24
COMCEC Agriculture Outlook 2019
2.4 Water
Water is the most crucial input for agricultural production. One of the remarkable
characteristics of water is that in addition being an indispensable input itself, it works as an
augmenting input in agriculture when combined with other inputs of production such as
improved seeds and fertilizer.6 It is estimated that growing fertilizer application andmore water
usage by irrigation have been responsible for over 70 percent of the crop yield increase
throughout theworld.7 The total volume of water on earth is about 1.4 billion km3 of which only
2.5 percent, or about 35 million km 3, is freshwater.
Freshwater is a highly valuable resource as there are large number of competing demands,
including drinking water, irrigation, hydroelectricity, waste disposal, industrial processes,
transport and recreation, as well as ecosystem functions and services. As mentioned above,
agricultural sector is the most important user (with 70 percent) of all freshwater used by
humans among the competing sectors at the global level. 8 In the OIC, agriculture sector
consumes 86 percent of the total fresh water which is higher than the world average.9 In
developing regions like Africa and Asia, agriculture uses more fresh water. On the other hand,
the share of agriculture in water consumption is lower in continents having high level of
precipitation than arid and semi-arid ones.
Figure 21 Renewable Water Potential in the World (2013-2017)
Source: FAOSTAT
6 Nayak and Bhattacharjee, 2005
7 Nellemann et. al, 2009
8 UNEP, 2002
9 SESRIC, 2014
m3/ha
25.000
100 %
100
20,580
20.000
16,531
15.000
46.1 11,114
10.000 9336
27.9
4,781
5.000 14.1
10.3
2.129
1.6
0
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania World
RenewableWater Resources Per Hectare (left axis) Share of RWR in theWorld (right axis)