The global value of water in agriculture

D’Odorico, Paolo; Chiarelli, Davide Danilo; Rosa, Lorenzo; Bini, Alfredo; Zilberman, David; Rulli, Maria Cristina

doi:10.1073/pnas.2005835117

Cited by 148 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Water is the primary abiotic factor limiting crop productivity ( Boyer, 1982 ), with agriculture consuming up to 85% of freshwater withdrawals ( WWAP, 2015 ; D’Odorico et al, 2020 ). Breeding has almost tripled productivity of major crops over the last 60 years, without parallel improvement in the amount of water required to produce a ton of crop biomass ( Sinclair et al, 1984 ; Ort and Long, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of Natural Variation in Water-Use Efficiency Under Fluctuating Light Are Promising Targets for Improvement in Sorghum

et al. 2021

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Improving leaf intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), the ratio of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation to stomatal conductance, could decrease crop freshwater consumption. iWUE has primarily been studied under steady-state light, but light in crop stands rapidly fluctuates. Leaf responses to these fluctuations substantially affect overall plant performance. Notably, photosynthesis responds faster than stomata to decreases in light intensity: this desynchronization results in substantial loss of iWUE. Traits that could improve iWUE under fluctuating light, such as faster stomatal movement to better synchronize stomata with photosynthesis, show significant natural diversity in C3 species. However, C4 crops have been less closely investigated. Additionally, while modification of photosynthetic or stomatal traits independent of one another will theoretically have a proportionate effect on iWUE, in reality these traits are inter-dependent. It is unclear how interactions between photosynthesis and stomata affect natural diversity in iWUE, and whether some traits are more tractable drivers to improve iWUE. Here, measurements of photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and iWUE under steady-state and fluctuating light, along with stomatal patterning, were obtained in 18 field-grown accessions of the C4 crop sorghum. These traits showed significant natural diversity but were highly correlated, with important implications for improvement of iWUE. Some features, such as gradual responses of photosynthesis to decreases in light, appeared promising for improvement of iWUE. Other traits showed tradeoffs that negated benefits to iWUE, e.g., accessions with faster stomatal responses to decreases in light, expected to benefit iWUE, also displayed more abrupt losses in photosynthesis, resulting in overall lower iWUE. Genetic engineering might be needed to break these natural tradeoffs and achieve optimal trait combinations, e.g., leaves with fewer, smaller stomata, more sensitive to changes in photosynthesis. Traits describing iWUE at steady-state, and the change in iWUE following decreases in light, were important contributors to overall iWUE under fluctuating light.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of Natural Variation in Water-Use Efficiency Under Fluctuating Light Are Promising Targets for Improvement in Sorghum

et al. 2021

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“…D'Odorico et al. (2020) report somewhat higher water values for South Asia, based on irrigation water withdrawn and price data for the year 2000, for rice, maize and soybean (between 0.05 and 0.08 USD m −3 ), but they assume the incremental costs of non‐water related inputs to be negligible which is not generally the case in the IGB. We have used average price levels over the 2000–2018 period while W. J.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Feasibility of Water Conservation in Agriculture

