Challenges of Optimizing BAT Utilization in Diverse

Settings

Tingju Zhu

International Food Policy Research InstituteWashington, DC, USA

Making Every Drop Count: Best Technology for Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture organized by the Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska

April 16, 2015, Daegu, Republic of Korea

Irrigation is the single largest user of water globally

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500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Vol

ume

(km

3 /yr)• Improvement of

agricultural water use efficiency is usually a slow and difficult process

• Irrigation accounts for 70 percent water withdrawal and 90 percent water consumption globally

• Often seen as the major driver of water scarcity• Wasteful use co-exists with water scarcity due to

inappropriate technologies, mismanagement, and poor policy

• Achieving real water-saving in agriculture needs to consider irrigation efficiency across scales

• Lack of Incentives: Farmers concern economic return and production risks, not necessarily irrigation water-saving

• Undervalued irrigation water• Energy subsidies (for irrigation)• Inflexible water allocation (e.g. water rights w/o markets)• Ineffective water governance (e.g. GW regulation)

• Challenges in financing water infrastructure • Repair, maintenance, and expansion of irrigation infrastructure• Adoption of advanced technologies – drip and sprinkler (for small

farmers, e.g. in Asia)• Rural electrification (e.g. northeastern India, Africa)

• Lack of information, esp. in developing countries

• Farmers’ risk perception

Challenges to BAT adoption

• Technologies need to be adapted to local settings• Technologies need to go hand in hand with agricultural

extension (the latter is often more important than the former)

• Move from water-saving to cost-effectiveness, including labor-saving, energy-saving, higher yield and better crop quality, and reduced production risks

• Information and institutional development• Participatory management on system level and terminal

level

• Promote multiple use of irrigation water

BAT adoption in developing countries

• Promote rain-fed crop production• Rainwater harvesting

• New crop varieties with higher water productivity• High yield varieties• Drought-tolerant varieties

• Sustainable land management • Integrated soil fertility management• Better soil and land management can increase water productivity

• Precision agriculture• Reduce post-harvest losses

• Improve transportation infrastructure• Improve storage technologies

More crop per drop: beyond irrigation