vii
Preface
Agriculture is the largest freshwater user on the planet. It consumes more than two
thirds of total withdrawals. A general perception has been existed worldwide that
agricultural water as the major user is often wasteful and has less value, compared
to other uses. In addition, freshwater shortage is becoming critical in the arid and
semiarid areas of the world. Consequently, freshwater resources available to agriculture will need to be re-rationalized to satisfy the developmental needs of other
sectors. Sustainable irrigation water management should be applied using practices
that improve crop yield and minimize non-beneficial water losses. Deficit irrigation
application could be very useful strategy to reduce the demand for water in the agriculture sector. In this strategy, under-irrigating a crop is deliberately done, where its
irrigation water supply is reduced relative to that needed to meet its maximum
evapotranspiration. Although this practice normally involves yield losses, it
increases water use efficiency.
One might wonder whether application of deficit irrigation can contribute in
increasing food availability. Although application of deficit irrigation involves loss
in crop productivity, it also secures water to be used in cultivating more lands.
However, on national level in Egypt, would the production resulted from the new
added area could compensate the yield losses attained by application of deficit
irrigation.
In this book, we answer the above question and shed the light on the role of deficit irrigation in securing food under water scarcity. We assessed the potential effect
of application of deficit irrigation to four winter crops grown in Egypt, namely,
Egyptian clover, sugar beet, onion, and tomato. These four crops have a surplus in
their production. We also assessed the possibility of saving an amount of irrigation
water from these four crops and use it to cultivate new areas with wheat. Wheat is
an important crop in Egyptian daily diet and has the major food productionconsumption gap.
Chapter 1 provided an overview on the interrelation between water scarcity and
food production. The chapter discussed several concepts related to food production,
Preface
Agriculture is the largest freshwater user on the planet. It consumes more than two
thirds of total withdrawals. A general perception has been existed worldwide that
agricultural water as the major user is often wasteful and has less value, compared
to other uses. In addition, freshwater shortage is becoming critical in the arid and
semiarid areas of the world. Consequently, freshwater resources available to agriculture will need to be re-rationalized to satisfy the developmental needs of other
sectors. Sustainable irrigation water management should be applied using practices
that improve crop yield and minimize non-beneficial water losses. Deficit irrigation
application could be very useful strategy to reduce the demand for water in the agriculture sector. In this strategy, under-irrigating a crop is deliberately done, where its
irrigation water supply is reduced relative to that needed to meet its maximum
evapotranspiration. Although this practice normally involves yield losses, it
increases water use efficiency.
One might wonder whether application of deficit irrigation can contribute in
increasing food availability. Although application of deficit irrigation involves loss
in crop productivity, it also secures water to be used in cultivating more lands.
However, on national level in Egypt, would the production resulted from the new
added area could compensate the yield losses attained by application of deficit
irrigation.
In this book, we answer the above question and shed the light on the role of deficit irrigation in securing food under water scarcity. We assessed the potential effect
of application of deficit irrigation to four winter crops grown in Egypt, namely,
Egyptian clover, sugar beet, onion, and tomato. These four crops have a surplus in
their production. We also assessed the possibility of saving an amount of irrigation
water from these four crops and use it to cultivate new areas with wheat. Wheat is
an important crop in Egyptian daily diet and has the major food productionconsumption gap.
Chapter 1 provided an overview on the interrelation between water scarcity and
food production. The chapter discussed several concepts related to food production,