience and mitigating
                            climate impacts.

                 TO SUPPORT THE COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY, WE WORK TO:
                 • 	 Ensure continuity of irrigation services that sustain critical agricultural production and
                     enable employment in light of short-term fiscal stresses and operational constraints on
                     irrigated agriculture.
                 •	 Provide cash injections to rural communities, create job opportunities for the vulnerable,
                    and improve the productivity of agro-environmental assets (such as irrigation channels
                    and drainage systems) to build long-term resilience to shocks.
  Water in
Agriculture                                                                                   The Water
                              30 years,                     To feed the world and support                                                   INDUSTRY
              Over the next
                                                            a wide range of other social       We Eat:                    MUNICIPALITIES      19%      IRRIGATION
              the world’s population is expected to reach
                                                            needs, agriculture must                                            11%                         70%
                                                            become more productive,            irrigation covers only

              10 billion people.                            resource efficient, and
                                                            environmentally sustainable.
                                                                                                 20%
                                                                                               of the total land used

               3.2 billion people
                                                                                                   for agriculture,
              About
                                                                                                   but supports                       Global abstraction

                                                                                                 40%
              live in agricultural areas experiencing high levels of                                                                      of water
              water stress or high drought frequency.                                                                      Irrigation is responsible for using


                             78% of the world’s poor                                                                                       70%
                                                                                                of global food and
              An estimated
                                                                                                  fodder output,
                                                                                                                         of global freshwater abstracted from
                                                                                                        and
                                                                                                                         rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Irrigation

                                                                                                  55%
                                                       live in rural areas and depend
                                                       primarily on agriculture for                                     pumping uses 6% of global electricity
                                                       basic income – most of them                                      and irrigated rice alone is responsible
                                                       on smallholder family farms.               of output value.
                                                                                                                        for 11% of human methane emissions.


                   Sustainable agriculture                  Smarter water is introducing water management                  Water-resilient food systems
                    is needed to increase                        in underserved areas without access to                 require shifts in what is produced
                  food production, support                     irrigation to improve resilience to weather                where, better accounting of the
                    profitable farms that                    shocks. It is also improving agricultural output            sector’s water-related footprints
                   create jobs, and bolster                  and reducing real water loss in irrigated areas            and social values, and a valuation
                  resilience. This requires                 in water-stressed areas. Hybrid and tailored                  of the role the sector (can) play
               improvements in water                         solutions are needed to improve water                         in achieving basin water
                service provision and                                 productivity globally.                                          security.
               soil water management.