Abstract
Despite the enormous advances in our ability to manage the natural world, we have reached the 21st century in awesome ignorance of what is likely to unfold in terms of both the climate changes and the human activities that affect the environment and the responses of the Earth to these stimuli. Globally the prospects of increasing the gross cultivated area are limited by the decease of economically attractive sites for large-scale irrigation and drainage projects. Therefore, increase in food production will necessarily rely on a more accurate application of the crop water requirements on the one hand, and modernization and improvement of irrigation and drainage systems on the other hand. These issues have to be analysed in light of the expected impacts of climate change and environmental sustainability. The present Editorial analyses the relevant aspects of these issues in light of the need to increase food production and for sustainable agricultural environment.
Highlights
Irrigated agriculture is expected to play a major role in reaching the broader development objectives of achieving food security and improvements in the quality of life, while conserving the environment, in both the developed and developing countries
The International Commission on Irrigation and Drai- nage (ICID) estimates that within the 25 years, this process may result in a shift of the contribution to the total food production to around 30% for the areas with no water management system, 50% for the areas with an irrigation system and 20% for the rainfed areas with a drainage system [3]
Hypothetical scenarios; climate scenarios based on General Circulation Models (GCMs) ; Scenarios based on reconstruction of warm periods in the past
Summary
Irrigated agriculture is expected to play a major role in reaching the broader development objectives of achieving food security and improvements in the quality of life, while conserving the environment, in both the developed and developing countries. As we are faced with the prospect of global population growth from almost 6 billion today to at least 8 billion by 2025[1] In this context, the prospects of increasing the gross cultivated area, in both the developed and developing countries, are limited by the dwindling number of economically attractive sites for new large- scale irrigation and drainage projects. The infrastructure in most irrigated and drained areas needs to be renewed or even replaced and redesigned and rebuilt, in order to achieve improved sustainable production This process depends on a number of common and well-coordinated factors , such as new and advanced technology, environmental protection, institutional strengthening, economic and financial assessment, research thrust and human resource development. All the above factors and constraints compel decision-makers to review the strengths and weaknesses of current trends in irrigation and drainage and rethink technology, institutional and financial patterns, research thrust and manpower policy, so that service levels and system efficiency can be improved in a sustainable manner [2]
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