Water and Food Security: Glimpses of the Future

The projected population increases require additional food production and further increases per capita food consumption. However, food security does not depend on total food production alone, but rather on access to food that is affordable.
More over, growing competition between agricultural and urban uses of high-quality freshwater supplies, particularly in arid, semi-arid, and densely populated areas, will increase the pressure on existing water resources, and consequently on food production. To meet increasing demand for food and water, there is a need to increase the productivity of water already in use, producing more crops per drop and more value per drop- for food, for jobs, for health, and for the environment. This requires: 1. policy reforms in water management and institutional change - solutions that are not expensive, but tough to achieve; and 2, adoption of innovative technologies - solutions that often require capital investments, which may be beyond the reach of the small farmers, as well as  capacity development. Both solution options require time. Adding another facet to food security is energy security. Some actions taken in response to finding alternative sources of energy, such as the recent expansion of crop production for biofuel, have placed greater demand on valuable water supplies, posing a threat to food security. Food crops now have to compete with energy crops for scarce water.
We also have to consider the environmental impacts of increased food production. Agricultural crops, livestock and fisheries are completely dependent on predictable supply and good quality of fresh or marine water. Approximately 80% percent of all freshwater consumed on the planet is devoted to agricultural production often in irrigation systems that are inefficient and environmentally unsustainable. More land is needed for crops and livestock production, and so more forest and watershed areas have been cleared. Living aquatic resources harvested from both freshwater and marine ecosystems, including aquaculture systems, supply 15-20 percent of the animal protein consumed worldwide. However, the increase in aquatic farms has been accompanied by destruction of mangroves and degradation of coastal aquifers due to over extraction of ground water in many areas. Livestock wastes, agricultural runoff and feeds from aquaculture farms are also affefting the quality of water bodies.