1.
Water and Agricultural Productivity
Overview
Dr Amgad Elmahdi
Head of MENA Region-IWMI

2.
Who we Are
• Think tank conducting research
to generative Innovative Water
Solutions for Sustainable
Development
• Provider of science for a
transformative agenda (science-
based products and tools)
Food – To improve food
security will sustainably
managing water resources and
ecosystems.
Climate – To adapt to and
mitigate climate change while
building resilience to water
related disasters and disruption.
Growth – To reduce poverty
and advance inclusion with
equality as agriculture
transforms, energy transitions
and urbanization intensifies.
• Facilitator of learning to
strengthen capacity and achieve
uptake of research findings

3.
Why
60% - 90%

4.
Projected Demand in MENA by 2050 m3
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
Algeria
Bahrain
Djibouti
Egypt
GazaStrip
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
kuwait
lebanon
libya
Malta
morocco
Oman
Qatar
SaudiArabia
Syria
tunisia
UAE
WestBank
Yemen
Total
Water Demand 2001-2010
Water Demand 2041-2050

5.
Agricultural Water Productivity
Water productivity:
• Output (kg/$/kcal) in relation to water
consumed
• Multiple sources of water
• Multiple scales
• Multiple, sequential (re)use within a basin
Objectives:
• Meet rising demands for food from a growing,
wealthier, and increasingly urbanized
population, in light of water scarcity
• Respond to pressures to re-allocate water
from agriculture to cities and ensure that water
is available for environmental uses
• Contribute to poverty reduction and
economic growth
> 350 journal articles, reports and other documents on
water productivity:
methods, tools and applied research in diverse settings

6.
Agricultural Water Productivity
Lessons learned from 20 years of applied research
 Increase the productivity per unit of
water consumed/withdrawn (e.g.,
change crop varieties or type, improve
timing/application of water, non-water
inputs)
 Reduce non-beneficial depletion
(e.g., non-beneficial evaporation, flows
to sinks)
 Reallocate water among users (e.g.,
from lower to higher value uses)
 Tap uncommitted flows (e.g., storage,
water reuse)
 Policy change and donor investment
Beyond Crop per drop
To
More Crop per drop and Kwat

7.
Management of irrigation water at the command
level:
The water consumed by the rice plants is partitioned into
transpired and evaporated components.
Spatial assessments of WP are increasingly being used by IFIs to:
• establish a baseline against which to evaluate changes in WP
• identify opportunities for more efficient water management
Water Accounting

8.
Improving water production
• Shift in cropping pattern (from
rice to wheat)
• Increasing irrigation efficiency
(60% water losses in irrigation) -
Water saving technologies and
management
• Use of non-conventional water
sources:
-treated waste water
-de-salinated water
• Drainage

9.
Improving Agricultural Productivity
At Rainfed:
• Soil and water conservation techniques
• Crop selection
• Storage for supplemental irrigation
At Farm:
• improving water use efficiency
• diversify crops
At Scheme:
• Irrigation modernization ( Social to
productive, S to D, Cent to decent)
• Empowering people ( state run to Farmer
associations)
At National and Int.:
• Reform of national water and land policies
• Transboundary agreements
• Investments
Capacity ICT
Markets
and Credits
Investments
Institutions
&
Governance
Integrated Approach

10.
Reducing the agricultural water productivity gap-
Capacity Building Solutions-WAPOR
Capacity needs
assessment
Develop, design, pilot
and evaluate potential
solutions to increase
water productivity
Identify solutions, build
capacity to use them

11.
Locally appropriate solutions:
Wetting Front Detectors
• Simple irrigation tools to
improve the timing and
quantity of water applied and
to build farmer capacity
• Quantification of the effect on
crop and water productivity as
well as soil moisture regimes.
Water accounting to assess the extent to which
water productivity increases have an effect on
basin water use and availability
Indicator up: Field
capacity at the top
layer is reached
Indicator up: Field
capacity is reached within
the entire root zone: over
irrigation
2/3rd of the effective
root zone (cm)
1/2 of the effective
root zone (cm)

12.
Locally appropriate solutions: Chameleon Sensor
Below 2/3 of the
effective root zone
Chameleon reader
1/2 of the effective
root zone
1/3 of the effective
root zone
Wet soil
Bed
Furrow
Gypsum blocks

13.
Locally - Nationally appropriate solutions: ICT
Field conditions
Groundwater resource
management Aquifer
Surface water
resource use and
management
Data
collection,
processing
and analysis
Crop water needs,
ETO, soil moisture,
weather
LARI
CNRS
NGOs
FAO
Farmers

14.
Take home messages
• Development of land and water
resources will need to be much more
strategic;
• Agriculture has to improve water
productivity (more per drop and Kwat)
• We have to empower the water users
• Investments are needed
• Integrated approach

15.
Thank You
Dr Amgad Elmahdi
Head of MENA Region
A.Elmahdi@cgiar.org

16.
Effect of IE
Improvements
• On farm
Crop per drop
River flow