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12. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Water is one of the most important inputs in agricultural production. About 40%
of the world food needs is supplied from 17% of the crops that are irrigated. Hence, in
order to ensure food security by increasing agricultural production, it is crucial to
expand the irrigated area and effective use of water. Land and water resources
development efforts, well-operation and sustainability of irrigation schemes and
networks are the significant issues for countries.
With a total land area of 3.2 billion hectares and a total population of 1.5 billion
in 2008, the 57 COMCEC member countries account for almost one-fourth of the
world’s total land area and slightly over one-fifth of its population. With a total
agricultural area of 1.4 billion hectares which are 43.7% of their total land area, the
COMCEC Region constitutes 28.4% of the world’s total.
Total renewable water resources consist of surface and ground water resources.
In general around the world, renewable ground water resources corresponds about 25 %
of total surface water resources. Water is a scarce resource in arid and semi-arid regions
where many COMCEC countries are located, particularly in West Asia and North-
eastern Africa. Therefore, most of the COMCEC countries in these regions are facing
with severe pressures due to limited opportunities for the exploitation of new water
resources. These pressures are expected to increase in the face of expanding population
and the increased per capita water use associated with economic development, as well
as due to the expected negative impacts of climate change in the future. Therefore, the
efficient use of water resources in agriculture, through improving irrigation systems and
techniques, is one of the most urgent needs and prerequisites for sustainable agricultural
development and food security in these countries, particularly those in water-scarce
regions.
The irrigation potential of COMCEC Member Countries is slightly higher than
100 million ha. According to country group evaluation, the Asian Group countries have
the highest irrigation potential (80 million ha). On the other hand, both Arab and
African Group countries show very low irrigation potentials. Irrigation potential in the
COMCEC Member Countries is one fifth of the world’s irrigation potential (500 million
ha) (Annex 8).