et al. 2021

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The world faces a major challenge to reconcile demand and supply and ensure that there is water at the right location and the right time, at a cost that people can afford and are willing to pay (Hanemann, 2006). Without corrective action, high population growth, urbanization, and industrialization will further increase water demand (Godfray et al., 2010), undermining natural capital and water-dependent environmental processes. Agriculture, the sector that consumes by far the largest share of water especially in many low income countries, is under pressure to produce more food using less water: food production needs to rise by 50% by 2050 while global water use needs to be reduced to remain within planetary boundaries (Gerten Abstract Global water use for food production needs to be reduced to remain within planetary boundaries, yet the financial feasibility of crucial measures to reduce water use is poorly quantified. Here, we introduce a novel method to compare the costs of water conservation measures with the added value that reallocation of water savings might generate if used for expansion of irrigation. Based on detailed water accounting through the use of a high-resolution hydrology-crop model, we modify the traditional cost curve approach with an improved estimation of demand and increasing marginal cost per water conservation measure combination, adding a correction to control for impacts on downstream water availability. We apply the method to three major river basins in the Indo-Gangetic plain (Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra), a major global food producing region but increasingly water stressed. Our analysis shows that at basin level only about 10% (Brahmaputra) to just over 20% (Indus and Ganges) of potential water savings would be realized; the equilibrium price for water is too low to make the majority of water conservation measures cost effective. The associated expansion of irrigated area is moderate, about 7% in the Indus basin, 5% in the Ganges and negligible in the Brahmaputra, but farmers' gross profit increases more substantially, by 11%. Increasing the volumetric cost of irrigation water influences supply and demand in a similar way and has little influence on water reallocation. Controlling for the impact on return flows is important and more than halves the amount of water available for reallocation. Plain Language Summary A number of water conservation measures in agriculture have been proposed to produce more food with less water. However, the extent to which the benefits-the value of additional crop production supported by water savings-compensate the costs of these measures is poorly quantified. A complicating factor is that losses from inefficient use of water upstream are often reused downstream so that benefits of water conservation measures tend to be overstated. We used detailed model simulations to trace the impact of various measures on all irrigation water fluxes, including these losses, and crop production and its value. We then compared the cost of water conservation with the d...

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“…Globally, water is a scarce commodity and agricultural production is directly dependent on the availability and effective use of water for crop production (D'Odorico et al, 2020). Moreover, the sensible use of the available water through flood irrigation is a management issue and, therefore, requires motivation among farmers in using water at the required time in the required quantity (Li et al, 2020).…”

Section: Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Better Management Practices (BMPs) Among Cotton Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan

Khan¹,

Awan²,

Imran³

et al. 2021

JAS

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Better management practices (BMPs) as a sustainable approach made it attractive for growers to control the provision of pollutants from agricultural activities as well as enhance the financial return. The experiments of cotton production were conducted in four different regions of Punjab in cotton-growing years 2017-2019. The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers by rationalizing the use of input resources (viz., seed, fertilizers, pesticides and water). The data were collected from randomly selected adopters of BMPs (n = 400) and non-adopters of BMPs (n = 100) through a well-structured pretested questionnaire using a multistage sampling procedure from four different regions of Punjab province. Descriptive analysis was employing an independent two-sample t-test to evaluate the significant effect of BMPs on the utilization of input resources and profitability of cotton production between adopters and non-adopters of BMPs. The results indicated that adopters of BMPs were efficiently used input resources (at p ≤ 0.001 & p ≤ 0.01) and significantly enhanced the average cotton yield (855.09 kg acre-1) in Punjab, while non-adopters of BMPs had a significantly high cost of production by 11% (35,655 PKR acre-1) and output was lower by 15% (751.70 kg acre-1) under conventional farming for cotton cultivation. The economic analysis revealed that the average gross income gained by adopters of BMPs was significantly high by 11% (72,648 PKR acre-1 at p ≤ 0.001) with the maximum net return of 36% (40,785 PKR acre-1 at p ≤ 0.001) as well as a good B:C (1.28) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. This study provides useful information about the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers even without the extra use of inputs. It is concluded that precision in inputs and management practices with lower input costs can significantly improve cotton productivity leading to uplift the farmers’ profit.

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The global value of water in agriculture

Cited by 148 publications

References 46 publications

Drivers of Natural Variation in Water-Use Efficiency Under Fluctuating Light Are Promising Targets for Improvement in Sorghum

Drivers of Natural Variation in Water-Use Efficiency Under Fluctuating Light Are Promising Targets for Improvement in Sorghum

Financial Feasibility of Water Conservation in Agriculture

The Impact of Better Management Practices (BMPs) Among Cotton Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan

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