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FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT WATER AND FOOD The main source of food for the population of the world is agriculture. Food and agriculture are by far the largest consumers of water. They require perhaps 100 times more than we use to meet basic personal needs, with up to 70% of the water we take from rivers and groundwater going to irrigation. While food production is satisfying market demand at historically low prices, an estimated 777 million people in developing countries do not have access to enough food because they do not have the resources to buy it or, in the case of subsistence farmers, to produce it. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) anticipates a net expansion of irrigated land of some 45 million hectares in 93 developing countries (to a total of 242 million hectares in 2030). FAO projects that agricultural water withdrawals will increase by some 14% from 2000 to 2030 to meet future food production needs. Their analysis indicates a projected annual growth rate of 0.6%, compared with the 1.9% observed in the period from 1963 to 1999. On average, about 40% of water withdrawn from rivers, lakes and aquifers for agriculture effectively contributes to crop production, the remainder being lost to evaporation, deep infiltration or the growth of weeds. Consequently, the current global water withdrawals for irrigation are estimated to be about 2,000 to 2,500 km3 per year. A rough calculation of global water needs for food production can be based on the specific water requirements to produce food for one person. Depending on the composition of meals and allowing for post-harvest losses, the present average food ingest of 2,800 kcal/person/day may require roughly 1,000 m3 per year to be produced. Thus, with a world population of 6 billion, water needed to produce the necessary food is 6,000 km3 (excluding any conveyance losses associated with irrigation systems).
Information from: Source: UNESCO Water Portal, October 2005
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