7 Opportunities for Increasing Water Productivity of CGIAR Crops through Plant Breeding and Molecular Biology

In regions experiencing an absolute or eco-nomic shortage of water, there is an urgent need to increase the water productivity (WP) of crops through breeding or natural-resources management. The options for increasing WP through breeding are: (i) to reduce non-transpirational uses of water; (ii) to reduce transpiration without reducing production; (iii) to increase production with-out increasing transpiration; and (iv) to enhance tolerance of water-related stresses – drought, salinity and waterlogging or sub-mergence. The Green Revolution achieved substantial increases in WP for rice and wheat by reducing the crop duration an