The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture: new FAO report

A new FAO report profiles the state of the natural resource base upon which world food production depends. The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) notes that – while the last 50 years witnessed a notable increase in food production – »in too many places, achievements have been associated with management practices that have degraded the land and water systems upon which food production depends«. Today a number of those systems »face the risk of progressive breakdown of their productive capacity under a combination of excessive demographic pressure and unsustainable agriculture use and practices«, the report continues. No region is immune: systems at risk can be found around the globe, from the highlands of the Andes to the steppes of Central Asia, from Australia’s Murray-Darling river basin to the central United States.

2011.11_FAO_SOLAW_EX_SUMM_EN

acrobat_icon Summary report

» Book webpage at Earthscan (publisher)

 

As natural resource bottlenecks are increasingly felt, competition for land and water will become pervasive, the report suggests. This includes competition between urban and industrial users as well as within the agricultural sector – between livestock, staple crops, non-food crop, and biofuel production. Climate change is expected to alter the patterns of temperature, precipitation and river flows upon which food production depends. The rates of growth in agricultural production have been slowing in many areas and are today only half of what they were during the heyday of the Green Revolution.

As most irrigation systems perform below their capacity, improving the efficiency of water use by agriculture will be key. A combination of improved irrigation scheme management, investment in local knowledge and modern technology, knowledge development and training can increase water-use efficiency. Innovative farming practices such as conservation agriculture, agro-forestry, integrated crop-livestock systems and integrated irrigation-aquaculture systems hold the promise of expanding production efficiently to address food security and poverty while limiting impacts on ecosystems.

Overall, the report paints the picture of a world experiencing an increasing imbalance between availability and demand for land and water resources at the local and national levels. The number of areas reaching the limits of their production capacity is fast increasing.