The Water Crisis and Agriculture
Agriculture has been essential for sustaining life and development on this planet. The last few decades have seen agricultural production reach paramount heights. This has been driven by the ever increasing demands for food, which is a problem associated with increasing population growth. As the population number grows, the demand to feed everyone grows with it. However, it is notable that countries where there are high population numbers (i.e. 'developing' countries such as India, Egypt and Bangladesh), are countries that do not use majority of the products of agriculture and feature problems such as food insecurity and poverty. Majority of agricultural produce goes towards the West, to the USA, Canada, UK and Spain. So whilst there is a higher volume of food being grown and produced worldwide, there is an unequal distribution of it.
For more information on food and population issues, check out this short clip on the topic:
Now, back to the topic of water, and how it relates to all of this.
It is a well known fact that without water (spoiler alert), agricultural production would not be possible. Water provides the basic functions for the growth of organic materials (in this case agricultural produce) to grow. There has been an increasing awareness of the water crisis, which does not refer to just the lack of water for sanitation in developing countries. This issue has extended to include the growing problem of global water scarcity. The issue of the water crisis is becoming worrying.
As water scarcity increases, sustainable agricultural use of water must be implemented at local and national level to reduce the impacts and potential risks of the crisis. Water crisis is a global issue, however in areas where the environment is already arid with low rainfall and water resources, the impacts will be more harsh. Often in these areas there are underdeveloping countries with high rates of poverty and economic instability such as the Middle East and North African region.
I will be focusing on agricultural irrigation systems in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories, where there are water scarcity issues with severe social and economic implications.
