Current global food production comes from 1.5 billion ha of cultivated land,
representing 12 % of the total land area. About 1.1 billion ha is rainfed with no
irrigation systems. Thus rainfed agriculture is practiced on about 80 % of world’s
physical agricultural area and generates about 60 % of the world’s staple food. The
other 40 % was supplied by agricultural land cultivated through irrigation which
only represents 19 % (Evenson and Gollin 2003; FAO 2010; Molden et al. 2010).
Pfister et al. (2011) illustrated the potential consequences of increasing agricultural production. Their study reveals possibilities to decrease the specific
environmental impacts with good agricultural practice and well-distributed
expansion and/or intensification on existing cropland. Also, they found that in
order to feed the future generations, it seems necessary to develop agriculture in
developing countries (particularly in Africa and parts of South America). But this
needs to be done wisely because land and water resources will become increasingly stressed. Khan and Hanjra (2009) reviewed water management and crop
production for food security in China, and pointed out that it is necessary to
integrate climate, energy, food, environment, and population together to discuss
future food security in China, and in the world as well.
The severity of the water crisis has prompted the United Nations (Watkins
2009) to conclude that it is water scarcity, and not a lack of arable land that will be
the major constraint to increased food production over the next few decades.
Australia is one of the major food-producing and land abundant countries
but recent drought reduced its agricultural and food production substantially
(Goesch et al. 2007). Drought in other food-producing countries such as parts of
the United States of America and Europe is regarded as one of the major factors
that contributed to the global food price crisis of 2008 (Piesse and Thirtle 2009).
Nevertheless, water scarcity remains the primary constraint to global food
production. Reduction in irrigation water will cause decline in agricultural and
food production. Major food-producing areas such as the Punjab of India and
Pakistan, and the central and northern areas of China suffer from the depletion of
aquifers and the transfer of water from irrigation to growing cities, with implications for food security. While irrigation almost always doubles productivity
(Hanjra et al. 2009; Namara et al. 2010), higher energy and fertilizer prices present
complex issues to these smallholder’s irrigated systems. Loss of productive land to
urbanization, and water logging and salinity are critical constraints. For example,
in Indonesia in the last 5 years, about 1 million ha of farmland has been lost to
urbanization due to industrial and infrastructure development (Halim et al. 2007).
A key challenge facing agriculture in the twenty-first century is how to feed a
world with a continuously growing and increasingly affluent population which is
projected to increase to about 9 billion by 2050. This will increase the demand for
irrigation water to meet food production requirements and household and industrial demand. In response to population growth and rising incomes, worldwide
cereals and meat demand has been projected to increase by 65 and 56 %,
respectively (Hanjra and Qureshi 2010). The world demand for cereals was
1.2 billion tons in 1974, 1.84 in 1997, and is projected to be 2.50 billion tons in
2020. The global demand for meat was 109 million tons in 1974, 208 in 1997, and
26
L. Garcia-Mier et al.
representing 12 % of the total land area. About 1.1 billion ha is rainfed with no
irrigation systems. Thus rainfed agriculture is practiced on about 80 % of world’s
physical agricultural area and generates about 60 % of the world’s staple food. The
other 40 % was supplied by agricultural land cultivated through irrigation which
only represents 19 % (Evenson and Gollin 2003; FAO 2010; Molden et al. 2010).
Pfister et al. (2011) illustrated the potential consequences of increasing agricultural production. Their study reveals possibilities to decrease the specific
environmental impacts with good agricultural practice and well-distributed
expansion and/or intensification on existing cropland. Also, they found that in
order to feed the future generations, it seems necessary to develop agriculture in
developing countries (particularly in Africa and parts of South America). But this
needs to be done wisely because land and water resources will become increasingly stressed. Khan and Hanjra (2009) reviewed water management and crop
production for food security in China, and pointed out that it is necessary to
integrate climate, energy, food, environment, and population together to discuss
future food security in China, and in the world as well.
The severity of the water crisis has prompted the United Nations (Watkins
2009) to conclude that it is water scarcity, and not a lack of arable land that will be
the major constraint to increased food production over the next few decades.
Australia is one of the major food-producing and land abundant countries
but recent drought reduced its agricultural and food production substantially
(Goesch et al. 2007). Drought in other food-producing countries such as parts of
the United States of America and Europe is regarded as one of the major factors
that contributed to the global food price crisis of 2008 (Piesse and Thirtle 2009).
Nevertheless, water scarcity remains the primary constraint to global food
production. Reduction in irrigation water will cause decline in agricultural and
food production. Major food-producing areas such as the Punjab of India and
Pakistan, and the central and northern areas of China suffer from the depletion of
aquifers and the transfer of water from irrigation to growing cities, with implications for food security. While irrigation almost always doubles productivity
(Hanjra et al. 2009; Namara et al. 2010), higher energy and fertilizer prices present
complex issues to these smallholder’s irrigated systems. Loss of productive land to
urbanization, and water logging and salinity are critical constraints. For example,
in Indonesia in the last 5 years, about 1 million ha of farmland has been lost to
urbanization due to industrial and infrastructure development (Halim et al. 2007).
A key challenge facing agriculture in the twenty-first century is how to feed a
world with a continuously growing and increasingly affluent population which is
projected to increase to about 9 billion by 2050. This will increase the demand for
irrigation water to meet food production requirements and household and industrial demand. In response to population growth and rising incomes, worldwide
cereals and meat demand has been projected to increase by 65 and 56 %,
respectively (Hanjra and Qureshi 2010). The world demand for cereals was
1.2 billion tons in 1974, 1.84 in 1997, and is projected to be 2.50 billion tons in
2020. The global demand for meat was 109 million tons in 1974, 208 in 1997, and
26
L. Garcia-Mier et al.