Keynote presentation by President Gao Zhanyi at the 7th International Workshop on Using 21st Century Technology to Better Manage Irrigation Water Supplies held during 16-19 April 2013, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Food is a basic need, and food security is always an important and highlighted issue worldwide. In 1996, the World Food Summit set an ambitious target to reduce the number of undernourished people in the developing world from 840 million in 1995 to 420 million in 2015. However, since 1995 we have not seen a reduction; to the contrary, the number has increased and reached a new peak of one billion in 2009.

The world’s population is expected to grow from seven billion at present to nine billion by 2050. Most of the population increase will be in the emerging and least developed countries (already almost 75 percent of the world’s population), and almost no growth is expected in the developed countries. Furthermore, with a rapidly rising standard of living in the emerging countries, diets have changed to include more meat consumption, which implies more water and cereal consumption. It is estimated that the required increase in cereal production will be in the range of 70 to 80 percent in the next 25 to 30 years.

The total cultivated area in the world is about 1.5 billion hectares, of which 1.1 billion is under rainfed conditions without any water management system. Only about 270 million hectares are equipped with irrigation systems (of which 60 million hectares also include drainage systems) and 130 million hectares have a drainage system only. At present, about 55 percent of food production comes from areas with irrigation and drainage systems, which only accounts for 27 percent of total farmland; and 45 percent from areas without a water management system, which accounts for 73 percent of total farmland. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of the increased cereal production will come from existing farmland, and most of the increased cereal production will have to come from farmland with irrigation and drainage systems.

However, the development of irrigation is facing several challenges. Irrigated agriculture accounts for about 70 percent (2,850 km3 per year) of the freshwater withdrawals in the world, and is perceived as the main factor behind the increasing global water scarcity. According to various analyses, the total water used for irrigation will not be increased significantly. The development of irrigation has to depend on existing water withdrawals with marginal increasing potential.

Therefore, water use efficiency and productivity have to be increased significantly by improving water management. The following solutions have been identified for improving agricultural water management:

1. Increasing water storage in support of irrigated agriculture
2. Promoting sustainable groundwater development
3. Promoting safe use of nonconventional waters in agriculture and aquaculture
4. Increasing water productivity in irrigated agriculture
5. Increasing sustainable productivity and lower costs of water management
6. Increasing rainfed land productivity
7. Supporting small-holders farmers
8. Developing regional visions

The problem of aging irrigation infrastructure exists in many developing and least developed countries. These problems lead to poor performance and low water use efficiency and water productivity in many irrigation schemes. There is a huge need to modernize and rehabilitate existing irrigation schemes. Currently, many irrigation schemes not only supply water for irrigation, but also supply water to other sectors for many purposes, including hydropower, domestic, industry, tourism service, fishery, ecological systems and flood protection. The multi-purposes of irrigation systems must be considered while planning modernization of irrigation schemes.

Technical service is still weak in many irrigation schemes. With the increase of irrigation scale, irrigation systems and water management are getting more and more complex, especially for large and medium irrigation schemes with few water users. The increase in system complexity requires more technical capacity to operate and maintain the irrigation systems. However, technical capacity is very weak in many areas. Strengthening capacity building will significantly improve the performance of irrigation systems and increase water productivity. Small landholding is a major constraint for extension of advanced irrigation technologies and improved water and land productivity.

Small landholders find it difficult to get enough revenue to maintain sustainable production, and also to get loans and better water supply service. A system of water user associations (WUA) is an effective way to help the small landholders to overcome the above problems. In some emerging countries, more people are moving to urban areas, and larger parcels for farmers is an increasing trend. This trend might be continued for the next 30 years. In such a process, the farmers need support to develop and manage irrigation systems in their larger holdings.