Prospects for Agricultural Water Productivity, Efficiency and Saving in the NENA Region, By Pasquale STEDUTO, Deputy FAO Regional Representative Near East & North Africa Office Cairo, Egypt, Land and Water Days in Near East & North Africa, 15-18 December 2013, Amman, Jordan

1. Prospects for Agricultural Water Productivity,
Efficiency and Saving in the NENA Region
Pasquale STEDUTO
Deputy FAO Regional Representative
Near East & North Africa Office
Cairo, Egypt
Amman, Jordan 15-18 December, 2013

2. The context
A. Food Security
Soaring of food prices
Prices volatility
Food crisis

3. • Social unrest
(Lagi et al., 2011)

4. • Wheat import

5. • Demography

6. B. Water Scarcity
Negligible or No
Water scarcity
Physical
Water scarcity
No data
Incipient physical
Water scarcity
Economic
Water scarcity

7. Simple rules of thumb:
1 liter of water per 1 Kcal
1.5 m3 of water per 1 kg of wheat
15m3 of water per 1 kg of beef meat
(consumed water)

8. C. Collateral Distresses
• Increased competition
for Natural Resources
• Increased degradation
of Natural Resources
• Uncertain financial
situations
• Progressive intensification of
energy demand (+50% by 2050)

9. • Increased climate variability and change
runoff
(Milly et al., 2005)
≈ year 2050

10. The challenge: + food; - water
• Reducing food losses and waste
30%
• Augment the availability of water (+virtual)
• Increasing the efficiency and productivity of
water use

11. Agricultural Water Productivity
Water Productivity
=
the beneficial output
per unit of water used
beneficial output = physical, economical,
social, environmental
water used = withdrawn/diverted,
applied, consumed
typical units = Kg/m3, Kcal/m3, $/m3, …

12. some considerations:
• Increasing water productivity is not
necessarily synonymous of water saving
(increased WP may come with increased consumption)
• high water productivity does not mean
high yield (we may have high WP with low
yield)
• non water-related practices and factors
are also very important to increase
water productivity (pest and diseases control,
fertility management, seeds, market, institutions,
etc.)

13. The necessary distinctions in water use
Beneficial (T)
Consumptive use
(Water Productivity)
Non-beneficial (ES/Tw)
Recoverable (D)
Non-consumptive use
(irrigation efficiency)
(quality)
Non-recoverable

14. Dry-Land Maize
Loess Plateau - China
WP=1.64 kg/m3
(conventional
practices)
WP=2.53 kg/m3
(plastic-film
mulching)
(≈ + 60%)
Courtesy of prof. Shulan Zhang (Northwest A&F University)

16. Some experimental values of wheat WP
in the NENA Region (kg of grain per m3)
Morocco
0.45-1.15
Iran
0.46-1.28
Algeria
Tunisia
0.46-0.53 (rainfed)
0.70-1.80 (irrigated)
≈ 0.62 (long term average)
Lebanon
0.62-0.84
Jordan
0.45-0.86
Syria
0.63-0.91 (rainfed)
0.80-1.12 (irrigated)
Turkey
0.40-1.13
Large variability
within
and
between
Countries

17. World wheat WP assessment (base-line 2000-05; 1km pixel)

18. World wheat WP score normalized for climate
(base-line 2000-05; 1km pixel)

19. Morocco (2010-11; 30m pixel)

20. Syria (2010-11; 30m pixel)

21. Wheat
Yield & WP gaps
From Sadras & Angus (2006)

22. Source of variability of WP
Physical (Y, biomass, Kcal per m3)
• Climatic environment
- seasons
• Crops/varieties
- ET
- A/T
- CO2
• Management
- phenology
- soil health
- canopy
- fertility
- roots
- pest/diseases/weeds
- resistances
- water
Economic ($ per m3)
soil moisture
• Market
irrigation
- prices of produces
- prices of input factors
- risks

23. Proposal of a work plan
[inception phase]
establish a platform of stakeholders in representation of
selected countries, key organizations, authorities, etc.
[identification phase]
select relevant agricultural systems where to intervene
(rainfed, irrigated, agro-pastoral, cropping systems, etc.)
[framework-definition phase]
Update the operational definition of water productivity
and adopt a simple but practical framework as to how
to assess water productivity in different agricultural
systems

24. [diagnostic phase]
‘diagnosis’ of the selected systems/sub-systems in terms
of ‘yield’ (physical –biomass/yield–, economical, etc.),
‘yield gaps’, water use (‘consumptive’, non-consumptive’),
as well as ‘management’, ‘infrastructural, ‘governance’
(institutional and policy) and ‘non-management’
components of the systems affecting water productivity
(valuation)
A special focus would be given to policies for water
allocation, water demand management, water pricing
and scaling up of modern technology + institutions
One additional focus can be on assessing field experience
in managing watershed and their contribution (including
investments) on soil moisture and recharging ground water

25. [intervention phase]
‘design’ the interventions that would introduce ‘changes’
into the above mentioned ‘components’ with the objective
of improving agricultural water productivity. A clear
‘business model’ and a consistent ‘water-accounting/auditing’
framework should be applied to each type or set of
interventions in order to have always clear the ‘gain’ for
corresponding ‘losses’ of water
[monitoring-WP phase]
develop a robust ‘benchmarking’ & ‘monitoring’ system to:
• quantify without ambiguity the raise of water productivity;
• identify where the water saved (if any) goes;
• evaluate the success of interventions,
Indicators and time-bounded targets will be defined

26. Concluding Remarks
• The water scarcity situation in the NENA
Region requires high-impact strategies in
support of food and water securities
• There is enough scope and variability of WP
in the NENA Region to expect significant
potential gain in water saving and food
production by focusing on its improvement
(10-40%)
• Given the multiple interactions between
factors influencing WP, a robust water
accounting and monitoring system is key

27. • Achieving high-impact will require a critical
mass of commitments, financial resources
and an effective work plan on medium term
• Farmers are the ultimate managers of
natural resources (soil/water). They need to
be engaged from the on-set in any work-plan
• Innovative governance promoting the
inclusion of farmers, researchers,
governmental authorities and private sector
in improving WP has shown to be key for
achieving results

28. Thank You
http://neareast.fao.org