Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Alameda del Obispo, s/n 14004, Cordoba, Spain.
J Exp Bot. 2011 Aug;62(12):4079-86. doi: 10.1093/jxb/err165. Epub 2011 May 30.
Forecasts on population growth and economic development indicate that there will be substantial increases in food demand for the forthcoming decades. We focus here on the water requirements of food production, on the issue of whether there would be enough water to produce sufficient food in the future, and we offer options to face this challenge based on recent trends observed in some agricultural systems. Given the competition for water faced by the agricultural sector, and the uncertainties associated with climate change, improving the efficiency of water use in both rain-fed and irrigated systems is the main avenue to face the challenge. In rain-fed agriculture, managing the risk associated with rainfall variability is a promising option to increase productivity. In irrigated systems, a case study on the improvements in water productivity in Andalusia, Spain, is used to illustrate some of the opportunities to make progress. Progress in reducing irrigation water use in recent decades has been substantial, but decreasing the consumptive use of crops is a much more difficult challenge. The need for more research and technology transfer on improving water-limited crop production is highlighted, and emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary approaches to gain the insight needed to achieve new breakthroughs that would help in tackling this complex problem.
人口增长和经济发展预测表明，未来几十年的粮食需求将大幅增加。我们在这里关注粮食生产的用水需求，关注未来是否有足够的水来生产足够的粮食，并根据一些农业系统中观察到的近期趋势，提供应对这一挑战的选择。鉴于农业部门面临的水资源竞争，以及与气候变化相关的不确定性，提高雨养和灌溉系统用水效率是应对这一挑战的主要途径。在雨养农业中，管理与降雨变化相关的风险是提高生产力的一个有前途的选择。在灌溉系统中，以西班牙安达卢西亚的水生产力提高为例，说明了一些取得进展的机会。近几十年来，减少灌溉用水的工作取得了实质性进展，但减少作物的耗水量是一个更加困难的挑战。强调需要更多的研究和技术转让，以提高受水资源限制的作物生产，并强调采取跨学科方法，以获得实现新突破所需的洞察力，这将有助于解决这一复杂问题。
